Get your oil changed, even if it hasn't been long since your last one. You want to eliminate any acid build-up in the engine oil.

Put enough Sta-Bil in your gas tank to treat the entire 17 gallons. Then go fill the tank with gas, and drive it long enough to run the treated gas through your injectors.

Park your car inside - if it isn't a heated garage, it's not such a big deal. You just want it out of the weather.

If you don't overinflate your tires, they will be a little lumpy for the first 10 miles or so that you drive it - so I didn't.

Close the vents on your HVAC system in the car, put a nylon stocking or crumpled newspaper in your exhaust pipes to keep the mouses out.

Put a battery tender on the battery - you can get a decent one at any auto parts store for less than $50.

Leave your hood ajar (you won't be able to open it if your battery dies.) Wind your windows down an inch so that you're not putting pressure on the rubber gaskets, or leave the doors ajar.

Don't have anyone start the car every week or so. Let it sit idle all winter. The occasional starting and stopping will just build condensation in your exhaust system and your oil. Better just leave it alone. Nothing bad will happen to it over the winter.

I stored my 73 this way over three winters. Never had any issues, and it started first thing in the spring.

larry

 

Could of sworn there was something in the cars manual about this subject. Maybe look in there.

 

+1, Put a small tray of untreated charchol in car for odors and moisture.

 

The rough running thing makes sense but I can't say I've ever noticed anything that seemed alarming to me.

Sounds almost exactly equal to the risk of someone tripping over a battery tender cord snaking through my garage!

You're either going to be hooking wires up to your battery when you put it into storage, or you're going to be hooking wires up to your battery when you take it out of storage, but either way you're probably going to be hooking up some wires.

Look, I don't have anything against battery maintainers, it's just that I don't see a lot of need to maintain car batteries. Batteries have come a long way in the last few decades and even as hard as I am on them, they're still all lasting me five years, at which point I replace them anyway--I've truly never found a need to try to make my batteries last any longer and don't want to. That might sound strange to some--and normally I wouldn't even mention it--but it's an unnecessary expense that some people might not realize is unnecessary. Personally, I just took my battery tender "budget" and used it on a portable jump pack--MUCH more useful in my opinion.

Some of these recommended storage/winterizing tasks are getting out of hand. I'm practically waiting for someone to recommend disassembly of the entire car before parking it for a month. There's no harm in not using a battery tender and I just don't want people thinking there is. That's all...YMMV!

 

For a guy who works on cars for a living, this is horrible advice.

 

I agree with Larry.... Once you have it ready to store, leave it alone.. A car stored in a cold clean garage will not have any condensation issues, its not getting warm if its not running....

I have stored many cars over the winter when I lived in Canada and never had any storage issues. The convenience of a battery tender is worth the investment.

 

Actually it is not.

The amount of water that will accumulate from just a few minutes of running every so often is not much. And since the oil was fresh there's no combustion byproducts to combine with any bit of moisture and create acids.

Running the engine every once in a while circulates oil throughout the engine's oil passages which includes pumping up any lifters that have been under pressure from a cam lobe pressing down on the lifter.

Engine seals get a bit of fresh oil splashed on them which helps keep them from drying out and shrinking and of course turning into seeping seals or worse. The heat causes gasketed surfaces to move a bit and this helps to keep gaskets fluid/air tight.

Fresh (relatively fresh) fuel is pumped through the fuel system and the injectors of course are opened and closed.

While the engine is idling I'd play with the heater/AC controls to give the various flaps/doors/etc some exercise and even turn on the A/C compressor and let it run and pump/circulate refrigerant along with the very important pump oil.

The various power steering/brake pump/hydraulic circuits are used too.

All in all a few minutes of running every couple of weeks or so is not harmful at all and helps to lessen the effects of non-use.

Sincerely,

Macster.

 

Macster - I welcome the wisdom that you bring to this board. But in this instance, I have to disagree with you.

OTOH, what you have said, and the issue of disuse during the winter months can be resolved by -- DRIVING THE BEAST ALL WINTER LONG. It will also have a positive emotional effect on the driver.



larry

 

Note - The Porsche battery tender plugs into the lighter socket.

 

I'll update my answer to be at least one track day every 2 weeks for winter.

 

Each course of action brings with it its own set of problems and risks.

Driving the car year around is my preference but in some areas of the country people drive like morons in marginal weather. Generally in areas where the weather is sort of not so bad. In places where they get a lot of snow and ice people are pretty savvy.

Leaving the car unstarted for a few months also has some downsides. Seals, gaskets, and this includes those seals and gaskets besides those of the engine, dry out.

Some valve lifters will bleed way down, all the way down, while the engine sits unused.

All throughout the engine, oil drains away and the amount of residual oil is very very low.

Coolant stratifies and this can attack hoses or even water pump seals.

And of course starting the engine and letting it idle a few minutes (10 minutes or so) every so often has its own downsides.

But this is my preference over just letting the car/engine sit for a few months.

Sincerely,

Macster.

 

show me some of these dried out seals. We ain't using cork here.

furthermore, all of these issues that you refer to can be fixed by popping out the dme relay and spinning the starter over every few weeks if you really are so concerned.

Given that cold starts are typically the most wear inducing aspects of engine operation, and the condensation builds while running for any length of time, there is really no good reason to start the car and let it idle.

 

Still dealing with wires hanging off the car all winter. For the people parking their cars for months at a time, how big a deal is it to head to the garage five minutes earlier in the spring to plug a jump pack in? Again, I have nothing against battery maintainers, but it just seems like a completely unnecessary expense that many people are told they absolutely need. I disagree, especially if the maintainer in question is a ridiculously overpriced Porsche model.

I'm with QC here...if you park the car for the winter, don't subject it to a cold start every week to make yourself feel better.

Anyway, for god's sake, people--these are $20k cars now. What are you saving them for? When I wear this one out, I'll get a new one.

 

I've been in old towns where they roll the streets up at night but can't figure out this evidently new thing the mainland is doing where the roads are closed during winter forcing guys to park their cars during winter months. No wonder the economy is lousy. Is this some sort of state or fedral law?

 

TooLoud - OMG, you mean that the car that I just spent $31,000 on is now only worth $20K?? Geez, that depreciation is as bad as with a new one. I guess that I'll just have to drive this PCar into the ground to get my money's worth out of it.

Pac996, yes you can complain about parking our cars over winter. You don't have winter on the islands. You don't even have spring or fall!!! You've got summer all year round. But the downside is that if you want to drive your 996, there are only so many roads you can drive on. It takes a day to drive all around Maui, and when you've done that, you have covered more than 50% of the roads on the island. Don't worry, I don't feel badly for you. If I was in your sandals, I would be spending my spare time with a snorkel mask and fins. To hell with a car!!!! Give me a school of yellow tangs!!!!!!!

larry