Q: How do I start up a car that hasn't been driven in over 5 years.
My aunt recently gave me her car that she no longer uses. I am extremely excited but the only issue is that she hasn't driven it in 5 years. It has been sitting in her driveway for 5 years because she has a new car now and never drives the Beetle. My question to you is what is the first step to fixing it. I understand I'll need to jump it but what about after that? The car doors won't even open because the battery is so dead. Should I just spare the time and just get it towed? Any advice at this point would be helpful so please get back to me ASAP. Also I am totally an amateur with cars so there's no way I would be able to fix it myself. Probably the most complicated thing I could do is jump it. My car has a manual transmission.
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If you don’t feel confident, I recommend you just hand the job over to a professional. Even to the point of not trying to jump the car yourself. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fielded questions from people who have nuked their car’s computers by momentarily connecting the cables backwards. You can do a lot of damage in the blink of an eye. That said: the car most likely needs a new battery, so the best thing to do instead of jumping it is to purchase a new battery and install it before trying anything else. The car might fire right up, if not, it may be that the fuel will have to be pumped out and refreshed. Once you get it running, it would be a good idea to change the oil and all the other fluids. You can have this done by a pro by contacting Your Mechanic. They can send a technician to your home or office to resurrect your VW right there on the spot.
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