Ernesto13B

iTrader: (4)

First of all, If I posted this in the wrong section I apologize, but I just recently bought a second car for daily driving and I am going to be driving my FD only on the weekends, or a couple days per week.

I'm used to driving it everyday and have been for the past 4 years, but since things are changing, how would I perform maintenance like how often are oil changes recommended for a car thats not driven often? Or what ppl are doing to prevent the battery from going dead if it's parked a while (besides just disconnecting the cable obviously) Thanks

1QWIK7

iTrader: (33)

Lol my kind of thread. My fd has been a weekend car for a while.

If ambient temps are warm there is no need to disconnect the battery cable. It wont go dead given your batt and electrical system is fine. If I drive my car on Sunday, ill see it Saturday. That's 6 full days no use and it cranks with full power. Now when winter comes, ill either start it every 3 days or ill disconnect my negative terminal. Not a big deal since my terminal is quick disconnect so no need for tools.

Oil stays fine. Nothing out of the ordinary. Oil change periods will be longer though since you're not driving it much. My oil gets changes every 1500 miles anyway. And I actually been doing that in 3 months, driving it only on the weekends.

Just check everything before you leave for the first time each weekend. That's what I do. Because I only see my car on the weekend, I go around and inspect it before I take it out on first time. I check tires, coolant, oil, check for scratches lol. Just as you would like you were going on a road trip.

Supernaut

iTrader: (83)

I've been concerned enough with my battery to have a quick disconnect installed. Well, there were times when I wouldn't drive my car for almost a month and guess what, voltage is still at at 14+ volts. Unless you are having some electrical problems where you know something is draining the battery, I think you should be fine.

NVMYRX-7

iTrader: (24)

I have had the same concern about taking care of the rotary when it sits for extended periods.

I do however have the answer for the battery worries.
I have the 3300 (Optima & normal battery) and the 800 (motorcycle) and they both perform flawlessly.
http://smartercharger.com/

adam c

iTrader: (2)

I drive my car only a couple of days a week. Maintenance is no different than any other FD.

XLR8

iTrader: (52)

Same here. She stays tucked away most of the time. If I go extended periods without driving it, I usually take it easy for a little longer and slowly boost it more throughout the drive.

Keeping carbon down is really number one. If you don't drive it much, and put it around when you do, then it can lead to issues.

rotarymaz

iTrader: (1)

I have a trickle charger connected to the battery when it's not in use, ensure I have full charge if I don't drive it for awhile.

Ernesto13B

iTrader: (4)

Ive never tried letting my FD sit for 7 days without starting (unless I disconnected my battery,and was doing major repairs and was unable to drive anywhere) Your right about that, I'm gonna install a quick disconnect negative battery cable. How long have you been driving your FD under these kinda of driving conditions?

1QWIK7

iTrader: (33)

The fd has seem that type of treatment a good 5 years out of my little over 7 years of ownership.

It would be a car that I drove on occasion. Meaning there was always a day or 2 skipped before the next time I take it out.

Only one time in 2005 where I drove it to work every single day to work in the summer (stupid time to daily drive I know lol) and a lil of 07-08 where I would take to work again a couple days a week.

Now it strictly gets driven on sat/Sunday pending good weather. No rain and no snow. Sometimes ill take it out during the week if I get a day off but even then I just don't wanna bother.

Nothing wrong with this routine. Just go over the car when you take it out because anything can happen when its parked. I remember one time I had some underhood wires chewed by the headlight area. I guess some animal was hungry. That's what happens when you don't drive it everyday. Little things you're not aware of occur.

XLR8

iTrader: (52)

Agreed. I think its easier to be complaisant when you dont drive it every day. Thorough checks are always important. As far as the battery goes, I have a circuit breaker installed as well. It was a part of my bin relocation project and its extremely handy. I'm using a Wesco Miata battery and hit holds up fine for periods of 2 weeks at a time.

Meiogirl

iTrader: (2)

If you don't have a garage get a cover. Even if you have covered parking get a cover. LA has a way of crapping up your car.

