After 2 years, I'm back... but my 240 has been sitting for as long, help?

[Yoshi]

Originally Posted by HYPNOTIK

Check your battery, change the oil, tranny oil, brake fluid, coolant flush, check the PS fluid, drain the gas tank(I mean take it off and dump it), whatever tires you had are most likely dry rotted so get new ones. I'd check over your brake calipers good to make sure the rubber seals are not dry rotting. Change the diff oil. Make sure you don't have any bug infestations. I'm sure there is more that I'm missing...

Good points all! Thank you!
I guess I should've mentioned environmental stuffs.
The car has been garaged the whole time, and on the stands so I know the tires are good (they'd best be, they had like 500mi on them). VLSD is sealed.
Really good call on the brake caliper seals. That's exactly the sort of stuff I was looking for people to mention, I totally would've overlooked that, thanks!

Keep'em coming

[oni jake]

pulled from another forum

Your biggest concern IMO is condensation. A 1/4 tank leaves a lot of air space for temperature variations and humidity to accumulate moisture in the tank. Moisture (water) and gas do not mix. The water is heavier than gas and settles at the bottom of the tank, which may produce rust which can quickly clog fuel filters leaving you stranded and/or lead to a leaking tank.

If you want the car to function reliably, lift the car, remove the tank, remove the sender unit, drain the old gas, inspect the inside of the tank for rust (repair or replace tank if necessary) and reassemble. Refill with new gas. Safely dispose of the old stuff.

Water aside, two years is not long enough to allow gas to deteriorate much.
Some of the more volatile components of gas may evaporate, which may affect the performance of the gas, such as more knock and ping, more deposits in the engine, etc. However, IMO if you were to simply fill the tank with fresh fuel, the existing gas would be mixed and diluted and likely could be burned in the engine just fine.

To be honest taking out the entire fuel tank on a 240 seems like an unjustly amount of work. Especially since it's the entire rust thing isn't comparable with plastic fuel tanks.

I would probably burn through an hour of gas just idling, change oil, change anti-freeze, go drive, back things back in, then I would go for the Tran and Diff oil.