laxaholic33

I will be away from my 2000 996 for 10 weeks. I'm trying to avoid storing it in an insulated garage for the winter. I decided to put all seasons on a few weeks ago to make it home in time for christmas, so the car can be driven outside in the sw PA winter. (lets not turn this into a thread where purchasing A/S is a bad idea...it was my only option)

My parents (where i'm storing the car) cannot drive a stick, so my only option other than storage is to get a good friend to drive it, and he works 40+ hours a week like most people so it would be somewhat of a burden for him, as fun as driving a 996 (one of his dream cars) would be.

How often does a 996 need to be driven to avoid winter storage? I understand that the car needs to get to normal operating temperature before returning to the garage. I was thinking once a week, but thats just a guess. If it needs to be driven more, I'll probably have to get working on winter storage right away. Thanks for help!!

Marc Gelefsky

Put a battery tender on it. Yer good.

DaveSpeed

30-50 miles every three weeks. I went as long as 5 weeks last winter due to weather. Make sure who ever is going to drive it checks tire pressures first. This is the info I was give from the local P dealer and has worked for me.

get some kind of battery tender, worth the money.

DaveSpeed

+1 on battery tender

racer

Battery tender.. Full tank of gas.. A little extra tire pressure.. and, if you have ethanol fuels, maybe a bit of "dry gas" too. "heated" storage doesn't really matter. Batter tender is key and DONT shut the front trunk the whole way

Next?

nick49

Your friend works part time, 40 hrs/week? eh? must be nice!

JK, anyway, have your folks start the car once a week and let it run for 5-10 minutes. This will keep things inside coated with a fresh film of oil and help keep internal corrosion from acidic condensation at bay. It's also good for the components, bearings, etc in the alternator, starter, PS pump, air pump, injectors, fuel pump and everything else on the car. Maybe your overworked friend could come over for 20 minutes every couple of weeks and run 'er down the highway for 10 miles and back. This will keep the trans, wheel bearings, CV and U joints lubed.

I make my living wrenching on this stuff and have since the '70s. Damage on mechanical things starts and occurs during periods of storage and non-use. Virtually no wear is happening to any of the mechanical components during periods of use unless it was first compromised during periods of storage. This is not true of expendables such as tires, brake and clutch material.

DreamCarrera

+1 The car will be fine until you return.

Tell your workaholic friend, "Thanks but no thanks".

ivangene

battery tender $100
full tank of fuel $70
knowing your friend isnt driving your car to fullfill his dreams - priceless

Shark Attack

I also change the oil right before winter. Just in case any acids or water got in the oil (condensation). When I do take it out in the winter I make sure I can take it for a good long drive to make sure I do burn off any condensation. I do have a battery tender on it. The one that came with the car. Not sure if it was an option of bought by another owner. The most it has sat at a shot was about 4 weeks. We went on about a 200 mile drive last week.

tooloud10

I'll be the odd man out and say that a battery tender isn't necessary unless you're incredibly averse to jump-starting a car or something. My car came with a cheap Die-Hard battery five years ago and it's just fine even though I've done everything "wrong" that I could do to it, including jump-starting it when the car has sat too long or I left the key in the ignition.

Is there something else a battery tender does that I'm unaware of?

racer

It means not having to jump start your car

Macster

While you managed to avoid any problems you're in the minority. It is best for the car and the battery to keep the battery connected to the car and the battery topped up.

Having power keeps all the comfort settings intact. If the car loses power its DME loses its learned fuel/ignition mapping and the engine can be quite rough upon restart and until run long enough to relearn.

Besides, there's always a risk of when jump starting a car with a dead battery of zapping something electronic and damned expensive in the car so why risk it?

With a battery maintainer one can just disconnect the battery maintainer and go.

Sincerely,

Macster.

ivangene

it fails and causes your battery to sulfate

or just need to be jump started because it failed

laxaholic33

Thanks for the replies guys. Very helpful. When I got my PPI the battery failed the 'high load test' so i'll probably get the tender. Any inexpensive models you guys like? Ive never had to use one so not too familiar w/ what they do.

I plan on keeping this car for at least another 2 years so i really want to make sure that i do the best thing for my car...sound like an overprotective parent haha.

skiracer

If it failed the high load test, replace the battery first. It's probably inevitable anyway, so save yourself the worry.