Car in disuse for a year and a half

Maintenance/Repairs
1

I have a car that hasn’t been used in a year and a half, and didn’t have much use for the previous year before that. I’ve put a new battery in it and gasoline and got the engine running. I also checked the oil and the brake fluid. I’m new to DIY car repair, is there anything else I should be checking before I take it out on the road? Am I going to have problems with this car in the future because it’s been in moth-balls for so long?

2

If it is running that’s a good sign. Get some fresh gas in the tank ASAP and that will help. You didn’t mention the year of the car, miles on it, and history other than low use. IF the car is 5 years old or more and you know zip about the maintenance history; then I’d start replacing fluids with new fresh fluids. Coolant, brakes, transmission, power steering, etc. If it is fluid, replace it. Check the rubber drive belts, and rubber hoses for evidence of wear, cracks, rot, or soft spots.

Find out if your engine has a timing chain or belt. If it has a timing belt you need to determine the change interval and perhaps replace it.

3

I would be concerned about the tires. If the care hasn’t moved, the tires are very likely to have deteriorated - but maybe I’m not telling you anything you haven’t already noticed.

4

I only want to emphasize a couple of things from UncleTurbo’s post in order of importance:

  1. brakes

  2. brakes

  3. brakes.

Oh - right - then go on to changing the fluids - including the brake fluid.

Did I mention the brakes?

5

would be concerned about the tires.

I would not be too worried about them. Modern tyres don’t have the problems of tyres from like the 1970’s.

However I do recommend checking the manufacture date as tyres do age from time as well as miles.

6

U SAID IT BROTHER>>>>BRAAAAKES.
Tires second…they may have flat spots or dry rot. Other than that BRAKES…your rotors are going to be plenty rusty but you might get lucky and they will clean themselves up after a while

7

Thanks a lot for all the responses guys…

Replacing all the fluids is an obvious one because it?s easy to do and fairly cheap. I was actually suprised by the tires, some of them were actually completely deflated when I started working on the car and I assumed I was going to have to replace them all. But, after I filled them with air they looked brand new.