Tips for Storing a Car for a Long Period

[loui]

Thank you.. Learned lot of things... Thank You . 

Edited November 18, 2019 by loui
typing mistakes

[Dhaham]

On 4/22/2013 at 10:18 AM, Crosswind said:

Storing a car:

1. Clean the garage where the car is stored. If possible, remove all cans, bottles, junk, paper etc out of it. Sweep the floor. This is to get rid of rats, which may have already settled in your garage and to get rid of the dust and dirt. Never park the car outside, unless you have absolutely no choice.

2. Wash and vaccum the car once. This will remove dirt like crow droppings, which may damage the paint if it stays on the body for too long. Vaccuming will remove any dirt in the car, particularly food particles such as 'kadala', which may start smelling and attract insects. It will be a good idea to wax it too.

3. Get a trickle charger and connect to the battery. If its an old car (without an ECU), you don't need to do this. You can just disconnect the battery terminals. If you can't do this, make sure the battery is fully charged and its good enough to hold a charge.

4. Some websites will tell you to fill up on petrol. Don't do this. Petrol in Sri Lanka already contains water and chances are that water will vaporize. Also if the car is left in storage for long, fuel rails may get corroded due to the water in petrol.

5. If possible, remove the tires and place the car on jack-stands. If a tire loses all air in it, it might become permanently damaged. You may have to replace the tire(s). This will also remove the strain on the suspension. However, if you are storing the car for just a month or two, you don't need to do this.

6. Keep the handbrake OFF. If you keep it on, you will definitely get a brake bind. Place bricks behind the tires (if you didn't remove them) to prevent the car from moving.

7. Block the air inlet and exhaust pipe. This will prevent rats going in to the car.

8. For a relatively old car, apply some lithium grease (not petroleum grease) on door hinges and similar mechanisms. This is also optional.

You don't need to do most of these things if you can start and move the car for a short distance, at least once a week.



When starting a car after storage:

1. Give a good look at the surroundings of the car. Check if birds haven't made nests and cats haven't give birth on the wheel wells, under the engine or inside the rims.
2. Open the bonnet and check for evidence of rats. Look for droppings, chewed belts, signs of shavings of plastic. Check the air filter for any damage.
3. If you covered the air intake and exhaust pipe, make sure these are removed.
4. Check the fluid levels - engine oil, gear oil, brake oil, water. Peek under the car to see if you can spot any oil leaks.
5. Check the battery voltage and tire pressure
6. Start the car and run it in idle for a few minutes before moving. Check for misfires during this time. Most likely the engine will misfire due to water in petrol but hopefully it might go away after few minutes on idle.

I think there is a small risk of keeping a trickle charger connected. In rainy days, lightening surges, which are coming through 230V AC supply, may enter in to the car's electrical system through the trickle charger. This may damage the sensitive electronic circuits. Therefore, I don't recommend keeping the charger connected for a long time, unattended. It will be a good idea to connect the charger with 230V AC supply through an isolation transformer and a good Surge Protecting Device (SPD).

Edited November 22, 2019 by Dhaham

[Sylvi]

Members,

I reply above post which was posted last on 22nd November.

Dhaham's post is correct. I stored a 2 cars to a relative of mine for 20 years. He lived in a first class country did not want get rid of his first Morris Minor 2 Sri and number of cars which he bought when ever he visits to Sl. Every year when ever he visits to SL imported from his migrated country, I used to remove the battery's. 2 battery's from the 2 cars which was parked in a close air tight ( Close to Colombo Railway line) large garage, I had 2 charges ( Assembled by Me without any Electronic controlled) of 13.5 Volts DC connect to them. He comes to SL once in two years use his 2 cars with the same Battery,s, Only two Battery's were changed for the cars. He passed away 2 years ago at the age of 83. 2 Children sold 2 cars as well as the land.

Sylvester wijesinghe.

Sylvi.

[AVANTE]

3 hours ago, Sylvi said:

Members,

I reply above post which was posted last on 22nd November.

