advise: my car has been sitting for 7 months

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I would do an oil change, even if you just use a good conventional oil and new filter, and/or a REPUTABLE quicky-lube place. All the contamination that was in the oil before the rest may have degraded the oil further as it sat. After the trip home, go back to the good fancy oil.

However, oil would be my last concern. After being parked in Arizona for 9 months, give all the rubber stuff a good inspection…Wipers, belts & hoses, window seals, etc…
 
Thanks for the pointers!

It is under a car cover, so I imagine that most of the rubber is fine(wipers esp). It has a new serp belt, newer tires, and most of the hoses are new. I will look over all of the rubber as you suggested. I have been wanting to buy a product called Zymol (we all know that brand) "Seal" for a while... it is especially for external rubber and seals. Maybe i'll order a bottle so it will be there when i arrive.

Okay, a cheap good thick oil for the trip (20w-50 overkill for highway?) and then a fresh change when i get back to denver.
 
First of all - that's not many miles.

Check the oil before you start it (just to see if it has oil!) Start it, drive home, order a UOA kit, get some oil. When kit arrives take midpee stream sample and change oil.

No worries. UOA should look OK, assuming nothing wrong with the car. Make sure lab gives you a TBN and choose a lab that can do oxidation if possible.

How will the battery be?
 
I have a Optima Deep Cycle yellow top battery, so it should be fine (MADE IN DENVER...YEAH!). Not as vunerable to the temp as normal batteries. It is disconnected too. I might have to jump it, but last time it started on its own after 3 months.

I was just reading G-Man II's post in the syn vs. conv oil thread and he said, "For synthetics and ideal conditions the drain interval should be 15,000-18,000 miles; for typical conditions, 10,000-12,000 miles; for awful conditions, 5,000-7,000 miles."

This just furthers my thought that I should be fine driving home on this oil with only 4k miles on it... my only concern is as to what effect the time has on the oil? I am thinking that the high temp/low humidity of phx probably has a positive effect on the oil being able to sit there and not change in pH...(or it might not even matter)

So Pablo tells me to drive home (phx-den)? I think that is what I will do... can i use my airconditioning?
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I just noticed that I only have 11 posts... lol... I have been on this forum for a year and I only have 11 posts! I guess that shows how much reading I do, and how little talking I do.

Thanks for the help guys... you are always very nice, even for simple questions.

Gracias
 
lucaq,

Are you working at HCJB? My sister just came back from there couple months ago.

Points
 
Okay, so I have been living in Quito, Ecuador for the past year (I went home for the holidays... dec-jan). I have a 1987 VW Golf GTI with the motor from a 1996.5 Jetta VR6, it runs like a dream for 50k miles already! When I went home in December I had a new oil filter and 6L of Pentosynth 5w-40 waiting for me. Although I live in Denver, when I leave for South America I leave my car in Phoenix, AZ. So when I arrived in Dec I did an oil change and then drove to Denver. I drove around in Denver for dec-jan and then drove back to Phoenix when I returned to Ecuador at the very beginning of Feb. When I left I just left my car covered in Phx. So basically my car has a TON of highway miles on it with good oil and an excellent oil filtertration system (my car has a Volkswagen VR6 engine from 1996.5).

My question is: When I return can I just drive home on my oil that is in there although it has about 3-4k of highway miles and 9 months of time (7 of which is sitting). I know that it is good oil (german made synthetic to the recomended weight of my engine) and I know that european filters are excellent but do I need to worry about the time? (I doubt phx gives much of a chance for water condensation to build up in my engine or oil while I am gone...and the trip should get my oil hot enough to evap all of that off anyways.).

Should I just get a cheap change for the trip? Should I bother changing the filter if I do change out the oil? (it is usually super clean even at my changes).

The reason that I ask is because I have time and financial constraints for my drive home otherwise I would not even consider making the trip on old oil.

I am not an expert, so I am asking the experts...TIA
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Forget the oil change. That oil is almost brand-new and has been sitting within the confines of your engine, protected from the elements by the physical engine itself.

