Hello,

This will be the first time I've ever stored a vehicle in my 50 years. Never had a reason to. Just looking for confirmation of the steps I've taken for storage over the next 6 to 7 months (or plan to take) before getting her back out in May 2025. I also had a question concerning taking the car back out of storage...I will not start the car until May 2025...

This is the list of what I'm doing FOR STORAGE:

1) Engine oil/filter change.

2) Fill tank with gas to the brim and use Ethanol Shield and stabilizer in it.

3) Keep car on battery maintainer/conditioner.

4) Thorough cleaning before storage.

5) Over inflate tires to avoid flat spots.

6) Ideally do a leather treatment mid winter (Suggested by the Leatherique Canada guy, as people often don’t consider how impactful the dryness in winter is on leather).

Anything beyond these items that one might consider?

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TAKING CAR OUT OF STORAGE:

My understanding is that it might not be a great idea to just start the car right up after 7 months sitting. Makes sense to me given that oil is greatly drained etc at that point, but I'm far from an expert on such matters...

Anything specific to offer for these cars in this regard? I did search the forum but could not really readily find much on the topic.

I've seen some general references out there of people removing spark plugs and dropping oil in there or something and turning the car over a bit before actually starting it up (to move some oil around etc), but others say that is overkill for a 6 - 7 month period. Another approach I gather is to not disturb the plugs at all and prevent the fuel pump from running some how to turn things over before actually starting it etc...

Saw a reference out there more specifically for an Aston Martin to floor the clutch and accelerator at the same time for some pre-start turnover procedure, but this seems to be something very specific to Astons...Not sure if there might be an equivalent on these cars...

What say you guys more generally on this "starting the car in the spring" topic post longer term storage?

Thanks in advance for any advice and guidance you have to offer on the topic.

Cheers

 

My car is typically stored for 4 months, or a bit less. Here’s what I do.

Fill the tank with good fuel. I’ve never bothered with stabilizer.
Inflate the tires to low 40s psi.
Connect Battery Tender Jr.
As mine is stored in a barn, I zip it up in a car envelope to keep critters away.

Sometimes it’s clean, sometimes not.

I do nothing special when starting it in the spring, other than reducing the tire pressure.

Sometime in the spring, I run a can of BG44K through it, then change the oil.

This will be its 12th winter in storage, 93,000+ miles.

 

Interesting that you lower tire pressure. I thought the idea was to increase it to lower chances of flat spots.

I actually did see some suggestion from a guy somewhere to put some softer material like some old scrap rug under tires to also help with flat spots...What one guy said anyway.

 

I changed the oil just before storage, and I also use Redline s1 every second gas tank through the summer. I'm also careful to make sure there is none of that stuff in the gas for storage, a suggestion I heard. Someone said it would be fine to have it in storage gas for the Redline product, but not for the BG44K stuff. I use Redline because it reviews well, is more cost effective, and readily available here in Canada. There is no good source for BG44K in Canada, at least not that I found. If there was I would use that too because I have the impression it is the best. A lot of rape prices on Amazon and such, but they are really trying to take advantage.

 

My storage checklist matches yours with one addition - cover it with an indoor car cover.

 

That's literally the only step I am intentionally skipping. It's a fully insulation attached garage with a heat pump. For whatever the reason there is never any dust out there literally at all. Plus, then I can't look at it ;-) LOL

It's literally like storing the car in a room of my house out there. Only with no dust. Lots of dust in my house given that it is forced air natural gas heating but not in the garage.

 

I increase the pressure to 40-45psi, depending on how warm it is when I store it. I decrease the pressure when I drive it again in the spring.

 

You are a lucky guy. I can see dust on mine in the garage a week after I store it for winter.

 

So clearly you don't subscribe to the idea of ensuring a little bit of oil gets moved around before full-on starting the car up. I don't think I will necessarily go to the extent of removing spark plugs and such, but I figure I might try somehow preventing the car from starting until it turns over a bit or something. I guess I could pull the fuse for the fuel pump or something. Not totally sure yet, but if there's something I could do that is not a ton of effort I suppose it could be worth it.

In my case it's 6-7 months. Even after 4, I don't know, I suppose it could be doing some damage that might hurt later on down the road. Not sure.

 

That's the point of the Aston tip?
If you floor the gas pedal and crank the car the fuel injectors are turned off. So the engine will turn over but not start.
The idea is to give the engine a few seconds to build oil pressure before starting. May or may not do anything?
Seems like a decent idea and can't hurt anything?
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You've misunderstood - he's reducing the pressure after storage to "undo" the higher pressure when it was stored.

 

You almost seem to be suggesting that every modern car will turn off the fuel pump or whatever when flooring the gas and cranking? I don't have the breadth of knowledge to know something like that for sure myself. Is that what you are saying?

I knew that was what was the case for the Aston example, but I did not necessarily take that as a behaviour for all cars.

 

Probably good to not have the e brake engaged if at all possible as well.

 

It worked in my 2001 XK8 when the damn thing wouldn't hot start (mercifully only a few occasions). I doubt Jaguar has changed that policy in subsequent cars.

 

Okay, interesting…Thanks for the info man, I really appreciate that.

 

Critters…
I place dryer sheets around the interior, the trunk and the engine bay. I place bags of moth ***** around each tire where it meets the floor. I plug in an ultra-sonic rodent repeller nearby. I hear mice hate the smell of peppermint…
Anything else? I’ve been winter storing a car for 30 years and have not had any rodent damage yet. That can be hell.

 

I do the exact procedure including a car cover. I do not use fuel stabilizer as my understanding is fuel holds up better in the cold and I have never had an issue for the last many years.

 

You keep the e brake off do you?

 

The other thing I’ve seen come up out there is the fact that cars sitting is not great for the AC system. Short of starting the car periodically throughout the storage period (which I DO NOT plan to do), not sure what could be done towards thwarting these sorts of problems.

 

It does sound like this is a function that all modern ECUs seem to have. Impression I have after googling a bit more on it.