Vehicle Storage - What say you?

[WylieCoyote]

Good morning, all,

Just took part in a spirited debate over how one should manage a car that's going to be sitting for a while. No prep was discussed, just what you should and should not do during the course of the storage, of maybe a couple of months. A battery tender was a popular piece of advice to the people who believe they must start the car periodically to charge the battery. That myth was quickly debunked, in favor of a battery tender.

But then the discussion moved into the overall health of the engine if you 1.) Crank it and let it run for a few minutes, or 2.) Just leave it alone. This is where (I think) the conversation took a bad turn. I have a lot of respect for the collective knowledge in this group, so I'd love your input. I'm in the camp "leave it alone, unless you're going to take it for a drive long enough to get the oil up to operating temperature". I made the statement, which I fully believe, that you should just leave it alone, rather than run it for 5 minutes.

Naturally, the armchair mechanics, who claim to be real mechanics, started asserting that everything I believe is false, along with the usual belittlement that I'm not a mechanic, blah blah blah. Condensation! You must start it occasionally to remove condensation! More blah blah blah. I asked politely how they feel condensation is getting inside the engine if its never cranked. The replies continued to get worse, so I removed myself from the group.

What say you on this issue? If your car is going to be sitting for a while, do you crank it and let it run for a few minutes, or do you leave it alone?

 

[SeaJay]

It depends, for a few months I would let it be. If it was to be longer, I would start it every few months, and at a minimum move it a few feet back and forth so it doesn't sit on the tires in one location and to get the gear oil circulated a bit.

 

[dwcopple]

I store my Mustang in the winter, usually Nov 1st to April 1st. I pull the battery and bring it in my basement and put a trickle charger on it once a month to keep it topped off. FILL the fuel tank and add stabilizer while filling. Max air pressure in all tires. I pull the airbox because it is easy to do on this car to keep mice from nesting in it. I also put tinfoil rubber banded over the exhaust tips for the same reason. Inside the car I put several dryer sheets to keep pests away. I also use a cheap car cover from Ollies outlet store. Works great. However, mice still made a nest in the valley between the cylinder heads. I shop vac it all out. Mind you, I live on a farm. YMMV with critters.

 

[Donald]

If you are going to start the engine you need to bring it to normal operating temp for 15 minutes. Most people do not start the engine. Thats probably best. Battery maintainer is what I would suggest, preferably a good one, not a HF one. No need for gas stabilizer for 6 months or less. Mice in vehicle and engine area can be a problem.

 

[CharBaby]

I believe in the two schools of thought and you just need to pick one. Same with OPE.

I've been storing cars for over 46 years and I usually leave them sit for the whole 6-7 months without starting them. I do pick a nice warm day for that after winter startup.

Today I do things a bit differently than I did 30-40 yrs ago. For example, the past 20 years, I've used a battery maintainer/tender and use STA*BIL in the gas.

I've been storing the Firebird in my signature for 40 years and have never(that I can remember) started this car during storage. If I have, I just don't remember when that would have been.

I sometimes don't change the oil & filter for 2 years. This isn't to say that I don't take care of this car. I fact, it is beyond well maintained. But, about 2000ish miles is the limit over that same 2ish yrs. The last time I changed the oil/filter was October 2017 and I will do it this summer. It's gone 2050 miles since and the engine oil looks GREAT and the engine runs GREAT even if not a powerhouse.

AGAIN...I do use a STA*BIL in the gas and keep a FULL TANK... and I have NO issues considering we've been using E10 since 1995. Same with my OPE. NO ISSUES!

I do pump up the tires some(~36PSI) but, I DO NOT lift the vehicle off of its springs and let the suspension hang. Others may disagree.

Again, 2 schools of thought. Pick one or a variety of the two.

 

[SevenBizzos]

People have such diverse thoughts about storage. I guess it all depends on how long. If we're talking "months", I wouldn't do anything special. Heck, I use fuel stabilizer, disconnect the battery, and we'll see you in the spring (5 months). I've never had to charge the battery and it starts right up when it's time. If we're talking a year or more the game probably changes a little bit.

Unless we have a current and published study of measurable effects of "nothing" versus "a lot of things", there isn't a right answer. There's likely no ill effects to either way.

 

[carviewsonic]

"leave it alone, unless you're going to take it for a drive long enough to get the oil up to operating temperature".

