Parking car outside for about 2.5 months

Maybe add bags (old socks) of mothballs under the hood to the mix?
I've always heard to wash and wax a car going into any storage scenario.
Do clean the car's interior too. That lone French fry under the seat might attract mice.

I'd seriously consider paying a "neighbor" to store the car nearer to his house or barn than by yours if your 2nd home is isolated.
Remember, any Honda is a potential parts source and remoteness is a bad guys best friend.
News of a car in storage spreads.
They'll know the car's in storage by looking at the ground near the tires. Leaves that collect and rain spots which are not cleaned off scream "stored car".
Also, if you do have such a neighbor, you can then cover your car. Better to park it on the road side of a barn near an inhabited house in plain sight.
Let the neighbor say, "Yeah, it's my brother's car"....end of piqued interest.
 
Hey guys, I have an extended work trip coming up and as a result, my Accord is going to be parked outside our 2nd home for about 2.5 months in the winter weather. Unfortunately, a garage isn't possible. I have never left a car unused for this long. Reading around the inter-webs, I came up with this list of stuff to do:

- Air up tires to around 40 PSI to minimize flat spotting.
- Disconnect neg. battery cable and wrap in Ziploc bag to prevent accidental contact (I thought about a battery tender but the car will be outside & keeping the hood ajar to run the cables isn't feasible).
- Top off all fluids.
- Car cover
- Add a bottle of Techron & keep gas level low so don't have to burn through much old gas when I drive the car again.

Car's got almost 230k miles and the battery is a 4.5 yr old AAP Gold. Hope I don't have any issues when I come back....

Anything else you guys recommend that I do?
Id take the battery completely out and bring it inside. Maybe add a bottle stabil to the gas tank according to instructions. It looks like you live in an area that has alcohol in fuel which is hygroscopic and is corrosive, the stabil will really help but drive aroud a bit after adding it so it get to the entire fuel system not just the tank. If you leave the battery in the car plan on replacing it since it looks like its going to ret really cold. Also make sure your coolant is at the correct concentration since you do not want it to freeze same with the washer fluid. It sounds dumb but down here in Dallas 25 degrees is cold so Im sure you guys are used to preping cars for real winter weather
 
Last edited:
I wouldn't want a cover on in blustery NE winter weather. The mechanical paint damage would exceed the environmental damage in that time. If you can get an opportunity up to 50F or so, wash and wax it. A quick spray-on ceramic wax would do great in that time period.

Instead of over-inflating the tires, what I like better is setting the car slightly - not full - on jacks. Achieves the purpose but also relaxes the suspension a little, which helps in other ways.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JC1
2 years ago around this time, I had a huge rat attempt to take up residence amongst the stacks of microfiber towels in my garage. He was using the top of one stack as his toilet. He got the glue trap treatment, and I now have mint packets laying everywhere. Haven't seen any hints of vermin this year. They may have different habits in Texas, as it's not bitterly cold here.
What did you do with the microfiber towels?
 
Sta-bil works great for extended storage outside. Put the recommended dosage in your gas. Run it for a bit. Turn it off and be on your way. Everything will be fine when you get back.
 
Nothing to add but have a question. How does any additional moisture get in the gas tank, full or empty, it being a sealed system?
Its not a completely sealed thats why modern cars have evap systems. When you fill your tank the fuel displaces the air in the tank, as your use the fuel outside air is sucked in via a one way valve to replace the volume of used fuel. If it was a completely sealed system you would create a vacuum as you use fuel which would eventually stop fuel flow. The gas cap has a one way valve which prevents air and fumes from going out of the tank but allowes air to go into the tank, and is the reason why sometimes when yout ake the cap off there is a hiss of air/fuel escaping.
 
Its not a completely sealed thats why modern cars have evap systems. When you fill your tank the fuel displaces the air in the tank, as your use the fuel outside air is sucked in via a one way valve to replace the volume of used fuel. If it was a completely sealed system you would create a vacuum as you use fuel which would eventually stop fuel flow. The gas cap has a one way valve which prevents air and fumes from going out of the tank but allowes air to go into the tank, and is the reason why sometimes when yout ake the cap off there is a hiss of air/fuel escaping.
The lower the fuel level in the tank, the larger the volume of a mixture of gasses above it, including the air that Gimpy1 states comes in via the equipment's evaporative emission control system.

The reason air is allowed to come into the tank is to prevent a vacuum. If there was a vacuum in the tank, fuel pump cavitation would occur, starving the injectors [or carburetor] of the optimal amounts of fuel needed to run the engine responsively.

