My Dad is on about getting a cheap run-around to leave at his place in France. Thing is though the car would be stood still in the barn for up to 6 months at times over the winter, and I don't think this is particulaly healthy for any car, if indeed it will start at all. He seems to think modern cars can take it in their stride. What sort of preparation would you do to a car if you were leaving it for such time? are certain cars better suited than others (quite fancy the idea of leaving an old MX5 out there...)
Thanks for your help.
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The answer partly depends on how much mothballing he is prepared to undertake, and how quickly he wants to be able to recommission the car when he gets over there.
For the full works he should:
Put cleaner in fuel and allow to work through.
Drain the oil when hot, refill, possibly with special preservative oil, replace filter.
Drain coolant, and replace with fresh antifreeze.
Put the car up on blocks.
Leave the handbrake off.
Seal the air intake and exhaust, having put desiccating agent in both, and in oil filler.
Put the battery on a special top-up charger.
Put down rat/mouse killer.
Store in garage, covered in anti-condensation dustsheet.
Probably lots more I can't think of off hand.
On arrival, drain preservative oil, if used. Remove desiccants, remove blocks. Be prepared for brakes having seized/leaked. Be prepared for clutch having seized.Be prepared for fuel pump having seized, various seals to have stuck or dried up.
Or he could not bother with any of that, and just take a chance. Is it an old banger or a classic?
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Cliff, thanks for your quick reply. He hasn't got a car there yet as he used to drive over but now thanks to the likes of Mr Ryan and Easyjet it is more economical to fly. He does'nt seem to keen to spend the first/last days of his holidays taking the car apart and putting it back together. All the locals seem to drive white diesel Clios (is that the only colour over there?;) With a £1000 banger I can see him taking his chance and just leaving it with no preparation. Suppose another way would be to leave the keys with a neighbour and get them to run it once a week.
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Tell him to buy an old Toyota pick-up truck! No worries about storage then!
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I've laid up cars over the winter for many years in fact I've got one laid up since last July and I expect it to start straight away when I recommission it. In order of priority:
- By far the most important thing is either a well ventilated garage or an airtight garage with a de-humidifier. Leave car windows partly open.
- Fill tank with petrol to minimise fuel oxydisation and/or put in a fuel conditioner such as sold by boat dealers for laying up outboard motors. Run the engine to ensure the conditioner has reached the engine.
- disconnect battery and remove. Either leave it fully charged (having charged it on an electronically controlled multi-stage charger to achieve better than 80% charge) or leave it connected provided the charger specifically allows this. Dont use a trickle charger. Personally I prefer to leave it on a weekly timer to switch on for, say, an hour a week. The enemy of a battery's rate of SELF-discharge is heat not cold. (Unless it freezes but that happens at a lower temp than pure water).
- Ensure antifreeze topped up. (I've never drained mine)
- Leave handbrake off and out of gear.
- Put the car on blocks or pump up the tyres 5psi over normal
Preferably drain the oil, change filter and refill oil before lay up. But if pushed for time just drain the oil, leave a notice on the vehicle that its empty and do the rest when recommissioning.
Lots of other 'Preferred options' but thats the minimum I would do.
When recommisioning take the spark plugs out (if they are easy to get to) and squirt some engine oil in each cylinder, turn on starter motor for a few seconds to distribute oil on cylinder walls and also to raise oil pressure and (depending on make of car) to pump fuel through from the tank. Clean plug, re-insert and start in a cloud of smoke !
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My Dodge sits still for 6 months at a time. Admittedly in a very dry environment, but no preparation is done.
Using it again is simply, for me, a matter of making sure that the battery is charged.
I've been doing this with a variety of vehicles over the last 10/15 years and other than flat batteries I've had no other problems.
But then, I don't religously check the oil every second trip, I do leave them running to thaw ice, and I wouldn't have the first idea what fluid is in the coolant system.
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Minimum-effort schedule:
* Get the tyres off the ground, i.e. get the car up on blocks or axle stands. Make sure it is supported at the correct points.
* Minimize the amount of fuel in the tank or drain it (a full fuel tank could be a liability). That contradicts advice from others and, as ever, I am no expert, but a refill with fresh fuel will surely overwhelm the deleterious effects of a tiny amount of stale fuel.
* Don't put the handbrake on.
* Don't open the windows by more than a crack ? small rodents get through remarkably small gaps.
* Disconnect the battery.
That's what happened to the Capri I stored for 13 years, and it wasn't that difficult to get going again.
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Cat litter for instance is a dessicant and cheper than silica gel. Leave a few big baskets of it inside the car one on each seat. Spray an anti-fungal agent on the upholstery.
Clean out the engine compartment particularly ledges with water hose and detergent obviously being careful where you point the hose. At this time of year there is still a lot of silt on the roads which will corrode the vehicle -I've learned that from bitter experience. Run engine and dry out water then spray with WD40 or better lithium or silicone oil.
Seal under the car with polythene sheet taped to the chassis where it won't strip paint. Place a couple of baskets of dessicant in the engine compartment.
Anti-freezes have differnt grades of corrosion inhibition so look for one with good corrosion inhibition qualities. Use a coolant flush to clean out contaminants first.
Treat seals with silicone grease.
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There is another thread around similar to this question that had quite a lot of replies.
I've done a quick search but cannot find it. If the original author or contributors to that thread can remember it, then can you please post the link?
Cheers, DD.
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