Help...out of storage

Thruxtonian

Thruxtonian

Street Tracker
I need advice from my esteemed fellow riders. I was supposed to take a 3 day 1500 mile car trip to go look at property Saturday, and a friend was gonna go with me and we were to take his car. Well he had to cancel due to work. No, I'm not gonna ride the Bonnie, it's supposed to be rainy and in the 50's. No thanks...

Anyway, I have a Mazda that lives in the garage, and hasn't been driven in about 2 years. It's been stored covered and charged, but nothing else. I really didn't plan on it being stored that long so no precautions were taken.

How bad would it be to take it out and do a long drive? I may have time for a quicky oil change and fresh tank of gas, but that's about it. It's a 1993 Miata, BTW. Let the opinions fly...
 
koifarm

koifarm

Hooligan
Get the old gas out, change the oil/filter, give it 1/2 a fresh tank with a couple cans of SeaFoam in it, drive it and see how it goes, check all fluids, tran, brake, give it a grease job, if it's running okay around town go for it. Be sure to check the tires for dry rot, if they are cracked and look really dry, get new tires on it, or a good used set. Keep putting Seafoam in it when you gas it up, it can't hurt, one can/tank after the initial two cans in 1/2 a tank....
 
koifarm

koifarm

Hooligan
Another thought, drain the carb as well, if you can pull the bottom cup off and clean them as well it would help or at least drain the carb. I'm assuming you can dry crank it with the starter but do that after you change the gas, pull the plugs and clean em or replace em as a precaution. A bit of WD40 sprayed in the carb as you crank wouldn't hurt as well and in the distributor also. Would not use ether if it were me.
 
D

drlapo

Hooligan
new oil and filter some fresh gas and go
the tires may thump until they are round again so put some air in them
use a name brand 5-20 or 5-30 and change it again when you get back to flush out the crap
 
Kirkus51

Kirkus51

Hooligan
Mazdas are tough and well built. I had one sit for about the same time. The battery was still hot and it turned over right away. I let it sit and idle to get the moisture out of the oil and went out and drover it till the tires heated up to get rid of the flats spots and sold it the same day.
 
MattRat

MattRat

TT Racer
Thruxtonian said:
It's a 1993 Miata, BTW. Let the opinions fly...
Click to expand...

How many miles on the car?timing belt is nearing the end of its life - they last about 18-20 yeaars or 90k miles (spec is to change at60k), and you don't want to get caught in the middle of nowhere with a broken belt.
(I have a 91 myself)
 
mark66

mark66

TT Racer
Thruxtonian said:
I need advice from my esteemed fellow riders. I was supposed to take a 3 day 1500 mile car trip to go look at property Saturday, and a friend was gonna go with me and we were to take his car. Well he had to cancel due to work. No, I'm not gonna ride the Bonnie, it's supposed to be rainy and in the 50's. No thanks...

Anyway, I have a Mazda that lives in the garage, and hasn't been driven in about 2 years. It's been stored covered and charged, but nothing else. I really didn't plan on it being stored that long so no precautions were taken.

How bad would it be to take it out and do a long drive? I may have time for a quicky oil change and fresh tank of gas, but that's about it. It's a 1993 Miata, BTW. Let the opinions fly...
Click to expand...

So what's the outcome? Did you go for it and take the Miata? Inquiring minds want to know. :)
 
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