So I am a (very) amateur car restoration hobbyist. I just finished a near complete restoration of a vehicle that will now be stored and covered for long periods of time between use.
Generally the car will be driven a few weekends during the spring and summer and then stored with no use for up to 6 months at a time.
I know that I need to use up or treat the fuel to avoid bad gas, either remove or trickle charge the battery and keep some padding (i.e. carpet patches) under the tires to avoid flat spotting.
However my google-fu and even discussions with other hobbyists nets me a split on the subject of when/if I should start the car during these long periods of rest.
Opinion 1 - Starting it every couple of weeks will keep the engine parts lubricated and is important to avoid seals drying out and general degradation of parts.
Opinion 2 - Don’t start it at all. The lubrication concern is a myth and starting the car for only short periods will actually cause damage because condensation (water) will be generated and can rot out your exhaust and corrode other vital engine parts.
So now that I am confused (both camps swear by their belief)… do we have any knowledgeable mechanics or persons that would like to chime in?
I would actually jack the car up and put it on blocks to keep the weight off of the tires. If you do end up with flat spots, they tend to work themselves out after a week or two of driving (or at least they did on my brother-in-law’s pickup truck that he left sitting for two years).
The brakes will get a bit of surface rust on them and may get stuck a bit. This is no big deal. Just drive around through a neighborhood and do a lot of hard stopping until the brakes work freely and all the surface rust is worn off of them.
I’m in the camp of don’t start it at all for 6 months. I don’t think that the lubrication and seals go bad that quickly (though I would love to hear from our resident mechanics on this issue). I have a couple of cars that sit all winter and I don’t run them at all. If you do run the car, make sure it gets all the way up to its operating temperature. Otherwise you will cause a lot of rust especially in the exhaust system. When I I run mine, I run it for at least 20 minutes to half an hour (i.e. take it for a drive somewhere, don’t just let it run in the driveway for 5 minutes). I’ve seen a few cars with rusted out exhausts. I’ve never personally come across a car that has had seal problems from sitting over the winter and not being run.
Water will condense out of the air and into your oil. If you are in a particularly humid area (near the shore, for example) you may want to change the oil before starting it at the beginning of the season. Some folks insist on changing the oil no matter where you are, but I never do. If it’s only been sitting for 6 months there won’t be that much water in it unless you are in a humid area, and what water is in there will quickly be flashed into steam and expelled from the engine once it warms up to operating temperature.
You might want to cover up the air intake and any place else where critters can get into. I know one person who had mice or some type of critter chew away a lot of their engine wiring, and another that had a bunch of straw and twigs shoved into the air intake so that the car couldn’t start any more. I personally had a bunch of wooden balls in my garage that were left over from a project. A squirrel decided to stuff a bunch of them into my exhaust pipe. When I started up the car in the spring all of the wooden balls came shooting out of the exhaust, which I have to admit was a bit funny at the time.
If you are in an area where they salt the roads a lot in the winter, and you do choose to take the car out during this time (because for example you’re in the camp that says to run it every few weeks) then it’s a good idea to wash the salt off of the bottom of the car before putting it back into storage so that you don’t end up with corrosion problems.
I’ve had to start a couple of cars that have been sitting for more than a year. Getting them to start can sometimes be a bit of a challenge. I’ve never had a problem with a car that only sat for six months though. My kit car (essentially a 1960 VW Beetle converted to look like a 1929 Mercedes) is a bit slow to start the first time after sitting all winter, but a couple of cap-fulls of gasoline in the carburetor always get it to kick right over. I have a Cadillac that sits all winter as well (I drive my pickup truck all winter) and it always starts the first time every time.
I actually have two vehicles restored and am working on another. Probably not that exciting but I have a fully restored 1990 35th Anniversary Thunderbird SC and a 1990 Beretta Indy Pace Car.
I am now working on a Series 1 Dream Cruiser (special edition PT Cruiser) and have a 1984 50th AE 300ZX Turbo waiting in the wings.
None of them will ever be called (or valued like) a Super Bee but I enjoy owning them.
I would add Stabil to your gas tank and keep the gas tank full. Repeated temperature changes of the air space in your tank from warm to cold, moisture will condense out, as **engineer_comp_geek **notes about the oil in the crankcase, you will end up with water in your gas too, especially if you leave the tank empty. A full tank means less air and not much temperature change. If possible in your area, fill it with gas that does not contain ethanol. Water dissolves in alcohol and an ethanol blend will suck more out of the air. The Stabil may protect against that though.
I would not place the car up on blocks or jack stands unless you do so in a way that maintains the load on the suspension. Don’t jack it up and leave the springs and shocks dangling. A better choice would be to put on another set of crappy tires/wheels if you have them. If you don’t have another set of tires, inflate your tires to the maximum tire pressure and check them occationally to maintain the pressure, you won’t have flat spots.
Put the battery on a trickle charger every month or so but don’t leave it plugged in all the time. There are battery tenders made to be left on all the storage period, and some people permanently mount them under the hood, but just bringing the batttery up to charge once in awhile is fine.
I would not start the car at all during the storage period unless you were going to drive it for at least a half hour to get not only the engine, but the tranny and rear end up to operating temperature. Just starting it and letting it idle for awhile will not drive out the moisture. If you get a nice February day, take that sucker out and drive it!
Change the oil before you start it up in the spring and start to drive it, regardless of how many miles are on the oil. Don’t be cheap with your oil, just change it.
Oh, and leave the parking/emergency brake OFF. It might freeze up or stick.
I’m in the camp of running the engine on 30 day intervals, but doing so long enough to allow for a complete warm-up. Obviously no two cars/engines are alike, but my restored/modified '70 El Camino will show small traces/drops of oil leaking if I don’t take it out every 2-3 weeks or so.
Flat spotting the tires shouldn’t be a problem if they are radials. I had bias ply tires on a '56 Chevy. When the car sat for a week or so they’d flat spot. However after a mile or so, they’d be fine.
W/regard to oil, I change it and the filter on my El Camino twice a year even though it is driven less than 2,000 miles. Probably not necessary, but it’s so cheap to do so, why work about crankcase moisture?
I’m of the opinion that the better thing to do is the change the oil immediately before you park the car. Like change the oil, start it up to circulate the oil for a few moments, then shut it off for the season. Some argue it’s better to have fresh oil in the crankcase while it sits, but for me the big issue is that if you have an oil filter that’s been run for a few months then sits for a few more, it can get pretty severely frozen to the block. This can be a serious pain in the butt.
