long term storage .. 3+ months

[Stealth]

with wiinter approaching fast, some of you must be thinking and wondering of what to do?

how will you store the vehicles away from the salt, the slush, and corrosion ...?








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[JJhomer83]

Originally Posted by Stealth

with wiinter approaching fast, some of you must be thinking and wondering of what to do?

how will you store the vehicles away from the salt, the slush, and corrosion ...?

If i can get a beater car in the next couple of weeks my car goes into storeage.
if it does go i give it a "day" detail. I spend all day cleaning it in my garage. Then I change all of the fluids and cover it and i let it sit. Start it up every once in awhile and that's about it.
So if anyone has any suggestions that would be great

[Stealth]

Originally Posted by JJhomer83

....................
Start it up every once in awhile and that's about it.

So if anyone has any suggestions that would be great

Josh, not a good idea to start it up in storage .. read on ...



these are the ones i heard from the pros:

don't jack the car .. (don't know why & still wondering)

pump tires to the maximum on the sidewall before storage .. do not apply silicone tire dressing (cracks rubber)...

check ALL drain holes, make sure they are CLEAN and open ...

apply WD-40, white grease, & die-electric grease as you go along to all applicable parts, connectors. etc ...

lotion leather/vinyl with lanolin, mink oil, neatfoot oil / creams .. silicone & petroleum will dry and crack vinyl & leather ...

disconnect battery to avoid draining (a dead battery will freeze and split)...

place electronic rodent repellants as they will "camp" in the car and often chew wires...

plug the tail pipe...

Don't flush trani. Why hook your trans up to some equipment and get the debris from the last transmission they flushed dumped into yours...

on 4.1 & 4.5 engines, change coolant with 50/50 mix, add the supplement .. will save the head gaskets for another day .. supplement: two of the clear tubes of the BarsLeaks “Gold” in your engine to guard against coolant intrusion into the oil. Use the green conventional coolant, Prestone or Texaco, mixed 50/50 with DISTILLED water ... wanna skip? repair $2,300


on '87 to '92, flush the ABS .. will save the ABS seals for another day ...wanna skip? repair $1,300


change oil & filter, trani oil & filter...

check fuel cap for sealing ...there is little to no danger of condensation building up in the tank and causing water problems. fuel "weathers" very little in storage (under 6 months), the fuel tank is not vented to atmosphere, there is little if any evaporation of the fuel...

wash & wax .. then apply “Mothers Back to Black” to black plastic surfaces, “KRYTOX” to all weather seals ...

never NEVER use or place within 50 ft of the car a bottle of Armorall or any other silicone product ............. implants excepted?
...


fuel injected cars: a week before storage add the two-stroke pre-mix oil to get a 40:1 ratio with tank fuel, and drive most of the tank thru the engine and then park it for storage. Forget any other additives. this should "fog" the internal engine parts with oil as the premix will coat and cling to all the internal parts, exhaust valves, exhaust system, etc ...

most important:
get the car/engine THOROUGHLY warmed up, BY DRIVING IT 15 min or longer, then drive it into storage and leave it alone until you are ready to remove the car from storage. DO NOT start it up in storage or occasionally as all this does is put byproducts into the oil, water into the exhaust system, and corrosion .. need to move the car? PUSH it ...

brakes ABS .. with nothing running, key OFF, pump brake pedal 25 times to release the ABS pressure .. you won't be needing the brakes until spring & will relax the seals .. (by the time you do are at this item, ABS got flushed, right?) ... wanna skip? repair $1,300

COLD, DRY, DARK storage is best .. damp / warmth storage promotes corrosion .. sunlight deteriorates fabrics and leather .. a dehumidifier will dry the air nicely...

although some of the items here are for the Allanté, most of this can be applied to all cars ...

see ya in spring ..........

[JJhomer83]

VERY INFORMATIVE
thanks a lot. Now i just have to hope that i can find a beater in my price range so i can store the car.

[Stace]

Zal,

Amazing! All these years in SOCAL and you can still remember how you had to cope in upper NY state! Maybe all those adult beverages didn't hurt after all.

btw ... took the top off last weekend and will leave it off this winter unless we drive it to Irvine. The daytime weather here is still georgeous ... high 70's in the day. Nights are for driving the Seville ... low 30's; still no sign of snow.

Good to see you around,

[Stealth]

Stace,

maybe those beverages made me not forget the Albany/Syracuse years?

where is your avatar?

this site IS picture friendly, in case you have not noticed...

and don't you love the "smilies" .. you did catch the line on silicone on the post above?

anyways, glad to see ya around here .. maybe with time there will be more ...

[Ralph]

Or just park it in a garage and don't worry about it. Just disconnect the battery to prevent shorts. Mine has sat through 12 winters in a garage for 5-6 months at a time, and no trouble. It even has the original rad hoses.

[Stealth]

Originally Posted by Ralph

Or just park it in a garage and don't worry about it. Just disconnect the battery to prevent shorts. Mine has sat through 12 winters in a garage for 5-6 months at a time, and no trouble. It even has the original rad hoses.

