I am helping a friend fix their car, but it has been off the road for a year and a half. The current main issue is how bad will the gas be, I.E.will it even run. We will have a can of starter fluid with us, but that can only go so far. Any help on what to exspect would be great.
I have a funny fealing Seafoam will come into play...
Present day gasolines do not deteriorate as fast as they used to. Depends a lot on storage conditions. Is the tank full.? If not it could have accumulated moisture.
depends on what the environment is like where the car was stored. ive seen cars start right up with 10 year old gas in colder climates, ive seen others gummed up with six month old fuel in warm climates... in havent had a day off to to do it yet, but my 78 924 has been sitting for almost 8 years. my plan of attack is to drain the old fuel from the tank, change the fuel filter, then use 2 oz per gallon of fuel stabilizer and add two or three gallons of fresh fuel, disconnect injectors attach drain hoses to the lines then to a bucket, jump out the fuel pump direct power it and use it to "rinse" the fuel system. the results should be apparent with the fuel draining into the bucket. repeat as necessary. left over fuel will go to lawn mower use. :) the fuel stabilizer works much more effectively and is cheaper than techron and similar products, and will also attack varnish. this will flush out a good deal of grunge, and seafoam can be done afterwards if needed . 1.5 years isnt really long at all and all this may not be necessary like it is for long term stored cars.. YMMV
In that case I might syphon it, and put in fresh gas with some stablizer. I'm looking to do this without pulling lines and such.
For a 1 1/2 year old tank of gas I wouldnt even worry about it.
Yeah, my CSX was parked for about 10 years with a quarter tank of gas. Added another quarter tank of gas to it and it has been running fine. Burned that crap off and filled the tank up, no muss, no fuss.
Of course I did replace the fuel lines, filter and pump but that was because it is fuel injected and I don't like spraying fuel randomly around the engine bay on a turbocharged car. 
You may find that just seeing if the engine will run off starter fluid will help reduce the work needed by not filling the injectors or carb with old crap gas.
7.5 gallons in the healey after 40 years. about 5 gallons of turpentine, and about 3.5 pounds of crystalline goo.
I let the boiler at the rad shop worry about it.
sjd
Year and half......jump in and turn the key..
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