Steeler4Life

Ok kinda a long story but stick with me. So my dad bought his 1985 f150 6cyl 4.9 new back in 84, drove it everyday up until roughly Nov. 2006. We went deer hunting out of state and when we came back it wouldn't start, he parked it and it has sat ever since. I just got it from him and want to get it running. Before it stopped working he did some work and replacements (starter, water pump, distributed, a few others) he was told when it stopped running the engine was shot and that's why he parked it (and he had just bought a new truck back then). About 6months ago my uncle who has worked on cars his whole life and is a mechanic was over and mentioned to me "if you put a new fuel pump and battery in it n drained the tank it would prolly start right up". Is this accurate? Is there more to it? I am mechanically inclined and know enough to get around a car but don't want to waste time or money. Please give me some advice as to where I should start. Thanks!

Steve83

Without knowing exactly why it stopped running, no one can guess what it will take to make it run again.

The 300ci is notoriously robust & long-lived; I doubt it's ruined, but anything's possible.

raski

Before I put anything into it, I would atleast see if you can manually rotate the engine with a breaker bar on the crank. If not, I would seriously give some thought if you want to tackle a project like that. Even if you can get it moving with some penetrant in the cylinders, those rings won't be in good shape running on those rusted cylinder walls.