You can leave an engine for months at a time if you live in a low humidity area and preferably have a garage to keep the car stored. If I lived on the coast I wouldn't let my car sit for more than a few weeks without a good run; or a dehumidifier in a climate controlled garage.

 

[SteveSRT8]

I worked for a guy with a HUGE car collection. Their rule was simple.

If you cannot start it and drive it for at least 20-30 minutes then leave it be or start the fixing process to get it ready.

It's not just about the engine, it's about the whole car...

 

[mightymousetech]

Do not start the car and let it idle. Either leave it be or need to get it up to full operating temp. During the warm up process the engine produces a LOT of water that will sit in the exhaust and oil, plus unburned fuel. Have been storing cars during the winter for 30 years. Here is my normal procedure:

Do an oil change a couple weeks before storage.
Add Stabil and fill tank with ethanol free gas.
Get car up to operating temp.
Park car.
Do not put the emergency brake on.
Put battery maintainer on it.
Inflate tires to 50 psi.
Leave it till it comes out of storage.

Not sure why people lift the car and let the suspension hang. All the bushings will be stressed in this position. Inflate the tires and you will not have flat spot issues.

 

[wings&wheels]

I store everything, cars, in my sig for the salt season here; ~6 mos. Some of these cars are stored in a house on the water, but humidity has never been a problem over the winter.

My relatively simple ritual, which has served me well for ~25 years, is;

1) Fresh full tank of fuel w/ Sta Bil, MMO added for the older vehicles with steel fuel tanks
2) Oil and filter change
3) Coolant change, brake/clutch fluid flush (only if due)
4) Charge & disconnect battery
5) Inflate tires to max pressure on sidewall

Leave them be until the Spring... If you have to run one, run it long enough to get to operating temp for a good while.

 

[Lubener]

Leave it alone, don't start it unless you plan to drive it on the road. Fill the gas tank. Put a battery tender on it, set it and forget it. You will create condensation in the engine and exhaust by running if briefly in the driveway. I store two vehicle for six months out of the year and this is what I have been doing for 30+ years.

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted by Lubener
Leave it alone, don't start it unless you plan to drive it on the road. Fill the gas tank. Put a battery tender on it, set it and forget it. You will create condensation in the engine and exhaust by running if briefly in the driveway. I store two vehicle for six months out of the year and this is what I have been doing for 30+ years.


This. Only thing I do differently is add Stabil and use a car cover.
Have done this for years without issue.

 

[Kira]

Just a query re springs.
Since springs do sag with time, wouldn't raising the car "save them"?
The wheels wouldn't need to be off the ground. Taking 80% (just to make up a number) of the weight off the springs can't be bad.
I've always been into increasing the tire pressure.

Believe it or not, I've heard people cry when I have had to take a minute to bleed off my storage pressure.

Some people are structurally lazy. Some people are fantastically stupid and can't be exposed to anything new.

 

[Kawiguy454]

Leave it alone especially in a cold northern climates. Only exceptions are humid places that are hot in the day and cool at night. The humidity will go into the engine as temp drops and can condense inside. This would be place like Miami or Houston.

 

[tomcat27]

Same as most: and I have been seasonally storing cars, boats, for many years with ZERO problems:
- do NOT start the car off-season
- remove the battery and put it on a tender (or leave it in place, but with a tender)
- I do raise my tires off the ground to avoid flat spots ( I did flat spot two sets of $$ tires when I did NOT raise them); however, I lift by the suspension
- I certainly use Stabil but I am not convinced that it handles ethanol properly, especially with OPE and motorcycles, so I drain the carbs


Question for wings&wheels regarding the Piper: do you have periods of time where you don't use it? Frequently used planes seem to have no problem making it to specified TBO, but many infrequently-used planes have an issue with camshafts rusting (from what I have read)

 

[Kurtatron]

Something I learned from storing my car the last 4 years in my garage was the lesson of condensation. Come spring time, humidity mixed with cold metal is bad news for corrosion in places even the toughest water spray could not get to. Get a sealed car cover and silicate your solve this problem.

Don't start a car, as others have mentioned, unless you NEED to drive it at least 20 minutes or so. It still makes no sense to drive it once a month as some say. Cold starts do more damage to power trains than anything else. Only reason to start up a vehicle is to keep seals from drying out, but that only needs to be done like once every 6 months. Even then that's just a number out of my hiney. MetL is harder to replace the seals.

