My car will not be in use for about three more months. I have been working out of state for the last three months and have three more months to go until i come back home. I have currently being coming home once a month and driving my car on the weekend. Today i noticed some oil in the engine and also my coolant was empty, although i filled it the last month. The car is a 1995 Maxima 5sp. I also had to charge the battery.

Any ideas on how to store a car for this length of time with once a month driving. I will change oil, flush the coolant, change brake and clutch fluid tommorow, fill her up and also give her a wash.

Is there anything i need to do to prevent repair (engine, electrical, body) for this length of inactivity for the car. The car is outdoors on a concrete surface.

 

oil in the engine? or water in the oil? if there is water in the oil, your head gsaket is probably going. as for the inactivity, the only thing you should do is unplug your battery. no sense in changing the oil and refilling the coolant as it will jsut drain right back into the oil while it sits there. do it when you get back.

 

buy a car cover if you're concerned about it's exterior condition like the many users on here

 

Get the gas stabilizer too. Or just run it dry.

 

Put in fuel stabilizer, fill you tank and run it a mile or two....
If you use traditional motor oil, give it a change before storing it. If you use synthetic, it's not as important.
If you are putting it in a garage, make some precautions about rodents, they love to store "treats" in the engine compartment, and chew on wires.

 

You can also probably pull the battery and put it on a trickle charger to hold the charge in the battery.

Make sure the tank is completly filled all the time. Even a little space can harber condensation in your tank. Water out or some type of gas additive will work to have in the tank at all times.

-matt

 

I wouldn't run it dry. Injectors, etc get gunked and sticky if the fuel system is unused, and dry it happens even faster.

Gas stabilizer is the way to go.

 

Dont run it dry its bad for fuel pump life .But I would check for a water pump leak,there hard to see and drip around the crank pulley.

 

wow. driving once a month for 3 months and all of this huh. car must be so fragile its a wonder it can make it around the block.

cover the car, disconnect the battery and find out where your leak is.

 

Put Stabil in your tank, fill up on gas, pull the battery and put it on a trickle charger. That's what I do.

 

Use 10% ethanol gasoline. It will suspend any moisture in the fuel system and release it with the exhaust.

 

I will settle with. As other posters have said three months is not a long time, but there is always a good way of doing things and a bad way, better take the necessary precautions and have less expenses later on. Thanks for the replies.

 

Put the car on jackstands to keep from flatspotting the tires.

 

I just put little carpet squares under the tires. I did this last winter with no problems.

 

Do a web search for motorcycle storage. There you'll find many good ways to store your ride.

Simply, fill tank with gas and stabilizer, change oil/filter, pump up the tires, put a plastic bag over the exhaust outlet, put battery on trickle charger, wash/wax and put a venting cover on it. Most important is not to run the engine until you are taking it out of storage. Running just introduces moisture / condensation to the engine innards. If you are finding water in the oil, its likely due to you running it once a month.

 

Ooops, I forgot to change my oil/filter.

 

Trickle charger & gas stabilizer are the way to go. Don't underestimate the damage the rodents can do. If you can, put some moth ***** in the wheel wells & engine compartment. My buddy returned after an extended trip to find a huge population of mice were enjoying his engine compartment!

 

Hmm, I didn't have that problem last winter, but I'll be sure to check for it this year.

 

in addition to the aforementioned fuel system prep, you may want to put a few squirts of LC20 (or just plain synthetic oil) down each spark plug hole and turn the crank a couple times before leaving it. this will prevent any CC corrosion while the car sits.

and don't just fill up your radiator and leave it - you MUST purge the entire system of air before letting it sit or you will have cooling system issues.

 

Why? The tire won't care if it's on carpet or concrete. It sees the same pressure at the contact patch and the same deformation in the sidewall.

If you're really worried about flatspotting, I suggest filling the tires to max pressure allowed by the tire, or just lifting it on jackstands.

But I don't think flatspotting is worth worrying about in any case where the car is parked for less than a year.

Dave

 

Yeah, i guess if I'm just sitting for the winter, I should be ok. I never purged my cooling system though.