My FD is my toy. I'd say most weekends unless I am going somewhere more than 10 miles away I don't drive it. So I have to make a point to use it once a week to drive back and forth to work (60 miles).

You should come back to thread and tell us in a few months if you notice this (as I do): the car doesn't like to sit at all. If you end up driving it 2 days in a row the third day is super.

Oh I forgot: Never had a battery issue once I ditched the Odessey.

ZE Power MX6

iTrader: (157)

I drive mine once a week or once every 2 weeks, just check oil and coolant before I start it.

My question is what do you do in the winter when you don't drive it for months? Do I have to change the mixture of the coolant before I park it for the winter?

twinturborx7pete

iTrader: (3)

I'd agree with much of what is said. My car sometimes is driven once per month. I have the minibattery kit and it holds the charge just fine. I make sure to check the tires, fluids, etc before heading out to make sure nothing has leaked or messed up.

I agree that if you putt around in the car and leave it sitting, it probably isn't the best for carbon build up. However, I never take the RX-7 out to putt around in it Most Rx-7s were used as weekend cars from the get-go, so don't worry about it too much!

Ernesto13B

iTrader: (4)

What do you mean by the car doesnt like to sit? Did you have any problems after it sat for a while? I wanna make sure I at least drive it twice a week, because I don't wanna start clogging up the fuel injectors, dry rotting the tires or killing the battery or anything like that, and I def will report back with more info very soon, I promise lol

jdskin

iTrader: (1)

I'm at the point where I sometimes only drive my car once a month. I would let it sit for a month and it would still start up, although you could tell the battery lost a little juice. Well, my alternator ended up going out but once I replaced it I put the battery on a tender for about a week and it has been working fine ever since. I just make sure I check the fluids before I take it out. (ive put 2k miles on it in 8 months, with work being a 120 mile round trip drive )

Meiogirl

iTrader: (2)

Nothing big, it just acts like a kid that doesn't want to get up and go to school. I have a minor oil leak into the primary turbo, so she smokes a little bit and is all laggy. After a couple days driving her in a row she starts right up and is ready to go.

WHO

I'll add to this too. I drive the FD mostly on week-end, too. Go at the local meets here on Friday nights when weather permits.
Some weeks because of bad weather it doesn't go out at all. I've had period of up to a month without starting her and the only thing that drains the battery os the alarm's light flasjing, my alarm is actually well designed in that it flashes every second for the first 24 hours, then reduces it to once per 2 second, and then once per 5 seconds after 3 days I think. Anyway that has never been an issue, I have an Optima red-top.

I also try to check most obvious things like tires, fluids etc. No point being paranoid about it though. We love our cars but that's just what they are, cars. If karma decides to take a crap on you, something's gonna happen either way hahahaha

Drive safe and enjoy!

1QWIK7

iTrader: (33)

Our cars don't like to sit. They are temperamental like that. When I drove 800 miles a year when I first got the car, car drove funny. And it's not just exaggerating. It would idle funny, at night sometimes the car would buck. Etc.

This was when I would take REALLY short trips at a time. One mile here two miles there, car sits for 4 days. Repeat. Car sits for 5 days etc.

As the years went by, my annual mileage went up and I started to use it more. Now, even though I still use it sat/sun, I DRIVE. Literally I drive aimlessly and get lost on purpose, then just turn around and go home. I even bought a gps just for that lol. Then when I cruise with my friends, the mileage goes up more. I can easily put 150-250 each weekend every weekend given good weather.

Out of my entire ownership with this car, these past couple of years the car drives amazing. The more I drove it the more it drives better. Much better than when I first got it and I drove it one mile at a time.

Ernesto13B

iTrader: (4)

You know ur right about the car acting funny after sitting long periods of time. Just recently I had an issue where I turned the car on and the horn was blowing continuously non stop all by itself and turning OFF the headlights was impossiblle, not even turning the switch to off made a difference, I had to unplug the battery. I downloaded a wirnig diagram printed it out and was getting ready to diagnose, and then I never had the issue again and was never able to duplicate the problem. Its almost like it has a personality lol

adracer

Hello all--
Nearly my first post here, as I've been lurking for years, but haven't had much to contribute. On this topic, however, I can share. First, a little background, then what I've done to keep things "decent" in anticipation of significant work on the car.

