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My Ford F250 shootin' wagon has been inoperative since November 2015. I have no idea how many gallons are in the tank. Would the gasoline in it be combustible enough to have the engine run at idle until all the old gas is burned out? Does this modern-day garbage the oil companies call "gasoline" degrade to the point that it's of no value at all?

The vehicle is in the process of having a Holley 2300 two-barrel grafted onto it. The original one-barrel FoMoCo was not the correct carb for the engine; it ran so rich the plugs would turn a sooty black in just a few minutes of idle. The engine is a 300 in-line six-banger. Rather than trying to sort-out a FoMoCo carb, I opted to retrofit the Holley. I bought it new from Summit Racing, so I'm assuming there are no hidden problems and it came with tuning instructions. Tuning instructions are also to be seen on youtube. I have put the correct jets in per my altitude. Not much more to do beyond fabricating a plate (my dad is doing that) to which will be secured the OEM throttle bracket, then hook-up the fuel line and vacuum line for the brakes. Will need a new battery; the previous one went out of warranty in September 2017. Probably more dead than a door nail by now.

My shootin' wagon is a long bed and has a custom-made, raised camper top on it. Have my bench inside, and a bunch of other stuff you need when you go out to the desert and there's nothing else out there. Wherever I park and set-up, that's "my spot." "My spot" could be some other place the next time I go out. It's five feet inside, from floor to ceiling and eight feet long. I can sit completely upright on the kitchen chair inside, and the top of my head is about six inches from the ceiling. It's a great place from which to shoot. Protects me from the sun, and I can even shoot when it's raining. Swing-open doors out the back, and swing-up doors on both sides.

shootin-truck.JPG
 
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Sitting for four years with fuel containing ethanol can be problematic. If the fuel lines still flow, you might be okay. If the tank only has 5 or 10 gallons in it, you could just add some fresh fuel in with the old stuff and run it. If you are concerned, I would just disconnect the fuel line in the engine compartment and siphon it all into a bucket (or two or three). But, I think if you just mix some new fuel in with the old and fire it up, you can run it until it is almost empty, then go fill it up.
 
If the fuel lines still flow . . .
I've considered this. I've heard of a product known as K-100. Supposed to dissolve the stuff that clogs fuel lines. Just pour a very expensive quart of it into the tank and let it set a while. Supposed to somehow make its way up the lines and dissolve the varnishes and paraffins and olefins that harden over time. As to how it does this without agitation, I have no idea. All we can do is to give it a shot...
 
I would just disconnect the fuel line from the fuel pump to the carburetor, then crank the engine and see if fuel pumps out (have the fuel line going into an empty gas can or a steel coffee can).
 
It's my understanding that in addition to being very likely
to gum up, ethanol attracts water. Probably not a problem
in the desert but I'd drain the tank. Getting an engine running
after a long time down always has problems. Taking one item
off the list of what could be the source of the problem just
makes it a little easier to find the real issue
 
I would just disconnect the fuel line from the fuel pump to the carburetor, then crank the engine and see if fuel pumps out . . .
I thought about that, too. Supply fuel from a remote source above the carburetor, like from a plastic bottle with a conical flip-top cap that would allow a piece of fuel hose to fit onto it. I did this once with a vehicle I had years ago. A quart will idle a 302 V-8 for over an hour. So run the engine from a remote supply, and let the existing fuel pump pump-out the old gasoline. Only question is how many five-gallon gas cans will I need? Those things are expensive. I sort o' remember I paid around $15 each for two five-gallon ones in August 2004.
 
Taking one item off the list of what could be the source of the problem just
makes it a little easier to find the real issue.
My big worry is that the oil has dripped off the camshaft lobes and maybe away from the piston rings. I'm filled with fear that the engine might run without lubrication for as many as thirty seconds. Scares me nigh unto death...
 
If the oil pump is driven by the distributor (like on a small/big block Chevy), then you can use an oil pump priming tool & drill (or a modified distributor) to pump the oil through the engine prior to start up. I would actually change the oil before doing this. The best way to do it is to have someone priming it while you turn the engine 90° at a time (about every 60 seconds or so). This will ensure that oil is getting pushed to each location and that it is coating what needs to be coated. The downside to turning the engine with the distributor out is that you will have to reset the timing.
 
