Hey, I put my car away for the winters and Im wondering if I need to do anything special to make sure everything works when I take it out in the spring. Last year I just kept it covered and ran it every week for 15 mins or so and it worked out pretty good. Does anyone have any advice for winter storage? What do you guys do? Thanks

 

Disconnect battery. Full tank of gas with fuel stabilizer. Put car on jack stands.

Enjoy the winter.

I keep my car insured and registered because i like to use it when its not snowing, even if its cold (below 25 degrees and im not even gonna try to drive it).

Last winter was very mild with snow coming late late winter so that worked out. Im sure its gonna be the same this winter.

But the days when it did snow and i didnt use it for weeks on end, I just started it once a week, 10 days max. Varied the rpms when warm and worked the gears in the driveway just to get things moving. etc.

 

Yea thats what i did last winter, run it once a week and move it around in the driveway! seemed to work out pretty well.

 

i would just drive it!!! that is the best way to keep it running good during the winter. my friend drives his with no problems. also something to think about, a lot of the Canadians drive there 7's year round, including the FD owners.

 

the only problem with running it here in the north east is the salt on the ground that will rust your car bottom up...

see, i dont like the whole jack stands idea only because your letting your spring pull down for the winter seasons... the only reason people put the car on stands is because of that flattening on certain spots if its kept there to long. my opinion, just drive it a bit to fix this...

keep the battery disconnected, and do an oil change before storage if you dont plan on starting the car for a while.

 

yeah, i wouldn't put it on jack stands. just put extra air in the tires so they don't flatten, or move it a foot or so every other day. and the great thing about the north east drive through car washes are the undercarriage sprayers. gets all the salt right off.

 

Yea i dont want to drive the car in the winter b/c since new it has never been drove in the winter, therefore it has no rot on the car any where. I would like to keep it that way. The car washes do wash the bottom but still do not remove all the sand and salt. I have another car for the winter so i keep this one garaged and move it around every week and let it run for a bit.

 

i dont know... i mean ill admit ill prob take the porsche out every now and then in the snow for some AWD fun but....ill be damn sure to spray the bottom of my car thoroghly before i put it back in storage with some fresh water... the rust is just not worth it..

but if its possible, just run the car for 15 mins at a time... and move it around if you can. if not, your gonna be looking forward to changing the oil on the car so the contaminents dont ruin your engine.

 

and make sure after you run it, give it a couple revs to redline to prevent carbon buildup on the rotor faces.

 

didnt know carbon builds up on the faces lol... and i cant say i have that problem to begin with anymore... moved over to the pistons again.. =P

 

OH No!!!!! PISTONSSSSSSSSSS Yeah, carbon will build up on the faces really bad if you don't take it to redline every now and then. i have seen motors broken apart where the faces are literally black and the sides are perfectly fine. it's not a blown engine but it will cause a lot of extra friction that will wear the housings down very quickly.

Christian

 

Thanks for all the info! Yea i plan on running if for a while every week. I will put stable in the gas to keep that fresh which also acts as a fuel system cleaner. My dad has a 50,000 sq. ft. building that he only uses like 15,000 sq ft of right now, thats where im keepin it this winter so I have plenty of room to move it around.

 

If he has a building, isnt it heated then?

 

Parts of it are, its an industrial building so the machinery produces heat. But since he doesnt use the whole building, there isnt much heat in the unused space. Why do you bring this up?

 

heating is good, starting a cold block can be bad. though i have driven an FD in 20 degree weather with no problems at all, i just gave it 15 or so minutes to warm up. and besides, you don't want to get into a cold car do you?

 

ive been told putting a worklight (the light bulb type) ontop of the block keeps it warm enough


but winter is when i drive my car it loves the cold air

 

http://www.aaroncake.net/RX-7/storage.htm

 

good info.

 

Because theres less stress starting an engine when its REALLY cold.

In winter times, even peak day doesnt get to 30 degrees. We could very well get many of those days this winter. I dont even bother starting the car when its around 20 degrees. Even if i havent started it in a while. I rather wait til a days is more mild than trying to warm it up on that cold day.

 

Yea, the building shouldnt be below 35-40 inside due to the machinery running 24/7. So starting when its really cold out wont be a problem. I wont start it if its under 30, I hang a thermo in the garage so I can keep track of temp.

 

Sorry i meant to say starting it will be more stress when ambient temps are REALLY cold.

But yeah either way i dont think it will be a problem, some people daily drive their car in the winter. Just use lighter weight oil.

 

Thanks everyone for the info, see you at the spring meet!

 

hope everything works out for ya...

now i have to decide what to do with mine... lol.