I have a nice Lotus M100 that needs some work that, quite frankly, I can not afford. It already has been sitting more than one year with a gas tank near full. By some miracle, it started up immediately last month and ran well. It still will not get any attention until warm weather return to my garage–if then.
I had to rebuild the fuel system of a SHO that I mistreated similarly.
One car geek I know suggests only that I should start it weekly. I wonder if I might purchase one of those mechanical oil-change pumps to evacuate the gas tank, then run the engine dry.
Some sage advice, please.
(I do have a high-tech battery tender nursing my Optima.)
Interesting car.
Did you add fuel stabilizer to the tank when you filled it? If so, you should be OK.
But it won’t keep forever. Maybe draining the fuel is a good idea.
If you didn’t add stabilizer, I’d drain it for sure.
The best thing to do is to drain and refill with stabil and fresh gasoline and idle frequently (once a week) to make sure gas runs through system. At the least, run out right now add stabil and idle extensively whether you’ve added it before or not. A year even with stabil is a stretch…
For a long-term layup, I would siphon out as much gas as I could. Then add 3 gallons of 50 to 1 two-stroke mix which also contains a shot of Stabil. Run the engine on this fuel for 15 or 20 minutes to make sure the entire fuel system has been purged. The outboard oil will “fog” the pistons, rings and cylinders preventing rust and stuck valves and rings. The oil also prevents the gas from leaving hard deposits in the carb(s) as it evaporates. Later on, just add fresh gas and you are good to go…