1990 Lumina Won't Start

[90 Lumina]

Hi All,

First off I want to introduce myself. The names Ryan. Automobiles are a great enjoyment to me. I enjoy tinking on them and just recently driving them I live in Wisconsin and I am 15(almost 16) years old. My parents have always been Chevy people, we used to have a 198? Chevy 1 ton pickup and a 198? Chevy Celebrity. Now we have a 1999 Lumina. Now to my question, I am looking to purchase my first car. A buddy of mine has a 1990 Lumina Euro with 213,000 miles. It has been sitting for a couple of months(2-3). I tried to start it today and it would not run. It has plenty of gas. It would not even sputter, justed cranked. Where would be a good place to start. Some starting fluid in the intake? Also would this be a good starter car for me? Any concern over the high miles. Thank you all so much and great site.
Ryan

[decollect]

First I'd pull a plug wire and test for spark. Second, if its been sitting for 3 months, the gasoline could have started to break down, putting some fresh fuel in it may be enough to bring the octane back up to running level. However, 3 months is NOT that much time and gasoline doesn't break down that much in such a short time. As far as mileage? hehehehe I have a 90 with the 2.5 that I bought for $200.00 with 265k on it. It now has 315k and up till just the other day NEVER let me down. I live in Delaware and have on several occasions taken it to Pittsburgh and back (about 750 miles round trip) with ZERO problems and ZERO oil consumption. Mind you, the engine in this 300k plus beast only has about 150k on it. But hey, most 4 bangers at 150k are pretty close to wore out if they weren't cared for so I think this one's pretty darn good. So don't let mileage scare you IF you can get good, reliable intel on how well the upkeep was done during the 213k miles that are on YOUR prospective car.

[jd-autotech]

pull the wires off the coil packs and if they are rusted clean with emery cloth and grese clean metal contacts in the wires and see if that helps

[90 Lumina]

Gentleman,
Thank-You for the responce. I tryed starting it when it was 30 degrees instead of 0 degrees and it started! Thanks