Hi All,
Does anyone know what it entails to put your vehicle in long Storage?
I am talking about 12 months or maybe 24 months no driving!
Is it worth it?
I believe one have to jack up the vehicle, remove the batteries ext.
My biggest concern is the oils and the seals that might perish.
Wilfred i might stand corrected but heres my two cents worth
Long term storage is not that complex
Yes you need to jack it up to releave the weight from the tyres
Remove the batterry also , or at least hook it up to an inteligent battery charger
Remove all fuels or at least 98% or so of it ( fuel goes bad after a while )
I wouldnt be to concerned about oils and seals though , the engine wont be running so there shouldnt be any problem as far as oil degrading and seals persihing in such a short time - i purely base this on a few old classic cars that i resurected for clients in the past - most of these were left outside on farms for 20 plus years and all we had to do to get them running was fuel and a battery and of course clean the ignition points on those old models and they fired up with no leaks , we did however change the seals during the rebuild process but again they were 20 or more years old
Take into consideration that most of these IMPORT engines we see being sold have sat in shops and shipping yards for months to over a year and half before they were sold and they are almost a plug and play afair for most guys that just fit them
2001 9.4 Patrol DI GRX
Bigger Intercooler
Oil Catch Can
PC Bash Plates
More Mods to follow
Wilfred, drive the tank almost empty, jack it up to remove load from the tires, reduce tire pressures to 0.6-1 Bar (spare wheel too), remove battery terminals or even better connect an intelligent charger on battery maintenance cycle, open all windows fractionally, remove the fridge and open the bonnet.
If you are really worried, you get specialised storage oils (but as Driko says, this shouldn't really be necessary for a two-year storage), or possibly even do an engine oil change shortly before, to make sure there are no acids in the sump. This is however less of a problem with petrol engines than with diesels.
Also, you do have anti-freeze in your cooling system don't you?
I have had problems in the past with corroded carburettors, due to fuel being left in the float chamber, so it might be an idea to start the car and then pull the tank fuel pump's fuze, so that the engine dies from fuel starvation?
The above would be a very safe approach. We often used to store a car (Ford F100) 11 months of every year, and all we did was to jack it up, remove the battery terminals and rotor (to prevent theft) and open the doors, cubbyhole and bonnet. This was in a garage without doors too, in the bush.