The reason for the water accumulation in the fuel is:
  1. The water condenses out of the gasses due to environmental dew points and
  2. the hygroscopic tendencies of ethanol, where "hygroscopic" means the ethanol attracts and retains water from surrounding gasses.
Water not only accumulates and becomes a solution with the fuel within your equipment fuel tank. It begins the journey in fuel transportation truck tanks and then in the fuel tanks at the filling stations. Each of these have vacuum-relief systems that allow water-laden air in to contaminate the fuel. A percentage of the water in suspension in the fuel is filtered out during the various stages of pumping/transferring fuel, and any large quantities that are not absorbed by the ethanol are more dense than the gasoline and fall to the bottom, out of suspension.

The most practical means of preventing even more water accumulation than you have already inherited from the distribution network, is to reduce the room for gasses in the tank. Keep the fuel at a very high level but not high enough to cause liquid fuel to migrate to the charcoal canister. The easiest method of achieving this level is to fill up the tank using an automatic filling station pump handle where the fuel stops flowing on its own. Do not "top it off" or you risk saturating the charcoal canister.

As previous posters have mentioned, in addition to maintaining your fuel at a high level within the tank, use of a fuel-stabilizer product will reduce the hygroscopic tendencies of the ethanol as well as reduce the rate of the fuel's inherent BTU energy-level reduction over-time, minimize varnish accumulation in your equipment and other benefits. Stabilizers should be added just prior to filling the tank such that the turbulence generated by filling the tank mixes the stabilizer with the fuel.
 
Ok, so in addition, I will:

- Not cover the car (wasn't a fan of the cover anyway b/c like others said, it's a dead giveaway the car's not being used).
- Wash car
- Remove battery completely and store inside attached to a tender.
- Rodents aren't really a problem around here but will still buy some repellent packets to put inside the car & under the hood for good measure.
- Fill up tank & add Sta-Bil.

Thanks a lot for the tips, everyone!
 
If there is a lot of dampness/condensation that gets at your brakes you may have some issues with noisy rusted rotors or have a siezed slide or caliper but not a lot you can do about it . Good advice from the others .
 
Its not a completely sealed thats why modern cars have evap systems. When you fill your tank the fuel displaces the air in the tank, as your use the fuel outside air is sucked in via a one way valve to replace the volume of used fuel. If it was a completely sealed system you would create a vacuum as you use fuel which would eventually stop fuel flow. The gas cap has a one way valve which prevents air and fumes from going out of the tank but allowes air to go into the tank, and is the reason why sometimes when yout ake the cap off there is a hiss of air/fuel escaping.
Once the car's parked and the tank finds its pressure, it's pretty much all set. It doesn't really "breathe" with changes in temperature, that's why there's an EVAP system. My 1985 W250 sits all summer with 5 gallons of winter-blend RVP gasoline and it starts right up the following fall. Truck has a charcoal canister system of dubious working status, but it doesn't reek of fuel like something from the 1940s either.

I would worry about

-- mice
-- paint issues
-- rusty rotors.
 
- Remove battery completely and store inside attached to a tender.
Is keeping it on a tender even necessary ? Will you have to drive the car within hours of returning ? If not, disconnect it and leave it in the car or bring it inside and just trickle charge it back to full once you return.
 
Is keeping it on a tender even necessary ? Will you have to drive the car within hours of returning ? If not, disconnect it and leave it in the car or bring it inside and just trickle charge it back to full once you return.
It's always best to keep a battery fully charged , letting it go dead starts the plates to sulfate.
 
Last edited:
I usually think 11V is dead. Might not be 0% but it's darn close. Anything below 12V is a low battery, quick search shows 12V is around 50% charge.
 
Hall , a full cell is aprox 2.1 volts . As soon as it begins to drop from that any amount (10V) it's not good for the plates.
 
Once the car's parked and the tank finds its pressure, it's pretty much all set. It doesn't really "breathe" with changes in temperature, that's why there's an EVAP system. My 1985 W250 sits all summer with 5 gallons of winter-blend RVP gasoline and it starts right up the following fall. Truck has a charcoal canister system of dubious working status, but it doesn't reek of fuel like something from the 1940s either.

I would worry about

-- mice
-- paint issues
-- rusty rotors.
Its an 1985 with 30 year old systems you cannot compare the those obd (if any) and emission systems with a obd2 car. Evaporative systems were not required in 1985 except for califoria, and in 116 when obd2 was mandated fuel system where not allowed to vent fuel vapors into the atmosphere. And yes your car does get outside air into the fuel tank as I explaied earlier or else you would have a vacuum in your fuel tank.
 
Its an 1985 with 30 year old systems you cannot compare the those obd (if any) and emission systems with a obd2 car. Evaporative systems were not required in 1985 except for califoria, and in 116 when obd2 was mandated fuel system where not allowed to vent fuel vapors into the atmosphere. And yes your car does get outside air into the fuel tank as I explaied earlier or else you would have a vacuum in your fuel tank.
The EPA has required EVAP systems since 1971. Any outside air would get "strangled" through the charcoal canister. But like I said, I haven't had any problems, and OP's car can only be tighter.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top