My daughter's returning from her foreign travels and will no doubt expect her car to be available straight away. It's been sitting on a relatives drive for the last five months, in the open, with its' hard top on. It's only had two oil changes in its' five years. She wouldn't let me change the oil or brake fluid before it was parked up. I disconnected the battery, pumped the tyres to around 45PSI and sprayed around with WD40 as a rodent deterrent as recommended here.
I checked it around Christmas and put the battery on charge overnight. I didn't attempt to start it. The discs looked particularly corroded.
I thought I'd approach it with jump leads, disconnect the fuel pump and wind it on the starter until it had some oil pressure before I attempt to start it.
Any suggestions from the BR, apart from shooting her?
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Have a power point near by ? Optimise the battery for a few days. Its Japanese shouldn't need too much mollycoddling.
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If the battery has run down in the interim and has been cold then I'd budget that you might need a replacement.
Corroded discs will clean up in a mile or two.
Handbrake may have stuck on, slight chance the clutch the same (don't stand in front or behind first time you move it).
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Brakes may have stuck on as well. Bit of gentle rocking backwards and forwards in gear should release them.
Failing that particularly; with rear drum brakes on FWD, a piece of wood up against the tyre will help release the drum otherwise the car will drag the seized up wheel.
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I'd suggest once it's moving that you have a new battery and change oil, coolant and brake fluids.
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Just make sure the battery is fully charged, reconnect it and turn the key. I would almost bet you that it will fire into life more or less straightaway.
I would only think about replacing the battery if it proves to be dicky, if it is working right why bother? An oil change wouldn't go amiss, but it won't do much harm if you didn't bother. As for the other fluids, then it depends on how much time/money you want to spend on it, but I wouldn't be unduly concerned.
After all it has only been sitting for five months and we are talking about a Japanese car in the 21st Century, not something out of a barn dating from the war years. Some cars stand that long on dealer forecourts and no-one would batter an eyelid at it.
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Any suggestions from the BR ?
I think a good idea would be before you park it up for extended time, remove brake pads/push pistons fully home, and lightly oil the discs.
Leaving the handbrake off too would help, as would starting the motor up for an hours warm up once a month, and moving the vehicle up and down the drive to prevent the clutch rusting solid and the brakes from rusting too bad should you not have removed them.
I'll get me coat..;)
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I'd be amazed if any of this needs doing. The battery is unlikely to have lost a material amount of charge over 5 months - let alone since it was charged.
I would hope that OP left it in gear with the brakes off... sure that was suggested to him - jbif will be along with the link shortly!
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Perhaps it would be a good idea to check the thermostat hasn't stuck either
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"I'd be amazed if any of this needs doing. The battery is unlikely to have lost a material amount of charge over 5 months - let alone since it was charged."
We don't know the age of the battery before the lay-up though.
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>>I would hope that OP left it in gear with the brakes off... sure that was suggested to him - jbif will be along with the link shortly!
Sorry! I should've said in my post: brakes off, in gear and with a brick chocking one wheel (it's on a slope).
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>I'd be amazed if any of this needs doing ..
So would I, if the car was 'laid up' as stated - which means it was prepared to be unattended and unmoved for months. If you only mean that it was parked and locked, then braking surfaces will have roughened, battery will have run down a good deal (alarms etc), tyres will need pumping, and lubrication may have drained off the cylinder bores. I would guess a top-up of the battery and the tyres may be all you need to do. Get the car moving and give the brakes a severe test.
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Back in the late 80's I worked abroad. I would often leave my car ( a Mk2 Golf GTi ) for three months or more in the UK while I was away. Never failed to start or do what a car is supposed to when I came back. Would have thought a more modern car would be even more capable of coping unless all the electrickery had drained the battery or something.
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Bet there will be vast amounts of 'new' cars that will be standing around on airfields for a lot more than 5 months!
Starting a car every so often is no good thing unless its taken for a really good warm through. Otherwise condensation forms inside the engine and contaminates the oil.
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Due to work patterns I used to leave cars standing "as parked" for 4 months at a time, even an Allegro, and never had worse than a low battery. Cars were left in gear, brake off. One collegue had a stuck clutch which some violent acceleration/braking sorted. More recently I have left a car in an airport car park for a month with no problems.
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Being retired and often travelling abroad for between 2 and 3 months at a time, several times a year, we have never had any trouble at all with starting the petrol car on our return.
The car has been left locked in the garage with no other precautions at all being taken. The engine has always started easilly without difficulty, nor has the battery being flat, nor has the battery failed shortly after our return.
Five months in the open will I feel, be a more stringent test, but given a good battery it should start OK. As others have said the clutch could have stuck and it may need freeing first (I turn the engine over in first gear with the pedal pressed down).
I personally would be more concerned at the state of the tyres after that time; they could have developed 'flat spots' from not turning.
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It's Japanese. Turn key, test brakes, then drive it straight to the nearest petrol station and brim the tank with fresh fuel and check the tyre pressures.
ISTRC from my MX-5 owning days that the car uses a bespoke, lightweight "gel" type battery which is rated at under 30Ah, so a flat battery isn't beyond the realms of possibility after 5 months.
I bet it just starts and runs though. Japanese vehicles are great at that.
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My daughter's returning from her foreign travels and will no doubt expect her car to be available straight away...It's only had two oil changes in its' five years. She wouldn't let me change the oil or brake fluid before it was parked up.
Any suggestions from the BR apart from shooting her?
Leave her to it, I would. She obviously knows best...
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My MGTF has been left parked up since the end of September - albeit in a garage and a trickle charger for the battery. Come April I expect to turn the key and drive off. I have done nothing different other than cover the hood, take the handbrake off and leave it in gear.
I did have to start it on Boxing day to get it out of the garage and it fired up first time with no problems.
Being outside may have killed the battery but other than that I doubt you will have any problems - there are many 1000s of new cars sat in fields and forecourts that are left for longer.
If she leaves it again, one of those chargers that plugs into the cigarette socket and uses daylight to re-charge the battery are fantastic for keeping the juice in - unfortunately they dont work in a garage though!!
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