[Sharc99]

Looking for infomation on winter storage, Last year I had my battery freeze up. Any info on do & don't please let me know.. I leave my car in the garage I started it maybe one a month for 20Minutes. In Feburay would not start went to jump it and battery post fell out? Luck car was under warranty and have new battery. Want to avoid this problem this year.

Thanks Mike :worship:

 

[JimD]

Good time to be thinking ahead and planning.

I would change the oil immediately before putting the car in storage.

I would not start the engine again until taking the car out of storage. The engine will not get hot enough at idle to vaporize the cold start fuel that will contaminate the oil.

Disconnect the battery negative terminal.

Place a 20W or 30W 120 volt light bulb close to the battery. Or store the battery in a warm location.

Use a trickle charger on the battery. If you do not have an automatic trickle charger, you can make a standard battery charger operate periodically. You can use two lamp timers both set to ON for one hour per day. Plug the first timer into the wall socket and plug the second timer into the first one. Then plug your battery charger into the second timer.

 

[Ur7x]

Place a 20W or 30W 120 volt light bulb close to the battery.

Scary Idea IMO! To much plastic/flammable stuff in an under the back seat... lets not loose sight of where the batteries live in these cars!

Or store the battery in a warm location.

Ya, do that!

Use a trickle charger on the battery. If you do not have an automatic trickle charger, you can make a standard battery charger operate periodically. You can use two lamp timers both set to ON for one hour per day. Plug the first timer into the wall socket and plug the second timer into the first one. Then plug your battery charger into the second timer.

Now that is a Cool and cheap idea! I'm going to use that for my 442!

By the way, a fully charge battery, stored in the house should last 4-5 months and easily and make it over the winter without any special treatment or charging.

I would inflate the tires to the maximum pressure on the side wall too. Slow leak - flat-spot in spring

 

[iametarq]

Do cars in storage need "Stabil" put in the gas tank or "fogging oil"

My dad and I put this stuff in our boat when we store it for the winter. I wondered if cars would follow the same pattern?

 

[EcSTSatic]

Good time to be thinking ahead and planning.

I would change the oil immediately before putting the car in storage.

I would not start the engine again until taking the car out of storage. The engine will not get hot enough at idle to vaporize the cold start fuel that will contaminate the oil.

Disconnect the battery negative terminal.

Place a 20W or 30W 120 volt light bulb close to the battery. Or store the battery in a warm location.

Use a trickle charger on the battery. If you do not have an automatic trickle charger, you can make a standard battery charger operate periodically. You can use two lamp timers both set to ON for one hour per day. Plug the first timer into the wall socket and plug the second timer into the first one. Then plug your battery charger into the second timer.

These are good thoughts but I have some questions:

1) If you don't recommend starting the car (and there are good reasons not to that I will address) then why bother changing the oil? Why not drain it and refill it just before pulling it out of storage? Just be sure to hang a big red flag that says "Add oil before starting"!
2) I can live with disconnecting the battery. I would get one of the "smart" 3-stage chargers that know when the battery is fully charged. you can leave it on and forget it.
Starting the car drains the battery each time. I'm not sure how long it really takes to top it off again. It also creates corrosive acids that will rot in your exhaust system. I'm not sure this is relevant to stainless steel though.

Regarding the gas tank, Stabil is a good idea. Maybe even some gas dryer. There is a school of thought that says a full tank doesn't leave room for moisture to condense too.

You would also need to oil fog the cylinders so that they do not oxidize.

The flip side is that starting the car and even running your A/C occasionally will keep your seals soft. You wouldn't have to worry about the cylinders either. Maybe a combination of ideas is best.

Also TireRack has some tips on taking care of tires in storage.

These are just my expressed thoughts. They are not endorsed by this site.

 

[oldgamer]

I use old 120/12V AC/DC adapter. Just plug in into the lighter and no need to disconnect the battery. It keeps battery always charged. Sometimes I don't touch car weeks, so I use it. It's simple and easy.

 

[Sharc99]

I believe there are good ideas here. The first few years I did start my car twice a month so I believe I will stick to that so it keeps the oil flowing. I will add this year a charger on the battery. I will be keeping it in a garage so the timer is great idea. I always fill the tank before storage. But I forgot one thing last year. When I took the car out of storage one of my tires had a flat spot. I found it a little to late! in Florida 1500 miles from home so I had to get one new tire. I will place the car on some kind of jack stands this year.

Thanks for some ideas..

These are good thoughts but I have some questions:

1) If you don't recommend starting the car (and there are good reasons not to that I will address) then why bother changing the oil? Why not drain it and refill it just before pulling it out of storage? Just be sure to hang a big red flag that says "Add oil before starting"!
2) I can live with disconnecting the battery. I would get one of the "smart" 3-stage chargers that know when the battery is fully charged. you can leave it on and forget it.
Starting the car drains the battery each time. I'm not sure how long it really takes to top it off again. It also creates corrosive acids that will rot in your exhaust system. I'm not sure this is relevant to stainless steel though.

Regarding the gas tank, Stabil is a good idea. Maybe even some gas dryer. There is a school of thought that says a full tank doesn't leave room for moisture to condense too.

