wanderfalke

Try bounce sheets under the hood. The problem with bait in any form is that you may be drawing rodents toward you.

BradB

No, you are right to wince! Paper products rubbed on paint or plastic will leave micro marring and worse case, scratches.

Ezkill

It's a running joke from a different thread in regard to cleaning splattered love bugs off the front of the car with bounce sheets.

Swissvax microfibres, drying towels and wool wash mitts are the only things that touch my paint.

Magnetic K

With the car capsule, this looks like a sealed system with an air blower attached. Is there access for the wire of the battery trickle charger?

Ezkill

It's semi-sealed. The fan on the one I have attaches with velcro to the capsule and I used to run the cord through there. There are other models as well but all of them, as far as I know, have allowances for a battery tender as it's pretty much mandatory for storing any car.

jlanka

This one thing I was told can maybe do more harm than good. Because of moisture.

Mondrian

I started out on that advice too but came across some guys who specialise in looking after classic & vintage cars and they countered my argument with the seals dilemma! I don't think there is a universally accepted solution for long term car storage, its a case of choosing the lesser of the two evils. At the end of the day cars are happiest when taken out on a regular basis, everything else becomes a compromise.

chuck911

Jeff the harm was with prior engines that used conventional oil pumps. With those the oil drains off leaving lots of parts dry during cranking and starting. This is when most engine wear normally occurs anyway, and the longer between starts the worse it gets. But the 991 uses electric oil pumps, which Porsche wisely has set to pump oil before cranking. One RL'er even posted a tech demo'd this for him, oil spraying first before anything started moving. Pretty cool.

Now what I want to know is when spring comes and you remove the Bounce from the pipes, can you clean the dust off with those or do you have to use new ones?

jlanka

That is pretty cool. Thanks Chuck

chuck911

You're welcome. Also re: possible scratches using Bounce, always use with a good detailing spray like WD-40.

jlanka

Chuck, I spoke to the guy who gave me the info on not starting for the entire winter and he said the reason behind it was you will get moisture accumulating in the exhaust system and it will rot it out.

Is that a concern? If so how would that balance with the need to lubricate the seals/engine parts?

Thanks in advance

Jeff

LexVan

^don't start the car until spring when you intend to drive it. Moisture in the exhaust is a non issue since it's stainless steel. It's more about moisture in the oil from short starts. Having fresh quality oil will do the job till spring.

I'm doing one more trip this coming weekend. About 800 miles ( just did 700 miles this weekend). Then it's full concours detail time. Put a cover on it and park in my heated garage by late October. Then engine won't be fired for 6 months (April). Been doing this for over 10 years now.

BradB

So in the last 10 years you lost 5 years of driving time for your favorite cars! You are a model of restraint!

I agree with the park it and don't touch it routine, but I could never bear it. If you do choose to start your car--drive it! In order to burn off the moisture and contaminants it needs to be fully heated up for a significant amount of time. No idling or puttering. Drive it!

Even in the dead of winter nice dry days appear and that's my excuse to take a long drive in each of my cars. I like exercising the mechanicals, flexing door seals, warming up the electrical connections, and just plain having fun!

I have a background in classic car restoration, mainly old British iron like Jags, Healeys, Triumphs and the like. These older cars are much happier with as much regular exercise as possible. Too much stagnant time is a sure recipe for corrosion, seal degradation and even electrical contact issues.

These problems are all too rare in modern cars. So letting them sit is just fine...if you have the willpower! I'm too weak!

LexVan

I'll drive about 12,000 in those 6 months. That's more than 95% of the 991 owners on this board. I'm getting my fair share and more.

Macster

Never had to really deal with the risk of rodents in cars.

If I had to deal with this possibility though I would shy away from putting anything in the car.

My thinking is I would not want to use some repellent that required the things to be in the car before they encountered the repellent.

If there was a suitable repellent I'd want to surround the car with it if practical.

I would check the garage for all possible entry points. I've been advised to plug holes with steel wool. Mice will gnaw through about anything but steel wool. And they will not push it out of the hole either.

Be sure doors fit snugly when closed and the garage door comes all the way down and there are no gaps between the bottom of the door and the floor of the garage.

Be sure all holes into the foundation are plugged and the roof eaves are sealed with intact heavy duty screens/grills.

In the garage, use traps that are appropriate if you have pets or children. I would not use poison even with no kids or pets around. The next worst thing would be a poisoned mouse getting in the car and dying.

What you strive to do it make it hard for the creatures to get into the garage and then if they do they encounter tempting traps before they reach the car. The traps should be against the wall. The cleaner the garage floor is the better, too. if have stuff stored on the floor along the walls this gives the mice a way to avoid encountering traps. Items should be stored on shelfs that keep things off the floor or in steel cabinets.

You can put steel wool in the exhaust though I doubt the creatures would venture in the exhaust.

Be sure pet food is stored away in a steel cabinet or kept in a special metal garbage can -- used only for pet food storage -- that has a tight fitting lid and if you put pet food out do not leave it out after the pets have eaten.

Oh, and I like the idea of starting and running the engine every once in a while, every month say. While this will put a bit of water in the oil it won't be that much and if you run the engine long enough the oil gets pretty warm this coupled with the low pressure in the engine crankcase will have this water boil away and keep the water build up way down.

The engine goes into storage with very fresh oil so the engine starts out with no water accumulation at all going into storage.

In the spring then, when you bring the car out of storage one of your first tasks should be to after you have checked the car out and undone the things you did when you put the car away is to take the car out for a nice longish drive long enough the engine gets fully up to operating temperature and remains at this temperature for some time. Be sure to use some RPMs too to really circulate the oil.