'83 Buick Comes to Life after 10 Years
 

My Mum's car has been sitting for the last 10 years or so. I could not really afford to keep insurance on it, so I parked it. Yesterday I decided to see if I could get it started since I can not seem to find the solution to my Code 18 on my '93 Buick and I may need to put it on the road. After blowing off the engine; mice had clearly been on top of the engine and inside the air filter thingy, I put my battery in the car and turn the engine over first checking the coolant and oil. Pump the accelerator a couple of times (carb engine) and turned the engine over to see if it would start. Nope. Got the starter fluid spray and sprayed a bit into the air intake on the filter thingy. Turn the key and she started right up, ran smooth too. Just before Mum's death I had replaced the timing chain/gear since the gear had come apart (not sure if a clearance engine but no damage to valves) and since the oil pressure would drop while sitting at a light, put new main bearings in as well as connecting rod bearings; Dad taught me the trick of putting new main bearings in with the engine still in the vehicle. Gotta love these old Buicks, they were made to last.

Atta girl!!

Someday, I'd like to walk into a barn and find an old car, throw a battery in it and try to bring her back to life.

Very nice!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Today I went out and pumped up the tyres, all four of them, by hand since my compressor is on the blink. Of course the tyres are dry-rotted and will need to be replace; shame because they had good tread on them. This time she fired up without having to use the starting fluid spray. I moved her to a different spot and gave her a bit of a cleaning on the outside, the first in 10 years. I feel really bad about letting Mum's car sit like I did. I may try putting some of the fuel cleaner stuff in the tank instead of trying to drain it. That is 10 year old gasoline in the tank and I am not sure how full the tank is. If the fuel gauge is reading correctly, then it is a full tank; however, I can not remember if it was reading correctly or not at the time the car was parked. The '83 LeSabre has a mechanical fuel pump that is on the side of the engine. The photo below is Mum's car.

http://netweb360.net/1993_LeSabre.jpg

Good job getting it going! That's a nice old car, looks to be in great shape.

Looks damn good for a car that sat 10 years!

4 quarts of cheap oil, 1 filter, 3 cans of Seafoam.

Change the oil, dump a whole can of Seafoam in.
Dump the 2nd can into the fuel tank
Start it up, dump 3rd can down the carb. Guarantee ya, those trees in the background will be limper than...well you get the idea.

She could do with a fresh coat of paint. The body is in good shape. I noticed that some of the chrome on the steel bumpers are starting to peel. The rubber that was between the bumpers and the body of the car hardened and were falling out when Mum was driving it; that was just a cosmetic cover. Over all, the car is in good shape. Mum took care of the car. Dad always said the life of an engine was in keeping the oil changed.

looooove older buicks, nice job

The '83 LeSabre had a full frame, front to rear. Steel bumpers front and rear. Today's cars are design to self destruct in impacts which does help to survive a crash but totally destroys the cars. Even a low speed impact will have you replacing a bumper on new cars. I could bump a brick wall with this Buick with no damage.

The headliner was shot, so I ripped that out. The backing is intact so it just needs a new cover. The idea of using a foam backed headliner was stupid. Any car that sits outside in the heat; and the interior temp of a car can really climb on a summer day, the foam backing will deteriorate and the headliner will then fall down. If they had not used the foam backing, the headliner would have been perfectly fine as it was.