Ralph,

an Allanté is not a Fleetwood .. she has unique requirements ...

cannot store that way you suggest and guarantee preservation of ABS, engine top seals, recaro leather, aluminum panels.

[jim e]

The electrontc rodent deterrents do not work save your $ as they are worthless.I purchased one from brookstone couple years back and have seen mice inches away from it.the make was transonic, just my 2 cents jim

[Kcryan]

just thought it might be a good time to bring this back to life....
KC Ryan

[Sandy]

Seems excessive for 90 days, to me.

[Kcryan]

for 90 days it might be but here in rochester its much longer than 90 days so its not too bad
KC Ryan

[BeelzeBob]

Whatever you do to store it the main thing is to NOT start the engine periodically. Just warm it up good, park it and leave it. All the other things are great to do but you can undo any sort of prep by starting the engine occasionally. That just puts tons of water and junk into the oil and exhaust that cannot be dried out unless you drive it. Park it and leave it.

The two stroke premix prep works for all cars and all engines...not just fuel injected engines. In fact, I would say that it is far more important for carbureted engines than fuel injected engines as the light coating of residual oil in the carb prevents any varnish from sticking to jets and such during storage and since the oil will not dry out it keeps gaskets and such pliable and keeps them from shrinking as happens when the gas dries out of the float bowls.

[Stealth]

WINTER 2008 approaching ...

a quote from the past with some important additions and edits ...


It is of IMO that the best is to install your hard top for the winter and stow the soft top down.
Now that I said that, the soft top should be stretched now and then, specially when it gets wet. Never ever stow soft top damp. Soft top's enemy is weather, UV light, moisture - In the Allante, the soft top cover removes those three issues providing dry and dark stowage. But if you stretch it in the summer months, THAT is all you should need.

If the car has NO HARD TOP, I would still stow soft top down, well protected under the soft top cover. Then cover the car itself.

I currently got three rag top cars, and the soft tops stay stowed. yes, cars do get covered, mainly to keep UV light away as much as possible & from getting scratches Dust is not the issue, after all, they usually need a good wash when they roll out.

Originally Posted by Stealth

Josh, not a good idea to start it up in storage .. read on ...



these are the ones i heard from the pros:

don't jack the car .. (don't know why & still wondering)

pump tires to the maximum on the sidewall before storage .. do not apply silicone tire dressing (cracks rubber)...

check ALL drain holes, make sure they are CLEAN and open ...

apply WD-40, white grease, & die-electric grease as you go along to all applicable parts, connectors. etc ...

lotion leather/vinyl with lanolin, mink oil, neatfoot oil / creams .. silicone & petroleum will dry and crack vinyl & leather ...

disconnect battery to avoid draining (a dead battery will freeze and split)...

place electronic rodent repellents as they will "camp" in the car and often chew wires...

plug the tail pipe...

Don't flush trani. Why hook your trans up to some equipment and get the debris from the last transmission they flushed dumped into yours...

edit on 10-09-2008 .. on ALL ALUMINUM ENGINES, change coolant with 50/50 mix, add the supplement .. will save the head gaskets for another day .. supplement: two of the clear tubes of the BarsLeaks “Gold” in your engine to guard against coolant intrusion into the oil. Use the green conventional coolant, Prestone or Texaco, mixed 50/50 with DISTILLED water ... wanna skip? repair $2,300


on '87 to '92, flush the ABS .. will save the ABS seals for another day ...wanna skip? repair $1,300


change oil & filter, trani oil & filter...

check fuel cap for sealing ...there is little to no danger of condensation building up in the tank and causing water problems. fuel "weathers" very little in storage (under 6 months), the fuel tank is not vented to atmosphere, there is little if any evaporation of the fuel...

wash & wax .. then apply “Mothers Back to Black” to black plastic surfaces, “KRYTOX” to all weather seals ...

never NEVER use or place within 50 ft of the car a bottle of Armorall or any other silicone product ............. implants excepted?
...


fuel injected cars: a week before storage add the two-stroke pre-mix oil to get a 40:1 ratio with tank fuel, and drive most of the tank thru the engine and then park it for storage. Forget any other additives. this should "fog" the internal engine parts with oil as the premix will coat and cling to all the internal parts, exhaust valves, exhaust system, etc ...

most important:
get the car/engine THOROUGHLY warmed up, BY DRIVING IT 15 min or longer, then drive it into storage and leave it alone until you are ready to remove the car from storage. DO NOT start it up in storage or occasionally as all this does is put byproducts into the oil, water into the exhaust system, and corrosion .. need to move the car? PUSH it ...

brakes ABS .. with nothing running, key OFF, pump brake pedal 25 times to release the ABS pressure .. you won't be needing the brakes until spring & will relax the seals .. (by the time you do are at this item, ABS got flushed, right?) ... wanna skip? repair $1,300

COLD, DRY, DARK storage is best .. damp / warmth storage promotes corrosion .. sunlight deteriorates fabrics and leather .. a dehumidifier will dry the air nicely...

although some of the items here are for the Allanté, most of this can be applied to all cars ...

see ya in spring ..........