Seeking Advice On Starting The Engine After Long Term Storage

[NoEcm]

My 1967 250SL has been in storage since 2001/2002. The fuel tank was drained prior to being put into storage.

I've removed the spark plugs and coil wire, cranked the engine for ~15 seconds and the oil pressure went up to ~45 pounds.

Besides adding fuel to the vehicle is there any advice or tips on what I should look for or do before starting the car?

Thanks!

[teahead]

maybe change the fuel filter?  Holds a bit of gas in there; could be bad.

Not sure if gas can be drained from the fuel pump or IP.  Someone can chime in on that.

[Jonny B]

There is a great deal of information on how to do the restart on the web site.

Use the main search engine (the one in the string starting with the "Home" button) as this searches the entire forum. Just poke around and you will get familiarity with the search tool, and find many good pointers about the start up (and driving) needs.

Even with the fuel drained the car will let you know it was not happy sitting unused.

[Jordan]

Even with the fuel drained the car will let you know it was not happy sitting unused.

Truer words have never been spoken.  While sitting all that time it will have aged just like us and it will leak from places you didn't think could leak.  Regular use might clean up some of those leaks.  Happy motoring.

[Shvegel]

Hopefully, your electric fuel pump is turning or you may have already burned it up If you don't hear a whine from the left rear of the car with the key on pull the fuse immediately and rectify this.  New pumps are ridiculous money.  You will probably have issues with the injection pump as well since they really don't like sitting.  There have been a few posts about how to unstick them. 

[NoEcm]

Thanks. I had actually pulled the fuel pump fuse prior to cranking the engine over to build oil pressure.

On a side note while I had the fuse out I ran a compression check on the engine today:

Cylinder 1 165#
Cylinder 2 165#
Cylinder 3 160#
Cylinder 4 160#
Cylinder 5 160#
Cylinder 6 155#

Compression test numbers look OK. Next up. a leakdown test.

[FresnoBob]

I recently brought my 230 SL out of a 20+ year storage.  I boiled the fuel tank, rebuilt the fuel pump and replaced the fuel filter.  I still have fuel related challenges and just cleaned out my CSV nozzles, which weren't spraying, but rather were dribbling.  I used Marvel Mystery Oil with the first few tanks of gas. 

My car continues to be hard to start and I'm installing a momentary switch to override the one second relay.

Good luck with the road ahead!