last toy

Since I plan to garage my 964 this winter and not expose it to the mercy of lame winter drivers, always amazes me how many SUV's you see in a ditch versus standard cars, I will probably run it once a week to flow the oil and keep the battery charged. May not be necessary but other sport cars I've stored would eventually get dry seals, oil leaks if left standing, and rust from moisture build up. I thought I read somewhere, maybe the owners manual, that a 964 or any 911 should be started and not kept in idle mode too long before running in gear. I can see not doing this to a brand new engine not broken in, but does it really matter on an engine with 60,000 miles. Just curious.

andrew911

If your going to start it I'd only start it once or twice over the winter. Idling it in the driveway isn't good- the motor never warms up, moisture never burns out of the exhaust or out of the engine, and it seems you do more harm than good doing this. The winter is only for a few months, so I would fill the tank with gas, maybe throw a couple more PSI in the tires, and plug in the porsche charge-o-mat and forget about it for the winter. It's not like it's sitting for several years or anything where the seals will dry out. I've never had a problem starting up in the spring by doing this.

Other things I personally do are give the car a good cleaning then cover it, and the past couple of years I put Stabil (gas stabilizer) in the gas with the last fill up and drive it a little to get it in there (although I never had a problem before I started putting the Stabil in, it seems like its cheap insurance). I also put a sticky note on the steering wheel to remind myslef to re-check the tire pressure before driving off in the spring...

It is a long winter wait for spring though!

last toy

Thanks, good advice.

Jay H

I agree with Andrews assessment above. Don't even start it over the winter unless you can drive it to fully warm up the engine. Idling does nothing but introduce water into the engine and exhaust (via condensation).

When putting it away for the winter, change the oil, add Stabil, yank the battery, pump up the tires, close off the exhaust and intake and you're good until spring. I've been doing this for years now with zero problems when spring comes around and I store my cars from mid October to mid April on average.

Wikkid911

I'd say that cleaning it before you put it away is good advice and definiteley keep the trickle charger on the battery. But more importantly, be ready for the occasional sunny day (they do happen in winter), then you can give the car a proper drive and get everything nice and hot before it rains/snows again.

DarrylH

This is exactly what I do. A nice, sunny day in winter, dry roads, I fire it up and drive it. Might be five times through the season, might be fifteen. But I won't start it unless I can run it long enough to get it hot. Idling it gets it hot, but isn't good for it. Don't do it. My 2 cents.

pete000

It is better not to start the car and let it idle during winter hibernation. I never let my engine warm up by idling. It is better to just start driving it and let it warm up while under load.

andrew911

Such a depressing topic, isn't it? I leave the charge-o-mat plugged in for mine and don't really worry about animals since it's in my garage, but my VW is in a shed in the back yard down at the family shorehouse- that battery gets yanked and brought home with me in the winter. Guess I could get animals in that exhaust pipe, but it's the size of a pea shooter, so any small mouse can get blown out in the spring when I take her on a top speed run (78 mph or so, depending on wind direction and road grade)