Hi all:

Work continues to progress on my '85 E150. I'm done spending money this month though, I'm into the van for $940 or so.

When I bought the van in September it had been parked in the back yard of the seller's Portland home for four years according to the expired tag on the Washington plate.

The owner started the van for me, it sure had a lot of trouble starting, good thing it had a brand new battery under the hood. Once started it wouldn't stay running without pressing down the throttle until the engine warmed up.

I got in the van to look around and saw that it had less than 1/8th of a tank of gas in it.

So, I bought the van even though I couldn't transfer to test drive it, scary I know.

My father in law drove the van home for me. By the time we picked up the van the day I'd bought it it'd sat until the engine was cold again, and he had trouble starting it and keeping it running. My father in law stopped at a gas station just down the street from where I bought the van and put about six gallons of gas in it to get it to my house in Washington from Portland, about a thirty mile drive. Again we noted that when cold the van just wouldn't run unless the gas pedal was depressed.

I had the same issue a few weeks ago when I drove the van to a local tire shop to buy new tires for the front end. The van was very difficult to get started and died every time I put it in gear until the engine was warmed up.

Two weeks after that I had the same problem when I drove the van to a local gas station to fill the tank.

Wednesday of last week I drove the van to Salmon Creek to take a co-worker home because his car broke down. The van started on the second try and the engine stuttered twice when accelerating when it was cold, but by the time I hit the freeway the engine ran great and had plenty of power.

Initially I was thinking I had a bad choke or carburetor issues. I still may have carburetor issues but now I'm leaning towards thinking I don't have a choke issue. I got to thinking about the gas in the tank.

I think the gas in the tank when I bought the van was the gas in the tank the last day it was driven. Would this have caused the issues of the van not running well when cold? Could the gas have really gotten that bad?

 

Your situation doesn't sound quality of fuel related although its quite likely there are fuel pressure issues, possibly the pump or its pick up. The amount of new fuel you've added so far should have made its way through the system so if that had been the problem it should have worked itself out by now.

Having had a few fuel pumps fail the stumbling upon acceleration is a big indication the present pump might not be able to keep up with the demand for more fuel. By no means is this a definitive diagnosis but you need to get back to basics of assuring your fuel is being delivered to spec, that ignition voltage is also up to spec.

 

Very valid points. I had just been concerned about the quality of the fuel after sitting for four years with the tank near empty.

I do plan to change the spark plugs, wires, cap and rotor, oil and air and oil filters in December.

I suspect, though I'm not sure, that the fuel pump is mechanical. I want to take the van in to have the transmission leak fixed come November, I can ask the shop to check the fuel pump while they're at it.

I know it's not the fuel filter, I've had that issue in the past and know the symptoms all too well.

 

The stale fuel started your problems. You need to clean out the fuel tank and lines, possibly replace the fuel pump too. Replace the fuel filter also. A full tune up won't hurt either.