Putting a car into storage?

CaneyJ

CaneyJ

CaneyJ

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Joined
15 Dec 2002
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1,078
Location
Birmingham
I’ve decided that since my current location next year puts me 2 minutes walk from shops, 5 minutes walk from university and cheap mega busses traveling frequently from my university in Bournemouth to London that I really don’t see the need to make use of the car during my final university year.

The family home has a garage and I would still make use of the car during holidays but there are gaps of between 3 months to 6 months.
My mum is insured on my car but she isn’t best good at parking and I would prefer to leave my alloys uncurbed so the other option is making it immobile.

Would the best option be to have my parents just run the car on idle for 15 minutes until warmed up once a week or go all out and disconnect the battery and put it on a battery saver device as well as drain the coolant, oil and fuel?
 
When I was at uni my car got left for 3 months at a time and to be honest I never did anything to it exceot for leaving the hand brake off. Always started fine when I went back to it.

6 Months on the other hand might mean you come back to a flat battery.
 
It's only worth running it if you're going to drive it about, just having it idle up to temperature won't do it much good.

I used to just drive my 1850 into the garage, leave the handbrake off and that was it. Came back to it every 12-14 weeks, would always start fine and after the brakes had freed off, all was well.

I'd recommend leaving all fluids in place, then again, I've never "stored" a car as such, just parked them up.

Just get a decent trickle charger :)
 
Phil W said:
So? It's his car, his pride and joy.
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Doesn't mean you can't be realistic. The best way to keep a car like this in order is to let his Mum use it a couple of times a week/month or whatever. If he's worried about his alloys, whack the steelies back on. It's a 400 quid Fiat, it isn't a supercar which requires a heated garage and nobody walking within 30 yards.
 
While I'm not using my Fiat, I've just parked it up, released the handbrake and disconnected the battery.I might get a cover too.

Personally, I would sell it to your mum. That way you're no longer paying for it, then you also get to use it when you go home.
 
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[TW]Fox said:
It isn't a supercar which requires a heated garage and nobody walking within 30 yards.
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I know its not, but i've been following his threads where he has rebuilt the engines etc, and can appreciate the ammount of work that has gone into it.

If it was me id sit it in the garage, give it a good day or two's driving after the 2 or 3 months then put it away again until next time.
 
Seems to me he sees his car only as a tool for going from A to B given he says he doesnt see the point in a car when everything is so close.
 
Leave it with a full tank of fuel to avoid condensation and therefore corrosion. Get the tyres pumped up to 45psi to avoid flat spotting ( not really a big problem now though)
 
I would also just let your mum give it a wizz about. If you have some old rims just stick them on.

When we've put a car in for storage, we just erm, left it...

But a mate who has a car and house in Italy just pumps his tires up and covers it for a year, goes back and its suppossedly fine. And that's a Fiat :)


MC_Bob
 
Simon said:
Leave it with a full tank of fuel to avoid condensation and therefore corrosion. Get the tyres pumped up to 45psi to avoid flat spotting ( not really a big problem now though)
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MM I thouht the correct technique or storing a car was to lower the pressure on the tyres, and brick the wheels off the ground - this will avoid flatspots.
 
whitecrook said:
MM I thouht the correct technique or storing a car was to lower the pressure on the tyres, and brick the wheels off the ground - this will avoid flatspots.
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Whats the point of lowering the tyre pressure
 
just park it handbrake off and battery disconnected, it will be fine. Thats the way my 300 sits and it starts and runs great every time.
 
The idea of lowering the prssure in the tyres slightly was just to ease the tension on the rubber, however I have looked around and it seems this is a thing of the past. Modern tyres don't flatspot, nor do they need their pressure lowering. In fact as has already been said, if you plan to leave your car on the ground, increase the pressure to about 45psi.
 
The best option is to let your mum drive it, much less hassle and you can ask her to contribute a small amount of cash.... to cover the tax+insurance you'd be paying.

I've parked both of my cars up ocassionally, The electric passenger window on my peugeot had always been a bit slow and noisy but after 3 months without use, its died.

Electric ariel on my jag also died after 2 months without use. Rear doors also jammed on the jag through lack of use. Had no issues engine wise with either and these were both parked outside on the grass.

Safest bet is ocassional use.
 
The first car I bought had not been used for 6 months. Had jammed doors, flat battery, green growing on it and something bunged up the cat that made the car behave like a turbo when you put your foot down (nothing, nothing, whoosh!!). Didn't take much to sort it out at all really. I reckon you should just let you mum drive it with steel wheels on tho. Otherwise they are going to complain about you wasting space on their drive!!!
 
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