The downside to turning the engine with the distributor out is that you will have to reset the timing.
I was absolutely NEVER any good at that! I've been fooling with Fords for thirty years. I never got any good at getting the distributor to "chunk down" into place before cranking. It would look like it was down and in-place but as soon as I hit the key, the thing would jump up and out of its bore and I'd have succeeded at nothing. I got to where I'd do whatever I could to not have to pull it from the block. That was on small blocks. This I-6 300 might have a different system...
 
Just crank it without spark; you'll get oil pressure in a few seconds.
Would also be a good thing to change and fill the filter after so long just setting. There just might be a small amount of condensation in the filter. Oil in water turns it into a material similar to peanut butter. I saw that in my 1983 Cavalier when the head cracked between the valveseats.
 
I was absolutely NEVER any good at that! I've been fooling with Fords for thirty years. I never got any good at getting the distributor to "chunk down" into place before cranking. It would look like it was down and in-place but as soon as I hit the key, the thing would jump up and out of its bore and I'd have succeeded at nothing. I got to where I'd do whatever I could to not have to pull it from the block. That was on small blocks. This I-6 300 might have a different system...

The trick to getting it to drop in is to use a remote starter button that you have hooked up while you are under the hood. You get the distributor to where it is in the correct position, but may not drop into the oil pump drive. Then you use the button to bump the engine while holding the distributor body - the distributor will drop right down into place once it lines up with the oil pump drive.
 
My big worry is that the oil has dripped off the camshaft lobes and maybe away from the piston rings. I'm filled with fear that the engine might run without lubrication for as many as thirty seconds. Scares me nigh unto death...

Inline 6. Pull the valve cover and pour some oil over the valves, pull the plugs and add a couple of squirts of oil and pull the cam side covers to lube the cam.
Turn over by hand a couple of time. Should be good to go.
 
Having a lash-up cobbled together to get the Holley two-barrel to fit the 3" bolt-spacing on the 300's single-barrel intake. My dad and my best friend from Virginia are working on that. My pickup could be running again in just a few more weeks! That would be so wonderful. I've got a lot of money in that truck, and it's been immobile for almost four years. My dad is an engineer of many years, and my friend is the best Rolls-Royce mechanic in the country. There is no doubt they'll put together what needs fabricating to get me rolling again...
 
Having a lash-up cobbled together to get the Holley two-barrel to fit the 3" bolt-spacing on the 300's single-barrel intake.
Got the aforementioned lash-up in the mail, today. Have mocked it up to see what it looks like; looks very good. I think it's going to do the job. I need some bolts, washers, nuts and the ambition to get it together. Problem is, I can't buy the ambition. There's always a problem, ain't there?
 
How about pulling the plugs and squirting some engine or penetrating oil in each cylinder, and crank it with the plugs out you should get some lube where it's needed that way & would free up the rings too, and prevent scoring of the cylinder walls. Sure it will smoke some when you do fire it up but the little bit of oil should burn off in less than a minute.
Drain the gas tank to get rid of anything nasty in there, a lot cheaper than messing with contaminated fuel.
Like what someone said, you can cross that off your list.
Gabby
 
Drain the gas tank . . .
That would be the best thing to do, but I have no way to do it short of running the engine from an isolated fuel source and let the fuel pump do the work. I have no idea how much gas is in the tank, so I have no idea how big a gascan I'd need to hold whatever is contained therein. I'm continuing to have problems with getting the replacement carburetor to fit the original intake manifold. It's just a new chapter in gluteal pain every time I deign to make any progress on it.

I should have bought a new single-barrel carb for it three-plus years ago, but wanted to get away from the funky OEM krapp. I figgered a Holley 2300 would be an easy retrofit and any idiot can adjust the air-fuel mixture on them. There are videos on youtube of gearheads doing it, so I figgered I could do it too. A new problem that surfaced this morning is the assembled height of the adapter base, a 1/2" spacer, the aluminum plate I'm using to position the throttle bracket and the assembled air cleaner. Looks to be a bit too tall to get under the hood. Going to have to go with a 2" filter element instead of a 3" element. May have to locate a drop-base air cleaner to get back another half an inch.

It's just one smash across the head after another when I set-out to do what other guys (with a shop) can do in two days. I have no facilities; just an uncovered parking space and very little room to work around the vehicle. With all this trouble, it's going to be a sweet victory when it's all finished and rockin' down the road.
 

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