Storing Your Car
(From 1997 Honda Civic EX coupe Owner's Manual)

If you need to park your car for an extended period (more than one month), there are several things you should do to prepare it for storage. Proper preparation helps prevent deterioration and makes it easier to get your car back on the road. If possible, store your car indoors.

- Fill the fuel tank.

- Change the engine oil and filter.

- Wash and dry the exterior completely.

- Clean the interior. Make sure the carpeting, floor mats, etc. are completely dry.

- Leave the parking brake off. Put the transmission in Reverse (5-speed manual) or Park (automatic).

- Block the rear wheels.

- If the car is to be stored for a longer period, it should be supported on jackstands so the tires are off the ground.

- Leave one window open slightly (if the car is being stored indoors).

- Disconnect the battery.

- Support the front wiper blade arms with a folded towel or rag so they do not touch the windshield.

- To minimize sticking, apply a silicone spray lubricant to all door and trunk seals. Also, apply a body wax to the painted surfaces that mate with the door and trunk seals.

- Cover the car with a "breathable" car cover, one made from a porous material such as cotton. Nonporous materials, such as plastic sheeting, trap moisture, which can damage the paint.

- If possible, run the engine for a while periodically (preferably once a month).

If you store your car for 12 months or longer, have your Honda dealer perform the inspections called for in the 24 months / 30,000 miles (48,000 km) maintenance schedule (Normal Conditions). As soon as you take it out of storage see this thread. The replacements called for in the maintenance schedule are not needed unless the car has actually reached that time or mileage.

 

Anything you else!?

 

good info

 

One correction should be made.

-When storing your vehicle with full tank of fuel add a fuel stabilizer. The fuels these days break down over time.

-Store car with little fuel or put a fuel stabilizer in if you decide to fill the tank.

-Also use high quality gas such as SHELL.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 321POOF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">One correction should be made.

-When storing your vehicle with full tank of fuel add a fuel stabilizer. The fuels these days break down over time. Good idea.

-Store car with little fuel (absolutely terrible idea, ALWAYS store vehicles with a full tank) or put a fuel stabilizer in if you decide to fill the tank.

-Also use high quality gas such as SHELL. As long as you don't buy gas from "Jim Bob's cheap *** gas" then it doesn't really matter, for the most part, gas is gas.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 321POOF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">One correction should be made.

-When storing your vehicle with full tank of fuel add a fuel stabilizer. The fuels these days break down over time.

-Store car with little fuel or put a fuel stabilizer in if you decide to fill the tank.

-Also use high quality gas such as SHELL.</TD></TR></TABLE>
The information I posted is straight from Honda. No offense, but I'm going to have to think they probably have a better idea.

 

-Well when storing all of our racecars we drain the tanks and keep the cars and trucks inside and run carbs clean of fuel. This is what most teams do for storing long period of time

-Also the fuels out today are very different in how they combust. Ihave found SHELL to be the best gasoline to run. I have heard and felt engines perform much differently on other fuels.

 

Where in the Civic manual did you find this info on how to store the car? what page?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by globy123 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Where in the Civic manual did you find this info on how to store the car? what page?</TD></TR></TABLE>

look in the index under where it says "storage"

 

lol

 

The manual that I have (downloaded off the net, "above" version) does not have an index. Can you tell me what page I can find this info on storing the car or where can I get the manual with index?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by globy123 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The manual that I have (downloaded off the net, "above" version) does not have an index. Can you tell me what page I can find this info on storing the car or where can I get the manual with index?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Someone with a 97 will have to help you out on page numbers. I have an EM1...Plus, it's in the garage. I'm upstairs.

 

Nice info! When i go to Irag im going to follow this!

 

Hi. When you disconnect the battery, is it necessary to disconnect the positive and the negative terminal or just the negative terminal when storing the car for about a month?

 

disconnecting both terminals is good practise however, disconnecting the posetive is sufficient and is common for removing the battery power from the electrical system in "night switches" on heavy equipment. If you made trips regularly you could get a disconnect switch that allows your to easily connect and disconnect the battery from the system by unscrewing a contact or turning a ****.

 

I always unhook positive only, never really saw the need to remove both.

 

In the owner's manual the page number is listed in the index under Storing Your Car.

I'll try to add any page numbers I figure out. I don't really understand why it's needed since so far the information is the same, aside from some slight sentence structure differences.

---

1996 Civic Coupe manual
Page 171

1996 Civic Hatch manual
Page ???

1996 Civic Sedan manual
Page ???

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1997 Civic Coupe manual
Page ???

1997 Civic Hatch manual
Page ???

1997 Civic Sedan manual
Page ???

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1998 Civic Coupe manual
Page 197

1998 Civic Hatch manual
Page ???

1998 Civic Sedan manual
Page ???

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1999 Civic Coupe manual
Page ???

1999 Civic Hatch manual
Page ???

1999 Civic Sedan manual
Page ???

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2000 Civic Coupe manual
Page ???

2000 Civic Hatch manual
Page ???

2000 Civic Sedan manual
Page ???

 

its fact that gas ,if left still for long periods of time will go bad due to oxidization

idk if filling the tank completely will completely block it from oxygen but adding fuel stabilizer isnt a bad idea, in fact it could considered a fail safe

 

Good info. My car has been in storage for 10 months, I hope I don't have any issues when I get it out next week.

 

What about mothballs or mouse traps to keep varmints out?