 

[WylieCoyote]

Thanks for the responses guys. Sad to know that there are people feeding bad information to the public, while having the nerve to condescend to me because I believe differently. Every one who joined in on this 'conversation' is advising that people should start their cars every once in a while, even to just move it around so the tires don't flat spot. They think this solves condensation, and dry seal issues. In cold climates, especially with a carb or MPFI where fuel can condense in the intake, this is the opposite of what you should do. But it explains why people in my neighborhood look at me sideways because I'm pushing my car around inside the garage, instead of starting it.

 

[jkasch]

Originally Posted by Kira
Just a query re springs.
Since springs do sag with time, wouldn't raising the car "save them"?
The wheels wouldn't need to be off the ground. Taking 80% (just to make up a number) of the weight off the springs can't be bad.
I've always been into increasing the tire pressure.

Believe it or not, I've heard people cry when I have had to take a minute to bleed off my storage pressure.

Some people are structurally lazy. Some people are fantastically stupid and can't be exposed to anything new.

AFAIK, springs don't lose "springiness" from being compressed. They lose it from use. That's why it's okay
to leave firearm magazines loaded in storage. No reason to rest them.

 

[wings&wheels]

Originally Posted by tomcat27

Question for wings&wheels regarding the Piper: do you have periods of time where you don't use it? Frequently used planes seem to have no problem making it to specified TBO, but many infrequently-used planes have an issue with camshafts rusting (from what I have read)


Haven't had a problem and the last engine went a bit past TBO (a few hours waiting for a rebuild slot). The airplane is in a hangar and gets flown year round...except when it is just too cold to do a preflight, and that minimum temp seems to get higher each passing year The engine does have an pretty good electric heater, the Tanis w/ elements screwed into the cylinders and a heating pad on the oil sump. I'd say that very infrequently flown aircraft probably have more issues w/ corrosion and Lycomings seem have more cam issues than Continentals (the cam is lower in the case, some say it retains an oil coating better), but I've never seen it as a widespread occurrence. I'm sure is is a problem in extreme circumstances. Ironically, my last airplane, a Piper Tomahawk (reputation aside, it was a fun little bird..I loved it), had a cam issue and it was a flight school airplane before me, flown most days.

 

[caprice_2nv]

Originally Posted by WylieCoyote
Good morning, all,

Just took part in a spirited debate over how one should manage a car that's going to be sitting for a while. No prep was discussed, just what you should and should not do during the course of the storage, of maybe a couple of months. A battery tender was a popular piece of advice to the people who believe they must start the car periodically to charge the battery. That myth was quickly debunked, in favor of a battery tender.

But then the discussion moved into the overall health of the engine if you 1.) Crank it and let it run for a few minutes, or 2.) Just leave it alone. This is where (I think) the conversation took a bad turn. I have a lot of respect for the collective knowledge in this group, so I'd love your input. I'm in the camp "leave it alone, unless you're going to take it for a drive long enough to get the oil up to operating temperature". I made the statement, which I fully believe, that you should just leave it alone, rather than run it for 5 minutes.

Naturally, the armchair mechanics, who claim to be real mechanics, started asserting that everything I believe is false, along with the usual belittlement that I'm not a mechanic, blah blah blah. Condensation! You must start it occasionally to remove condensation! More blah blah blah. I asked politely how they feel condensation is getting inside the engine if its never cranked. The replies continued to get worse, so I removed myself from the group.

What say you on this issue? If your car is going to be sitting for a while, do you crank it and let it run for a few minutes, or do you leave it alone?


Mine sits in a barn every year from late November to early April usually depending on winter weather. For that amount of time it just gets the battery disconnected and left until spring. For the same reasons you mentioned.... I'd rather not start it and not get oil up to temperature because then I'm getting fuel and moisture in the oil. I would think moisture getting absorbed would be much less than what's created by combustion during a short run. Those people don't know what they are talking about.

Now if it's going to sit longer than that, I'd schedule some point of time (probably a year) to start it up and let it run long enough to actually warm up, work it a bit. Then check all fluids etc, look for leaks and put it away.

You didn't ask about this but I typically change the oil right before it goes into the barn (like a minute run time before it's parked for the winter).