Sour Diesel

My civic is my project and I it's only driven in the summer. So i'm renting a storage unit to put it in for the winter, even though throughout the summer it is garaged, my parents want to get it out for the winter so I need to put it in a unit. What should I do for it so that everything is ok during the time period it stays put. I might try to get there to start it up like once a week, but on the other hand I was thinking of taking out the battery. What is your oppinions on what I should do to prep it or to get it ready for the winter in the unit?

Thanks.


Bryan.

MassScene

drive around till your gas light comes on, clean inside and out. wash and wax. pull in garage. put on 4 jackstands. w/wheels off. drain all fluids, take out battery. Put air fresher in car. leave windows cracked about 1 inch. DONE

b18bcivic

he said it well ^^^^^

Two_K Si

To add to that...Store it with a full tank of gas, maybe add some stabil ot it. I wouldn't start it up every week unless you plan on driving it around. Simply starting it once a week will dilute your oil with fuel, and since you wont be driving it around, the fuel dilution and moisture will not burn off.

Mario.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MassScene &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> drive around till your gas light comes on, clean inside and out. wash and wax. pull in garage. put on 4 jackstands. w/wheels off. drain all fluids, take out battery. Put air fresher in car. leave windows cracked about 1 inch. DONE </TD></TR></TABLE>

Just curious as to why it would go on jackstands? For the suspension?

SOHC4life 96

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mario BA4 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Just curious as to why it would go on jackstands? For the suspension?</TD></TR></TABLE>

And so that the tires do not get flat spots on them.

daver

i believe the best kind of storage for a vehicle is by using it often. start it up once a week and at least drive it forwards and backwards as far as you are able. Run it long enough to burn off this oil dilution someone mentioned (15 mins i'd say), and to burn off all the moisure in the exhaust pipes.

If you drain everything and let it sit all winter, i say its leaving it to rot. Oil drips into the pan, eventually exposing bare metal to rust, seals will dry out, wheel bearings can seize, brakes seize...

It also helps to get it rustproofed. Jacking it up takes the weight off the suspension(but i wouldn't bother unlesss you don't plan to run it at all). Make sure the tires are slightly rotated before reparking to avoid flat spots. One guy would put a sheet of plywood on the cement floor under the car block moisture he said.

The only concern i would have is perhaps the fuel getting stale...??

yes, take the battery out and put it in a warm place. It can die really fast otherwise.

d

ps. if you wanna be really picky, throw a heater under the oil pan before starting.

Sour Diesel

Thanks for the help, but what would you do about security too? Like incase my unit gets broken into, which I don't think it will because it is a nice place, but lets just say what if, what preventative measures should I do? I don't think they will make it anywhere without the tires on, up on jackstands, and no battery but should I do anything else?

EM2Civic

Check to see if the storage unit is insured for theft/vandalism than that case it isn't your insurance that would pay it's theirs.

daver

being that the car will be out of your site, it should be easy for any competant fool to jack that car, if they could break into that unit. They could bring their own wheels and battery, and spend all night putting it on too.

haha, once when i went away for the weekend, and had no lock on the garage, i parked my car sideways in the garage as a deterent. It must have taken me 20 minutes to "austin powers" it in there. It also kept my lawn tractor from being easily rolled out.


d

daver

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EM2Civic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Check to see if the storage unit is insured for theft/vandalism than that case it isn't your insurance that would pay it's theirs.</TD></TR></TABLE>

still. some people have lots of unrecoverable time and money into their machines

Mario.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by daver &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">still. some people have lots of unrecoverable time and money into their machines</TD></TR></TABLE>

Then you need to establish a value for the car before you put it in storage and have it in writting, you with a copy and storage with a copy, verifying this.

EM2Civic

I know i'm not saying that, I myself am wary of storing my hatch. I would only really trust friends and family but no one has garages .