You would also need to oil fog the cylinders so that they do not oxidize.

The flip side is that starting the car and even running your A/C occasionally will keep your seals soft. You wouldn't have to worry about the cylinders either. Maybe a combination of ideas is best.

Also TireRack has some tips on taking care of tires in storage.

These are just my expressed thoughts. They are not endorsed by this site.

 

[oldgamer]

I think that restarting engine twice a month does more bad than good.
Every time engine runs in worse mode possible. Two weeks enough to oil to be on a bottom, and every time engine starts it will be on a bottom. Yes, engine spread oil very fast after restart, so why not to allow it to do it one time in spring? Idle just makes more carbon. Engine temperature will jump every time for relatively short time. Not very good either. It will generate more moisture. Not much battery charge, more drain.

 

[mccombie_5]

I have just set a thread up in the Lounge not having seen this.

Anythign i should know, I am storing a VW Phaeton DIESEL, a Cadillac ESV Platinum, a Vauxhall AStra, a Vauxhall Vectra, and a Rover GTa.

All in a garage, and a barn.

Anything else i should do regardign all fluids?

 

[iametarq]

For a car, would I spray the Fogging Oil into the Throttle Body? I know where we spray it in for the boat, but I'm not sure its the same place on a car. I'm not a mechanical genius, I only know what my father has taught me.

 

[KHE]

Change the oil immediately before driving to the storage facility. You want fresh oil on the bearings, etc. while it is in storage, not old oil which may have acids in it.

You don't need to store the car with a full tank of fuel. This always seems to start a huge debate on sucking moisture in but the fact is that the tank is so sealed, it won't draw in any moisture unless you remove the fuel cap when it is in storage.

You can spray fogging oil into the throttle body or you can run the car low on fuel, mix 5 gallons of gasoline with 2-cycle oil to a 30:1 or 40:1 ratio and run that for a day prior to changing the engine oil. The pre-mix will effectively fog everything and protect it until you get the car out in the spring.

I remove my battery from the car and keep it charged up on a periodic basis.

DO NOT start the car on a periodic basis while it is in storage. All that does is load the exhaust with water and the oil with combustion blow-by which will contaminate the engine oil and form acids. There is no way that idling the engine will get the oil hot enough to boil off the contaminates. Prep it properly, park it, and leave it alone until spring.

 

[EcSTSatic]

I have just set a thread up in the Lounge not having seen this.

Anythign i should know, I am storing a VW Phaeton DIESEL, a Cadillac ESV Platinum, a Vauxhall AStra, a Vauxhall Vectra, and a Rover GTa.

All in a garage, and a barn.

Anything else i should do regardign all fluids?

What do you do for rodents and other critters in the barn that like to nest and chew on auto parts?

 

[caddydaddy]

For a car, would I spray the Fogging Oil into the Throttle Body? I know where we spray it in for the boat, but I'm not sure its the same place on a car. I'm not a mechanical genius, I only know what my father has taught me.

Yes, you want to spray it into the throttle body with the intake ducting off and a warm engine. Spray enough so the engine stalls from too much oil getting in. Then your engine will be properly fogged.
There's some good tips here, but what I have done for years storing my old and new Caddys is to fog the engine, add fuel stabilizer, disconnect or trickle charge the battery, and inflate the tires to max to prevent flat spots.


I also add mothballs in small containers to the interior, trunk and engine compartment to keep mice out. I also use a dessicant made for a small room in the interior to keep any moisture and mold problems out. I also tape or cable tie a zip lock bag over all the exhaust tips to keep mice from building a nest in the exhaust system. It's also good to either do this to the intake hose, or just check before the air filter in the spring to make sure there aren't any nests there!

 

[KHE]

What do you do for rodents and other critters in the barn that like to nest and chew on auto parts?

I store my car in a garage that rodents can't get in but if your storage area has a rodent problem, plug the intake to the throttle body as well as the exhaust outlets with steel wool. Scatter moth balls around the floor outside the car, and...

Make a "bucket trap" - use a 5 gallon bucket, a beer can, and a piece of coat hanger. Drill a hole in each end of the beer can for the coat hanger wire, duct tape the coat hanger to the rim of the bucket and then smear peanut butter in a ring around the beer can. Place a short length of 2x4 on the rim of the bucket as a ramp but keep it far enough away from the beer can.

Put about a gallon of windshield washer juice in the bucket. When a rodent attempts to get the peanut butter, he will fall in the washer juice and drown.

Simple but effective.

 

[mccombie_5]

What do you do for rodents and other critters in the barn that like to nest and chew on auto parts?

The barn is prepped for storage, i had a new concrete floor put down, and it is stone built, so the walls are sealed, there is a flas ceiling in at the moment, nothing can get in throug there, the roof space is left for anything that might want it, there is an owl hanging aroun that i think lives up there. The doors are new and made of Hardwood, and the whole lot is sealed.

and just incase

mousetraps by the dozen

TH barn is used amost every day, so i havent really got mucht o worry abotu, it has a snooker table etc for the kids and their pals.

 

[thu]

You might wanna check in on it every so often just in case .....