Restarting a car that sat for five years requires more than installing a fresh battery and hoping for the familiar sound of an engine catching. The biggest mistake can happen before the engine starts, when someone turns the key and immediately spins a motor whose internal parts have spent years sitting still.
That first crank deserves patience. An engine that has sat for years may have lost protective oil from cylinder walls and other surfaces, while old fuel, degraded rubber, corrosion, rodents, and contaminated fluids create separate problems. AAA specifically warns that long periods of storage can bring dead batteries, stale fuel, rusty brakes, tire problems, and animal damage.
