I pull the battery and leave it on a battery tender out of the car when the car is stored. I leave the top up but unlatched. I leave the windows with a tiny crack. I put anti rodent stuff that I use in the trunk, in the engine bay, and in the interior. I pull the air box top off, I plug the exhaust pipes, I leave the emergency brake off, I leave the transmission in reverse, I pump the tires up to just below the max pressure on the sidewall, I leave it with a full tank of fuel with a dose of fuel stabilizer. Right before it goes into storage and the cover goes on I drive it and get it hot and let the stabilized fuel run through the engine. When it goes to sleep it is clean inside and out. I generally put it away with newish oil in the engine, transmission and dif. Every six months I take it out of storage for a week or two and drive it like I said above. Otherwise it stays asleep. My decision not to start it every week or every month is based on my own personal opinion that it would do more harm than good, (not based of the internet), and the reality that it would be a big project given the distance from my home.

 

Yeah I'm not understanding why the OM states to run it periodically.....generally speaking you'd be doing a TON of idling to get it up to oil temp, and sometimes driving the car isn't an option (insurance coverage @ min, snow/salty roads) I just think it would cause unnecessary wear on the cylinder walls after all the oil has leaked down. I'm going to spray some of that oil fog into my intake right before I lock shop for the season, but I'm not going to bother with getting some on top of the pistons....I'd rather not mess with removing plugs if I don't have to.

What do you use as rodent repellent? Some of the storage guides say they use pure peppermint oil. I'm okay with that or some kind of odor-free product, but no way in hell am I using mothballs. I'm also going to grab either a jug of silica gel beads or some kind of dessicant. Supposedly too it's suggested that a tarp is placed over the cement surface the car is sitting on to prevent any kind of moisture rising to the undercarriage. I'm not sure which of these steps are absolute necessities aside from pumping up tires, windows cracked, full tank of gas, top up/not latched, rodent repellent, plugging orfices (lol).

 

Lately I have been using peppermint oil. I soak a few cotton balls, place them in open plastic containers, and place the containers in the various areas. So far so good. I think the biggest thing is to be sure the interior is clean - remove any food crumbs, and I also remover any paper etc from glove box and I put the contents of the glove box in a cardboard box to be stored separately.Also, if you put it to bed late in the fall the rodents have already made their nests elsewhere and that reduces chance of issues.

But, to answer the original question, as long as you put it away properly I don't' think two years is too long to leave it under covers. Still, if its not too difficult for you, my recommendation would be to give it a little exercise and then put it back.

 

 

Peppermint oil is supposed to keep rodents away and definitely smells better than mothballs. I've used a sheet of plastic under my car, mostly when it was in unheated storage. Don't forget to treat your leather seats, roof, rubber seals etc. I usually don't start vehicles up during the winter. This year I probably will as the cars will be in a new garage. I'm installing a hoist, so I'll be moving them around some to do some tinkering. I started using Molyslip E and Pennzoil Synthetic after the second oil change in the S2000. I knew the car would be driven infrequently due to work and shit weather during the driving season, and not at all for months at a time in the winter. Molyslip sticks to metal surfaces, so there is no metal to metal contact on cold startups.

rpg51, just wondering, why do you take the air box cover off when storing your car?

 

If I were a mouse I'd want to hang out inside that closed airbox. Seems like a nice cozy place to raise a mouse family. Not so much with the top off.