Winterizing

[rjkoop]

It's time to put my Fiat away for the winter. I only put about 1,000km on it this year (rolling restore) but they were a great 1,000km including a trip to Montebello and being part of a local classic car show.

With only 1,000km on it after replacing all fluids (brake fluid, coolant, oil, diff fluid, transmission fluid) should I bother draining and refilling anything? Seems like overkill. I did fill the car with 91 octane gas from my local Cdn Tire which according to this site is ethanol free.

http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=ON

And I cleaned the interior and exterior. So only other thing I was planning on doing was taking out the battery and putting it on a trickle charge in the basement. The car is stored over the winter in my garage (dry and mouse free).

Winter projects on the car will be minor and only on the interior of the car. This will include fixing the door locks (not sure it's worth it but just want everything on the car to work), getting the windows to slide better and not squeak, and attaching the door panels and various trim pieces better. Nice to be at this point with the car!

[bradartigue]

No reason to do anything but what you're already doing.

[joelittel]

Rjkoop, when you get around to tackling the door locks please post your findings. This is on my winter list as well, as my passenger side interior handle is quite hard to operate.

I don't yet understand how the international workings of the handle or locks work, so I'm hoping to piggyback someone else's success... but haven't started searching yet either.

[rjkoop]

Rjkoop, when you get around to tackling the door locks please post your findings. This is on my winter list as well, as my passenger side interior handle is quite hard to operate.

I don't yet understand how the international workings of the handle or locks work, so I'm hoping to piggyback someone else's success... but haven't started searching yet either.

Sounds good. I'll try to take lots of pictures.

Richard

[wizard124]

I think I would keep the battery installed and make the effort to start and idle the car periodically.

[rjkoop]

I think I would keep the battery installed and make the effort to start and idle the car periodically.

Interesting idea. Not sure the battery would stay charged and the car even start when it's -30 degrees C out though. I'm in Ottawa so we have periods of continuous -20 degrees C.

[RRoller123]

When I stored my 80 in unheated garage/barn offsite here in Mass, I would go over about every other week and run it up to temp for a few cycles. Battery held charge fine. But 0-10F is typical low here.

[spiderdan]

Richard, I park mine (soon I guess) in my sisters unheated garage. I make sure the car is clean, the gas tank is full (last 3 fill ups with Shell v-power), disconnect the battery and put a cover on her. In the spring I check the tire pressure, hook the battery back up, pull the choke and slap that gas pedal silly till it cranks over. A little puff of smoke out the muffler, let her idle a few minutes and we're back on the road for another fun filled year.
Been doing that for 14 years now. Only had to boost the battery once, it was a 5 year old crappy tire cheapo on it's last legs.

[KevAndAndi]

I leave the battery in the trunk and use a trickle charger, starting and idling the car periodically through the winter. I know some folks feel that does more harm than good, but I nevertheless fell compelled to do it. It would probably be better to take the car out for a drive if the roads were salt-free. A salty-road drive would definitely do more harm than good!

[joelittel]

Why would starting it once a week and letting it idle until it gets up to temp be harmful?

I've done that every year for the last 5 years, and now I'm wondering what harm I may have done.

Weather and roads permitting I do drive it when I can.

[cyborg7]

If you really want to be paranoid (like me) then it might be worth checking the humidity in a garage. If you don't then stop reading now. I found out to my cost that however dry a garage seems to feel it often isn't. I stored a car in a new build garage for about 5 years before I got a cheap ebay humidity meter for about $5 and realised how high the humidity really was (over 70%). I don't know if it was a co-incidence but every year without exception the brake fluid had to be changed because it was full of moisture. But even worse was that any exposed steel (even tools) was getting surface rust. Brake discs always. In practice there was nothing wrong with the garage - it was bone dry, perfect dpm etc. but the ambient air just meant that there was always lots of humidity and significant condensation at certain times of the year - unfortunately spring and autumn were the worst as the temperature / humidity balance was the worst.

I've now got a dehumidifier permanently plumbed into what is now a sealed garage so that even when it's raining (which in the UK is often), the climate inside the garage is like the Nevada desert. Given that the car's come from SoCal to the UK, anything less wouldn't be fair.

I found the following dewpoint calculator really useful to get things just right (and appease my OCD):
http://www.dpcalc.org/

Also the following site (bit obscure I know) gives a well written explanation:
http://www.amphicars.com/storage/default.html

[4uall]

I think I would keep the battery installed and make the effort to start and idle the car periodically.

Interesting idea. Not sure the battery would stay charged and the car even start when it's -30 degrees C out though. I'm in Ottawa so we have periods of continuous -20 degrees C.

hey Richard,

for what it's worth I fill the tank, add stabilizer, put her on blocks, leave the battery in, attach trickle charger (all in my attached unheated garage) Zero issues in 4 yrs occasionally, I'll disconnect the charger and run the car