Winter storage

[Canucklehead]

What would you have to do to a car for long/short time storage?. What about a car that's not driven much but still needs the proper care. Is sta-bil nessasary for short term storage?. Should the car be up on stands?, should the fliuds be drained? What's your input?

[Stuart Adams]

Best way to winterize is move to AZ. Sorry couldn't resist, and have no educational info. of value on the subject. But I'm sure a bunch of guys here can help. Suppose to be 85 degreees at home next week, finally fall is coming.

[camarojoe]

Stuart you suck.j/k... When i store cars over the winter, all I do is disconnect the battery, and forget about em til spring. I've never had any fuel problems, or flat spotted tires, or any of the other horror stories everyone always starts talking about around this time of year. I uncover them, put the battery cable on, run the starter around a few times, fire it up, and change the oil in the spring. I do recommend keeping the tank near full during the winter, as in the springtime as the weather starts to fluctuate between warm days and cold nights, sweat and condensation can form in the tank and mix in a little water with your gas... keeping the tank full seems to prevent this.

[Supercar_Kid]

DO definitely pull the coil wire off and run the motor over a few times before starting after sitting all winter. This will get things lubed up a little before that initial fire-up after the oil has been draining into the pan all winter. Also, a leaky head gasket can cause a piston to hydraulic and bend a rod, valve, etc. upon initial startup. it's a rare occurence but I've seen it happen. Running the engine over using just the starter will help identify these situations before they're disasterous. Stuart's right...moving to Arizona would help too!

[Kurt S]

[ QUOTE ]
DO definitely pull the coil wire off and run the motor over a few times before starting after sitting all winter. This will get things lubed up a little before that initial fire-up after the oil has been draining into the pan all winter. Also, a leaky head gasket can cause a piston to hydraulic and bend a rod, valve, etc. upon initial startup. it's a rare occurence but I've seen it happen. Running the engine over using just the starter will help identify these situations before they're disasterous.

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't agree with the oil part. Oil drains back to the pan every night and cars start just fine. A week or a year, there's about the same oil film left on a part. It's not like it's gonna fire on the first crank anyway; the fuel pump needs to pump in some fuel (to replace what's flashed off from the carb).
Not sure you'd find a leaky head gasket. If the cylinder was already full, it wouldn't crank. And if it was leaking it wouldn't fill fast enough to hydra-lock.
I'm with Joe on this one. Park it and disconnect the battery.
Sitting for 3-6 months w/o running is not hard on the car. Running it once a month can be hard on the exhaust. It doesn't get hot enough to burn off the acids and can help the exhaust pipes rust.

[camarojoe]

Actually, SK Kid is right, I know, because he was referencing what happened to me... and an engine WILL crank over when a cylinder is full of gas... and if it fires and starts before that particular cylinder has reached BDC and let the gas out the bottom of the cylinder... BOOM... rebuild time... Disagree all you want, and it may not be something that you need to worry about 99 times out of 100, but it CAN and did happen to me. I still have the bent rod and scored piston on a shelf to prove it. I blame it on a leaky Holley that alllowed fuel to run into the intake and puddle on top of 1 cylinder after sitting for an extended period of time.

[lzdick]

I agree with the full tank suggestion...no need for stabilizing additives. The battery is disconnected and on a constant trickle-charge. I use a BatteryMINDer®...it's great. I fire it up the first of each month to full temperature. Run it for approximately 20 to 30 minutes. That takes care of the "Holley leaker" issues. The car is covered and sits on its tires: No problems. The garage is climate controlled but I don't see it would be a problem outside of the heated environment.

[ANDY M]

Holley's don't leak. They are just marking their territory.

[Mr70]

I don't recommend putting the car up on stands or the like.
It doesn't help the suspension,it just causes more problems once it's lowered later on.
And your insurance company doesn't like it either.
God forbid there's a Fire,or similar situation,you won't be able to get the vehicle out of harms way fast enough.

[hvychev]

Joey show them how NOT to store a car for the winter!