Hi everyone. Unfortunately, my car has been sitting for about two and a half month as im waiting for my new wiring harness. When i parked it outside, the tank was about half full, normal tire pressure. Two weeks ago i decided to completely fill the tank up (our gas is E10) and added a dose of TCW3 and inflated tires to max sidewall pressure. Of course, the battery is stored inside and plugged to a battery tender. Mold is starting to grow on the car and i often roll the windows down to avoid humidity inside it (just slightly or cats are going to piss everywhere, of course). Brake discs are rusty as hell. Is there anything else i can do to make sure everything's ok the day i drive the car (in the next ten days).
Car sitting for 3 months
- Thread starter OM605
- Start date
Another 10 days after 3 months isn't going to make any difference whatever you do. I would have inflated the tires to 50 or 60 psi to avoid flat spotting.
Once you fire up the engine and decide to take the car out for a ride, you may have to drive easily for a while only touching the brakes mildly until all of the rust is gone. Drive easily around the block/neighborhood etc., and let the brakes clean themselves. You'll get lots of brake noise until all of the rust is gone and you my have to replace(at least) the rotors.
You will have to do this for a while before even taking the car out on the street. And only brake easy!!!
The engine & tranny should be fine as well as the tires so, no worries there.
Steel fuel, brake, p/s, tranny lines etc., should all be inspected as well.
EDIT:
In the mean time, you may want to remove the tires and give your brakes(especially the rotors/drums) a wire wheel cleaning & some lube and put'em back together.
You will have to do this for a while before even taking the car out on the street. And only brake easy!!!
The engine & tranny should be fine as well as the tires so, no worries there.
Steel fuel, brake, p/s, tranny lines etc., should all be inspected as well.
EDIT:
In the mean time, you may want to remove the tires and give your brakes(especially the rotors/drums) a wire wheel cleaning & some lube and put'em back together.
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Check for mice chewing stuff up under the hood. They completely disabled my car when it sat for four days.
How many of you had brake issues after letting a car sit this long? I'm thinking about using a wheel brush on a drill and a bit of WD40 to get the excess rust off before driving and then, like said before, just drive the car very gently around the block a few km. No mice went under the hood and i applied a repellent already. Should i consider changing the oil because of moisture contamination? It's 6 months old, has about 6k km on it.
PS: Brake fluid was replaced a year ago and shouldn't be bad.
PS: Brake fluid was replaced a year ago and shouldn't be bad.
I bought a Chevy G20 van that sat for close to 13 years, put a battery and some fresh gas in and drove it home lol. It'll be fine.
I wouldn't worry about it. Just check the fluids, battery, and tire pressure to make sure everything is ok. My Camaros sit in the garage all winter, which is at least 4 months here. I make sure to put them on battery tenders to keep the batteries in good shape. Aside from the tires needing a little air, nothing to be done this year. Next year will be an oil change, I normally go every 2 years since they maybe see 1K miles every year.
3 months is not much for a auto. As others said, check battery (be prepared to jump), air up the tires, check fluids, inspect for rodents, etc. On deployments, vehicles sat for 4-5x as long.
CleanSump
Site Donor 2022
3 months is nothing
That's 3700 miles. Yeah, I'd change the oil at this point. That's close to my maximum mileage OCI, about 5000 miles, with synthetics anyway. If it's conventional or a blend, then definitely change it as that's about the limits I think.
But what about time? Time plays a role too, and it's a bit of a balance: The more miles, the less time between changes, and vice versa.
If it's time on oil, my max comfort range is 2 years with relatively low miles, but I feel more comfortable at 18 months, even better at 1 year, and ideally semi-annual. That's my understanding and general practice. If it's 3700 miles on a oil that's over 6 months, I'd change it.
BTW, I'll note that I literally just dumped brand new M1 FS oil that had less than 100 miles on it, because I drove it briefly at the start of winter, then let it sit for a spell, and then noticed white foam on the inside of the oil cap from condensation. The consensus here said it was fine but I dumped the oil and replaced it anyway. The oil came out looking new, so it was probably wasteful. But I'm not risking an engine over $30 of oil.
Lol, I’ve cranked motorcycle engines that sat for years with just a bit of wd40 sprayed inside the cylinders and fired them up once the carbs were cleaned without issues and with old oil.
Three months is nothing and requires no special treatment IMO.
Three months is nothing and requires no special treatment IMO.
I'd change the oil because of the mileage and presumed age but not because it was sitting outside in humid weather and temperature swings. The moisture (high % gasoline combustion byproduct) and temp swings of driving it, are more wear on oil than sitting. Even so, it would have been better to change the oil before multi-months storage as any solids and sludge can deposit. In other words I'd make the 2nd/next oil change a shorter interval.
Side note: There is no need to involve WD-40 to clean rust off brake rotors, no matter how bad they are. Just use a dry wire or flap wheel or whatever, then if there's any grease/other deposits, finish up with brake cleaner, or could substitute hot/strong detergent solution if it's off the vehicle... though it's doubtful you'd have anything left needing to clean off, just minor traces of rust dust left behind which won't hurt anything. Except maybe your rims but if they're susceptible, probably already showing signs of it.
I do not understand this. If mold is growing on the outside of the car, it's a sign of high ambient humidity and you wouldn't want the windows rolled down.
If mold is growing inside the car, it's a sign you needed to put a dehumidifier or dessicant in it a long time ago, dry the inside out, then keep the windows shut to not let more moisture back in. If your window/door/trunk/liftgate/etc seals are shot and rain is getting in, you're fighting a losing battle unless it's never exposed to rain or else replace (or certain seals can be patched) the leaking seals.
There is no specific need to inspect brake, fuel, transmission radiator, etc metal lines. They don't rust any faster from sitting than they would driving in same weather conditions. However it could be that they do need inspected anyway simply because of vehicle age if it's one of those '90s vehicles in your sig.
All you have to do to clear up condensation is run the engine up to temp and keep it there for a while to vaporize away the moisture. Water is constantly getting in oil when any hydrocarbon fueled engine runs, then being cooked off at the designed operating temp... a good reason to make sure your thermostat works if it's a shorter trip vehicle.
