My 93 Accord LX 5-speed has been on jack stands in the garage for 2.5 years and I'm finally getting close to getting it running again. I didn't plan on it taking this long or I would have put some gas treatment in the tank or drained the fuel in the first place.

I plan to drain the tank via the drain plug. My question is do I need to flush the fuel lines? If so how? I've seen debate on other sites about running clean fuel out through the pump to flush the lines. I was thinking of removing the fuel filter and slipping a plastic hose over the fitting and down to a can. If I push the car out in the driveway there should be good ventilation if there is a breeze.

Ideas or opinions?

 

The fuel filter should remove most of the debris in the line from the tank. So I would remove the fuel rail and clean it out, since that is past the fuel filter.

This is what I would do, maybe others have a better plan.

Drain old gas and check if there is a lot of crap in there. Fill tank. Drive car until ~1/4 of tank is left. That should force any crud to the fuel filter and anything in the return line back to the tank. Drain tank then replace fuel filter.

 

I'd probably add one thing to what PA said... Remove the access cover for the fuel pump, then the pump itself. Use an inspection mirror to look around inside the tank. You're looking for corrosion on the tank walls, ABOVE the liquid level. Unfortunately, if it's bad, you're gonna be shopping for a new tank.

 

I removed the rear seat but found the access cover is actually in the far front end of the trunk. There only seem to be electrical connections at this spot. The Haynes manual says this is the spot to check for voltage to the pump but to change the pump you have to remove the tank.

I wonder if I let it go and there is rust in the tank will it just keep clogging up the fuel filter or will it do damage to the engine?

When I started this thread I was mostly worried about the old gas getting some kind of gunk past the fuel filter and ruining the engine.

 

I guess if rust is falling into the gasoline, it'll clog up the filter. But there's also a fine mesh screen at the inlet of the pump. If that gets plugged up, then you can open the fuel tank.

If you can see the pump mounting flange from that cover in the trunk, then I wonder why you can't change the pump from there? Well, I never owned a '93...

 

Pump is not under the rear trunk flange, just the fuel gauge sensor movement. Pump is in the tank on the driver's side and not accessible unless tank is dropped. You might remove the fuel gauge sensor and inspect through that opening. Unless you have a mirror and light you may not be able to see the corrosion. It should be on top side of the tank (air and moisture).

My 94EX was pristine after 13 yrs of use, but it had never been stored for 2.5 yrs either.

good luck

 

OK, good idea. Remove whatever cover you can, to inspect.

Normally, the vapor pressure of gasoline causes it to slowly evaporate through the EVAP canister, displacing the air. So it's likely that there's really not much oxygen in the tank during storage (also during driving). No oxygen = no corrosion.

But extended storage can do strange things and it seems worthwhile to inspect...

 

Thanks to everyone who helped I got the car running.

One final question: Does anyone know how much torque is recommended for the gas tank drain plug? I put 20 ft-lbs on it and it barked a little and isn't leaking. I plan to spray it with some undercoating spray like it was before I scraped it off to remove the plug.

When I inspected the inside of the tank it looked really clean. This car was in an attached garage the whole time so it didn't have the whole sunshine/freeze cycles going while it was sitting. The fuel itself looked yellow. I siphoned through the sending unit access cover then drained through the drain plug. That left probably a gallon or two due to the ridged design of the tank so I put in a fresh couple of gallons to try to flush some of it out.

I ended up removing the fuel filter, attaching a hose to the line from the pump and running it down into a can (using a funnel as a splash shield). I had box fans blowing under the car while I did this with the garage door open. It took turning the key to run position a few times to get 1/2 gallon into the can.

Then I removed the fuel rail and drained out the fuel that was still in there. After I put it all back together I had to turn it over for 10-15 seconds to get some fuel to the plugs but then it fired right up.

By the way; The Haynes manual recommended using a brass punch to remove the sending unit from the tank to avoid sparks. I only found one auto parts store in the area that had brass punches and they wanted $30 for a set. I found a hardware store that had 3/8" brass all-thread for $8 for a 12" piece. I ground off the threads on one end and it worked pretty well.

I plan to drain and refill the power steering fluid next. The clutch fluid got flushed out already. Drain/bleed the brake lines and it should be good to go.