Car has been garaged for 3 years

[lynskeyt]

My late father's car has been stuck in his garage for 3 years withattery out being moved or engine turned over etc. it's a low mileage Hyundai Lantra, auto.

Is it wise to recharge the battery and just try and start it?
After starting would it be OK to let it warm up and drive off carefully, checking things out (like brakes etc).

If the above is an absolute no no, what would be the most cost effective way of getting it back on the road?

[zollaf]

the battery may not take a charge , but its worth a try though. if not , a jump pack or jump leads may help, or a new battery. check oil and water levels first. the fuel will have gone stale after that time as well. it would be best to drain the tank and put some fresh in. the fuel may not actually be able to ignite, but it might, so try it. any way, yes, see if it starts, move it out of the garage and let it warm up. brakes may be siezed, but again may not. then see if you can drive it to free the brakes and get everything working (on private land of course). good luck...

[lynskeyt]

Thanks zollaf, I was concerned that, say, the engine oil had to be replaced after a flush or something due to the particulates settling. I'll go for the "suck it and see" option, then.

Thanks again for the reply.

[zollaf]

i would certainly change the oil as part of a full service and check over before it goes on the road, but no need to change it just to get it running.

[paul b]

I'm interested to hear how this goes.

An Octavia I recently bought and even more recently sold (a decision that was sort of forced upon me) had spent the best part of 3 years off the road having had turbo failure that never got sorted.

Once the battery had been recharged and I fixed the obvious turbo problem, it drove. The brakes were very poor, but I expected that. New discs and pads and one hell of a clean up later and they were fine.

If you're going to drive it, just be wary that the brakes are probably going to feel awful at first. They will clean up a bit though with a few presses of the pedal. In the long run it's still very likely they'd need replacing.

[lynskeyt]

Just to say that I had the car towed to a garage and asked them to get it going, service and MOT. No issues at all, other than a new battery. No issues with brakes or fuel. (It was low mileage 51 plate Hyundai Elantra).

[zollaf]

thats excellent news. thanks for letting us know.

[famous geezer]

HI, if its a petrol, make sure you dont start it with the plugs in. It would be best to turn it over to pump the oil around the engine before it runs. this is to lub up the engine As all the oil is in the bottom of the sump. Good luck