Anyone put their car to bed for its long winter nap yet? This is my first year with the car and first time storing it. Just wondering when other people put theirs away.

I am thinking this Sunday I will woefully put it away.

 

You won't last the winter. You'll get all jittery and give into the cravings.

 

I second that, also. I have stored my car already for the winter. I walk by it everyday, I one of these day when the weather is good outside, I will bring her out.

 

Mine goes nite-nite this weekend

 

Today was beautiful in MI. I was doing the color tour thing and the leaves were great. The clock's ticking but it isn't time yet.

As for storage:

- don't set the parking brake to avoid any chance of the pads rusting to the disc.

- don't set the theft alarm, if your car has one, as it runs down the battery.

- last winter mine sat in the garage for 90 days (Feb 1 to May 1), so I didn't do anything special, not even a trickle charger on the battery (since it was new). This year I'll need to work something out with the battery but I'll do a little more researach before deciding what; with the high electronics on this car one needs to be careful.

- I just had an oil change. In my mind, it's best to do it either before you store it or after you take it out (since it will be 6 months).

- a car cover is a good idea if you have one. But do inspect your cockpit area from time to time for mice.

- I would recommend buying mice poison and spreading it around the garage. I use plastic lids from coffee cans, etc. to put the poison in so it doesn't get tracked around. Believe me, mice can find there way into any garage and any car left unattended. They can do some real damage. They like places like inside the air cleaner, etc. I consider this the biggest issue with long term storage.

- You might consider putting the car on jack stands to take the weight off the tires. I never found that necessary in my other car's but I generally roll them around every now and then or take them down the driveway or around the block on a sunny winter day.

Those are main things that come to mind.

 

My garage gets very cold so last year with the ITR I took the tires off and stored them in the basement of my house with the battery. Soft tires such as ours do not take well to long periods of time sitting in the cold. Oh and another note, before you store run as much fuel out of the tank as possible to prevent its demise over the winter, It can lead to a few hundred miles of hell in the spring. There are afew companies that make a storage preservative, i have heard good things about them but have never tried. This is a soultion for those of you in High humidity areas that are woried about rust inside the tank. Just fill up tank with a can of preservative and wish your babysweet dreams.

 

Personnally I recommend storing the car with a full tank of gas and add the a few ounces of stabilizer (x ounces per gallon). It's not always necessary in a car but it helps. I'm not in favor of an empty tank for two reasons. First, is safety. Gasoline fumes are the most dangerous, and less gasoline in the tank means more fumes IMO. Second, is the condensation issue. To be honest, I don't recall ever hearing anyone, till now, suggest storing your car by draining the gas first in my many years of car restoration, etc.

 

My only reason for an empty tank is that gasoline has a very short shelf life. It begins to degrate after only a few weeks.
If I am storing the car for over 6 months, I do not want to risk ruining a very expensive engine wiht a tank full of gunk. Our fuel systems are sealed so there is no chance of outside moisture entering. My Integra held a vacuum on the tank last year for over three months. I ran the car out of gas, then pulled a continous vacuum on the tank for a few hours to dry remaining HC's out of tank and then sealed it up and took a fuel tank pressure sensor reading. i checked it about every three weeks and it held a pretty consistant vacuum. I know this sounds like a lot of work for the average human being but thats how I store my babys. No battery, no tires, no gas, fresh oil, on jackstands, cover over seats,carpet, and entire car, fresh wax to prevent chafing of cover to paint. It gets started and warmed up at least once every four weeks. If emptying the tank is the absolute wrong move, I'd like to hear some testimonies. make me beleive.

 

You may be right. I must confess I've never stored a modern car.

I've been storing the MGA below since 1972, without any problems. Various clubs, etc. would produce a long check-list of must things to do in preparation for storing your car. Initially, I did them but over time all that changed. Today the process is fill the tank and disconnect the battery. That's it. I don't add the stabilizer, as I find I don't need it; I don't put it on jack stands or any of the other stuff. The car runs as good in the spring as when I put it away. Admittedly one can not compare the twin SU carbs setup to Honda's F1 like engine but, like you, someone would have to put together a very conviencing arguement for me to believe that 6-month old gas would do any harm. True, it losses some potency and that's why I'd consider the stabilizer in this higher-efficiency demanding car. From the sounds of it, there are several members on the board with low mileage that probably have close to 6-month old gas in their cars all the time.

Other opinions welcomed.

 

Short storage (3-6 months) - full tank of gas.
Long storage (6+ months) - full tank of gas plus a stabilizer (i.e. Stabil).

Empty tank = bomb waiting for a reason to go off.