Im going to be living in Germany for 9 months to study, and I was wondering what I should do with my car to keep it working. Im gettin off my insurance, so it wont be driveable. Im gonna have someone drive it around the block every 2 weeks to keep it alive, but I was wondering if there is anything else I could/should do to keep it running nicely. Any recommendations? I really have no idea...maybe a specific type of oil, gas, anything...thx

 

KEEP THE INSURANCE.. just change the type - you'd hate for it to be nicked or damaged whiles its stored... imagine coming home to find all your panels dented or something

 

Store it away and then take out the battery.

edit: w00t! 1000th post!

 

Over inflate the tires to prevent a flat spot...use stabil in your gas tank...Disconnect your battery. I don't know...

 

You dont wanna cancel your insurance. When you get insurance again after you come back, theyll ask if you had any breaks in coverage. This will determine if you get a discount on continued insurance or not, at least thats how it is over here.

 

If you really wanna go hardcore, granted you have a garage to put it in, put the car on blocks, and drain the coolant, disconnect the battery and such, and be sure to change the oil/get new gas before driving again....thats the best thing you can do for long term storage ive heard

 

lend it to me :P

 

Just have someone turn it on once a week, dont need to drive it

 

I've stored my car for the last 2 winters (8 months at a time) outside and have never had a problem. I bought a really good cover, full tank of gas, oil change (before and after restarting in spring), gas line antifreeze, over inflated tires, removed battery and thats about it. I didn't do as much as this email from a friend of mine a few years ago suggested:

Gentlemen,

I have been enlightened on the appropriate precautions on how to properly preserve your investment and object of affection...

How to store your car.

1. Change the oil and filter.
2. Full tank of gas with fuel preservative.
3. Run car briefly.
4. Remove spark plugs and give each cylinder a few squirts of oil, turn engine over (still with plugs out), and reinstall spark plugs.
5. Disconnect or remove battery.
6. Remove air filter, cover intake with tin foil and reinstall air filter.
7. Plug exhaust with tennis ball or tin foil and elastic. (objective for steps 6 & 7 is to block as much moisture from getting into the engine.)
8. Raise the car and block under suspension points.
9. Over inflate tires (eg. reg press 28 psi fill to 35 psi) to maintain pressure over the year, mainly winter months.
10. Leave windows partially open (for air circulation) *no baking soda boxes, they trap moisture like a sponge.
11. Lock
12. Cover with a BREATHABLE cover.
13. Say your goodbye and wait…

This process was given to me by an old car pro. Pass it on.

 

And this is how it sat for 8 months and still started up like a brand new car each time:

 

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...r+storage+tips

 

I store my allante for 6 months every year, so heres what i would do

first, get garage insurance, it will cover it if something happens to it in the garage, but not cost too much, your insurer should know what im talking about.

seccond. Get a good cover, and a few of those plug in things that scare away rodents.

third clean it up nice, inside and out

fourth, take it out for a nice long highway drive (if you can go over an hour, the longer the better)

on this drive fill it up all the way with gas, and add sta-bil

finnally and most importantly, pull it in the garage, pop the hood, dissconnect your negative battery cable, or take the whole battery out.

fill the tires up to the max pressure on the sidewalls

cover it and leave it. DO NOT START IT UNLESS ABSOULUTLY NECESSARY, IF IT REALLY NEEDS TO BE MOVED FROM THE GARAGE PUSH IT.

Thats what id do



When you get it out change some fluids (ie, oil, tranny, etc)

 

I like the tire stickin' out. Someone's Maxima is a little naughty. Lolz

 

hahahahha ^^

the insurance situation is up to u.... i wouln'dt pay fo rsomething i wasn't taking onto the road..

for me, i'd have my friend or whomever star it, and drive it for 15 min least, while having a/c on, etc etc to drive it or simulate it as driving, just becareful cuz insurance situation... don't let car sit 9 months, STORING it. that's bad espeically for cars that are somewhat OLD..

 

Unless it's run up to operating temperature, engine oil and trans oil HOT, your actually doing more damage then good by starting it briefly.

A by product of gas combustion is WATER. Moisture thats left in the exhaust system, and the internals of the engine from brief runs will cause more damage then just leaving the car sit for a long time without ever touching it.

Fill it up with gas, change the oil, pump up the tires to the max and just leave it alone. A full tank of fuel will take upwards of a few years to spoil. Stabalizers are more of a gimmick then anything else.




Can you say overkill?

This process sounds more like how to store a boat down the shore rather then a car.

 

Not a whole lot to stress about. Fresh gas, air in tires, and put it somewhere dry.