I'm the original owner of a '93 FD. It was a daily driver (except in winter) from '94 to '96 in Washington state, and then about a 50% daily driver in California's Bay Area from '96 to '00. Since then, it has done a lot of sitting. I would start and drive it enough to move the fluids around at least once a month, changing them up as necessary (coolant needs changing now, come to think of it), but otherwise the car sat covered in a garage. I got caught up with motorcycles and racing, and the RX-7--with 96,000 original miles and probably needing some work--sat on a perennial back burner.

In 2008, I was posted in the Middle East for two years. Back in the rather dry California climate, my wife would reconnect the battery and start the car for me every month or so while I was gone. Upon my return, the car was fine. However, we're now in South America wrapping up the first year of a three-year tour. The FD and our other vehicles are in a heated barn in Wisconsin, sleeping it off. After talking to a number of folks about vehicle storage (including a pilot who had experience storing aircraft for longer periods of time), here's what I did:

--Put some mileage on the car and run the A/C (if you have it) in order to identify any problems/leaks prior to storage.
--Give the car a good wash, above and below. I always find things when I wash a vehicle.
--Change the oil and filter. I anticipate putting in new brake/clutch fluid, coolant, gearbox oil, and other associated liquids upon our return in October 2013.
--Disconnect the (negative terminal of the) battery. I've never had much battery drain on this car, but if your battery is at an earlier stage of life, a battery tender is a pretty good idea.
--Top off the fuel tank to eliminate moisture and add Sta-Bil fuel stabilizer. Be sure to run some of it through the engine before shut-down.
--Leave the parking brake off. I have the car in gear on level ground, or you could chock the tires.
--Increase the air pressure in the tires (~45psi) to help prevent flat spotting. Radial tires are rather resistant to permanent damage such as this, but I pump the tires anyway. I will NOT put the car on jack stands. Another of our cars with an excellent suspension will notoriously strain its suspension mounting points if fully extended for long periods of time, and I'm not sure the FD would be otherwise. Even if I'm due for some new bushings, I would rather spend money on new tires than have suspension mount problems.
--Utilize bags of dessicant in several places. The dessicant can be bought commercially at websites, such as Griot's Garage, in various size/weight bags, and you can also pick it up at arts and crafts stores where it's often sold as a preservative to dry out flowers and plants. I put some small bags of it into the airbox and exhaust pipe. I sealed the exhaust pipe afterwards with painter's tape. I used a couple larger cloth bags for the interior of the car. They can be microwaved or put in the oven to dry them out for re-use.
--Aircraft supply shops also sell spark plugs with dessicant in them. These plugs don't actually spark, they just act as "place holders" in order to repel moisture from a cylinder (or rotor chamber) which has a valve (or port) open. I was comfortable enough in my storage location that I did not take this extra step.
--Use a good cover, even inside a warm, dry, temperature-controlled environment.
--Take precautionary action against any rodents. I once dealt with three baby mice who were born under the seat of my wife's pristine Triumph motorcycle. That will NOT happen again, so help me. Be absolutely sure of your garage's security--traps, poison, do what it takes. Nobody needs their wiring harness to literally become a "rat's nest."

We will find out how well I'm doing in about two weeks. That will be my first time home since September 2010. I gave four cars and three motorcycles this exact same treatment, and I'll be able to start and drive/ride all of them (except the Pontiac that didn't start BEFORE I put it away). I can post up any findings, if anyone's interested. Or perhaps you'll only hear from me if I had some sort of horrendous "learning experience."

Looking back at your first post, I realize this response is probably overkill, but hopefully you can take some ideas away. While driving and "active" maintenance are best, there's also no reason the car can't survive being left alone for a bit.

For what it's worth, I miss all the machines tremendously, the FD in particular. I became re-interested in that car in 2008, and I have some significant plans for a "freshening" of it when we move back. Or maybe before that...