Dhaham's post is correct. I stored a 2 cars to a relative of mine for 20 years. He lived in a first class country did not want get rid of his first Morris Minor 2 Sri and number of cars which he bought when ever he visits to Sl. Every year when ever he visits to SL imported from his migrated country, I used to remove the battery's. 2 battery's from the 2 cars which was parked in a close air tight ( Close to Colombo Railway line) large garage, I had 2 charges ( Assembled by Me without any Electronic controlled) of 13.5 Volts DC connect to them. He comes to SL once in two years use his 2 cars with the same Battery,s, Only two Battery's were changed for the cars. He passed away 2 years ago at the age of 83. 2 Children sold 2 cars as well as the land.

Sylvester wijesinghe.

Sylvi.

That's sad. The children may have their reasons but this generation are like sheep & they seem to be straying away from cars and are interested in more wasteful things. 

[iRage]

18 minutes ago, □AVANTE□ said:

That's sad. The children may have their reasons but this generation are like sheep & they seem to be straying away from cars and are interested in more wasteful things. 

Yes..younger generation does stray away from cars, but I seriously doubt this is a case of that. If you really think about it...it really would not be practical for the kids to hold on to their dad's Sri Lankan assets if they are permanently based abroad. Also..their link to SL would have been their dad who no longer is there...then there is the case where Sri Lankan law is very very grey when it comes to inheritance and ownership of assets when it comes to foreign spouses and mixed kids with other nationalities. 

 

[AVANTE]

4 hours ago, iRage said:

Yes..younger generation does stray away from cars, but I seriously doubt this is a case of that. If you really think about it...it really would not be practical for the kids to hold on to their dad's Sri Lankan assets if they are permanently based abroad. Also..their link to SL would have been their dad who no longer is there...then there is the case where Sri Lankan law is very very grey when it comes to inheritance and ownership of assets when it comes to foreign spouses and mixed kids with other nationalities. 

 

I'm mistaken then. Well, another thing learnt for today! But still, if it were my dad, I'd try all I could to atleast keep that Minor. 

[HaeylM]

On 10/25/2019 at 11:07 AM, Junkfriend said:

If I were you I would sell it and put the money in a FB and buy a new car once you are back after one year. if you must part make sure its in a closed space where rats cant get in. 

Sorry to relighten this but thank you! its actually the smart thing to do since the car is just going to depreciate into scrap and id rather have someone else use it to commute their family and to work than let it rot to nothing.

I temporarily left the car unattended with the jack on and wheels off, battery removed and the interior with an air freshner. Came back 3 months later and the car was a mess, had to detail it and get it back to working shape with an expensive service which costed me close to 25K. 

Later when i had to go back i left it at a local car dealer and the guy got me a deal, wasnt expecting to make any money out of the toyota since i was in a rush but gave it off for a couple of lakhs cheaper than the market. 

 

[shirand]

Since rats came into the picture - any of you have used Liqui Moly Marderspray (attached a pic) to keep away rats?

One of my friends told that a car service place recommended this to spray to the engine bay, tires and bottom of the engine bay area once in 14 days to keep rats away. But he didn’t buy it and was using the rat kill cubes. 

Is using this spray effective? Or are there any risks of this to the engine parts?

If anyone has used/ using this please share your experience/ thoughts.

 

[Devinda_Z]

16 minutes ago, shirand said:

Since rats came into the picture - any of you have used Liqui Moly Marderspray (attached a pic) to keep away rats?

One of my friends told that a car service place recommended this to spray to the engine bay, tires and bottom of the engine bay area once in 14 days to keep rats away. But he didn’t buy it and was using the rat kill cubes. 

Is using this spray effective? Or are there any risks of this to the engine parts?

If anyone has used/ using this please share your experience/ thoughts.

 

@shirand LiquiMoly products are exclusively made in Germany and are of good quality so I would not expect any negative effects as it is designed for this very purpose for automotive use.

Admittedly I haven't used the marderspray itself but i've been quite happy with the performance of a number of their products, specially the Ceratec additive.