What to do when storing a car
11-26-2010, 04:54 PM
#21
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I bought a set of salad shooters with dog **** tires to sit the car on over the winter months. I start it ever 2 weeks and let it run for 15-20 minutes. It's really nice hearing it start up a couple times a month.
11-27-2010, 09:14 AM
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Put a cover on it if you can. It keeps sun out of the interior and keeps snow, ice, bird poo, leaves, and bird claws off of it. Be sure to use some sort of ties on the cover between the sides behind the front tires and in front of the back tires to keep it from catching wind and flapping around.
I take the battery out and keep it in the garage. I hook up a battery tender every month or so to keep it topped off. In the old days when battery cases were made out of hard rubber/asphaltic compounds it was a bad thing to set it on concrete. Not so much any more, but it's better for it to be off the concrete and charged. A discharged battery in contact with the cold floor can freeze.
It's best to change the oil before storing it, but not absolutely required. If you're like most of us you don't have too many miles on your oil, anyway. Miles equals contaminants and acids. The acids can cause corrosion. Oil is cheap.
I counsel against starting it up for a few minutes for several reasons. I suspect the biggest reason to start it up is to "keep things lubricated." So, you'll have many low-lube startups instead of just the one at the beginning of the next season. When you start a cold engine with cold exhaust in the cold winter, moisture in the exhaust will condense inside the exhaust pipes and muffler. This condensate will be acidic. You would have to start it and run it hot enough, long enough, to drive out all the moisture you just put in it. Twenty minutes is not enough. Thirty minutes is not long enough.
Then there's all the dicking around with batteries and covers each time. If you don't keep your battery topped off then you're allowing sulphates (sulphites?) to build up on your battery plates and shortening its life.
I store from Nov-March and haven't had problems with tires getting flat-spotted.
Instead of Sta-Bil, I've started using Sea Foam in my gas. It's worked wonders on cleaning out the fuel systems of a couple of old bikes I've recently purchased, and it keeps gas cleaner over time. I like it in all the seasonal lawn equipment, too, even when running dry for storage.
I don't like DexCool, and have changed mine over to green. Change it at 2yr intervals. Not much else to say on that.
I take the battery out and keep it in the garage. I hook up a battery tender every month or so to keep it topped off. In the old days when battery cases were made out of hard rubber/asphaltic compounds it was a bad thing to set it on concrete. Not so much any more, but it's better for it to be off the concrete and charged. A discharged battery in contact with the cold floor can freeze.
It's best to change the oil before storing it, but not absolutely required. If you're like most of us you don't have too many miles on your oil, anyway. Miles equals contaminants and acids. The acids can cause corrosion. Oil is cheap.
I counsel against starting it up for a few minutes for several reasons. I suspect the biggest reason to start it up is to "keep things lubricated." So, you'll have many low-lube startups instead of just the one at the beginning of the next season. When you start a cold engine with cold exhaust in the cold winter, moisture in the exhaust will condense inside the exhaust pipes and muffler. This condensate will be acidic. You would have to start it and run it hot enough, long enough, to drive out all the moisture you just put in it. Twenty minutes is not enough. Thirty minutes is not long enough.
Then there's all the dicking around with batteries and covers each time. If you don't keep your battery topped off then you're allowing sulphates (sulphites?) to build up on your battery plates and shortening its life.
I store from Nov-March and haven't had problems with tires getting flat-spotted.
Instead of Sta-Bil, I've started using Sea Foam in my gas. It's worked wonders on cleaning out the fuel systems of a couple of old bikes I've recently purchased, and it keeps gas cleaner over time. I like it in all the seasonal lawn equipment, too, even when running dry for storage.
I don't like DexCool, and have changed mine over to green. Change it at 2yr intervals. Not much else to say on that.
