My ap2 s2000 is currently sitting in the garage for the winter, usually start it up at least once a week. Noticed that the car is running a little higher than half temp wise. Haven't pushed the car at all, just a few revs up to 4k while in the garage. The garage door is open, hood popped as well. Just want to know if this is something I should be concerned about or if it should be fine. Sits around 10 to 11 ticks on the gauge which is either exactly at half or one over half.

 

Its running hotter than normal

check your coolant level and check that your fans are working.

BTW, its not good practice to start a car weekly while its in storage. Avoid it if you can.

 

what do you recommend in terms of storage? Should I be starting it more often or just leave it as is and disconnect the battery?

 

Extended storage:My (and your ) Owners Manual.

Are the fans cycling? Any differences with the hood closed? I can't recall any 10 or 11 segment reading on my 2006. 8 or 9 bars (counting the permanent bar at the bottom of the scale) appears to be the generally acknowledged normal temperature.

It's undeniable that more engine wear occurs in the 5 seconds during engine starting than any other 5 seconds when the engine is running. Abnormal fears those 5 seconds are especially harmful is misplaced.

Put a battery tender on the battery.

-- Chuck

 

If you take it out for a drive, make it about 20 minutes every month or so. That will let everything get up to operating temp.

 

Plug it in to a battery tender and don’t start it while its in storage.

 

Driving the car helps minimize rust on the brake rotors. My daughter's car was parked outdoors for several months while she was "studying abroad" and I neglected to do this and had to replace the rotors before the car could be driven normally when she returned. This was spring semester and the car was outdoors.

-- Chuck

 

That is parked outdoors. OP said his is in a garage. When I was poor and in college, I had a shell sit outside for 6-8 months while I was making it roadworthy. The rotors were on it the whole time and covered in rust by the time I got the car moving. Braking a few times removed the rust. It doesn't look pretty but you'd be far from the first person to drive it off. OP's will be just fine sitting in a garage and I'd rather have rotor rust than deal with salt exposure.

Idk what's going on with the temp thing but people way over worry about what's going to happen if it sits for a winter. Top the gas tank off, preferably put some Sta-bil in it, put fresh oil in it and let it sit. Arguably, cold starting it 4 times is probably worse than 1 cold start when you're ready to pull it out for the season. Either way, it'll probably be fine and you'll never notice a difference unless you bought two cars from new and that's the only difference that has ever existed between them. Bonus points if you can put the battery on a tender. 3/4 years, mine has started just fine leaving it sit all winter. Last year it got a new battery.

 

Store it indoors.

Connect to a battery maintainer.

Do not start it until you're ready to drive it.

When you're ready to drive it, do an oil prime by disconnecting the fuel pump fuse and cranking it for 15 seconds at a time, until the oil light turns off.

Then start it up and drive it like normal.

 

this...would defeat the point of storing it...