Would you even consider changing brake fluid? Transmission oil? Coolant? After 6 months of inactivity? Heck no. Why even consider changing engine oil? The stuff doesn't go bad when it is just sitting there.
 
quote:

Originally posted by pitzel:
Forget the oil change. That oil is almost brand-new and has been sitting within the confines of your engine, protected from the elements by the physical engine itself.

Would you even consider changing brake fluid? Transmission oil? Coolant? After 6 months of inactivity? Heck no. Why even consider changing engine oil? The stuff doesn't go bad when it is just sitting there.


You have my deepest respect.

Great post here, this man has a grip on reality.
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In the future, when letting it sit that long, you may want to think about putting some STABIL in the gas that is in the fuel tank, maybe even some Marvel Mystery Oil...
 
Is this trip going to be like the last one, 3-4k of highway miles in 2 months time and then 7 months of sitting? Fuel stabilizer is a good idea if your going to let it sit for this length of time. It'll be interesting to see if the Optima holds a charge for 7 months. Be sure to check the air pressures in the tires before you drive it. And check all the other fluids too.
 
oil should be fine. i have on old car that barely gets driven every couple months and is stored at my mom's house. the oil is a year old with very low miles and it looks clean as new. especially with highway miles, you'll be fine.
 
Thanks for all of the reassurance guys. The American attitude about oil changes is what I grew up with and it is what is giving me second thoughts about what my intuition is.

As for the battery, I too am interested to see if the good ole Optima yeller top holds up to the heat and time as far as a charge is concerned. There wasn't much gas in there in the first place so I bet it is all evaporated in the hot arizona sun. I think i will probably have to go to the station a few blocks away and get some before even attempting to start it. This will be my last trip, but I might put the car in storage (i know it is just a golf, but to me it is a beautiful german car that has never had any accidents) so I will consider better storage methods in the future. This trip was actually only supposed to be 3 months long again, but doubled. I will be sure and check all of the other fluids (all of my other fluids are top quality too, ATE super blue brake, Redline tranny fluid, pentosyn G12 coolant and they have all been serviced recently). I should make sure my cousin has a gas can for me...

I'll try and post pics for you all and let you know about the battery. I am using a Porsche car cover because it was laying around... kinda funny to have a golf under a porsche cover...

No, Points, I am not with HCJB...
 
I think the oil should be fine. However, it is not a good idea to store your car with the fuel tank nearly empty as rust will develop in the tank.

The Optimas battery should hold its charge for up to a year. The only proviso is if the car has electronics drawing power when off. Eg. alarm system etc. If someone could put a charger on it at 3-4 months this would help. The Optimas are great, just very expensive here. 4-5x price of a normal battery.
 
quote:

Originally posted by theguru:
I think the oil should be fine. However, it is not a good idea to store your car with the fuel tank nearly empty as rust will develop in the tank.

The Optimas battery should hold its charge for up to a year. The only proviso is if the car has electronics drawing power when off. Eg. alarm system etc. If someone could put a charger on it at 3-4 months this would help. The Optimas are great, just very expensive here. 4-5x price of a normal battery.


The tank is plastic so i don´t think that there will be a problem with rust (unless i am being nieve and there are other metal things that could rust...still doubtful in the dry, dry desert of AZ).

you have Optima batteries in AUS!?!?!?!?!?¿¿¿¿¿¿¿

¡¡They are made in my home town, that is AWESOME!!
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Well the battery is completely disconnected from everything (same as last time) so only time will tell if it held the charge with NO external draw. (last time was only 3 months and I could tell the battery was a little weak).
 
Yep, The distributor is not far from me. My son has one. He used it as he had a high power stereo system in his car and it would kill normal batteries. Should have seen his wiring - it was zero gauge or bigger. Power cable stuff!

Not sure about the fuel tank being plastic etc, but you will still get condensation. Put a closed bottle outside and see what happens.

Personally I keep the cars not being used on small auto chargers. Low charge will kill the battery eventually.
 
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