Winter Storage

[courtenay]

Since my car is never driven in the rain and I live in the Pacific Northwest, I've taken it off the road for the monsoon season. Apart from adding fuel stabilizer to the tank and disconnecting the battery is there anything else I should be doing?
The car is covered and parked in my unheated garage. Is it wise to start it every few weeks and run it for awhile? I've let my plates lapse, so running it on the road on a nice day is not possible. I expect to have it back on the road in March/April.

[narfire]

Hi Bruce.
I do much the same but do roll it outside and run it occassionally on nice days. Get storage insurance,if you havn't done so already... fire/theft and I also set a couple of mouse traps in the footwells and the carport floor. The past spring I had a nest under the wiper cowl and when the second 80 was home for a few weeks, a nest was started in the trunk.
I have a week left on my plates and hope to have the new head dialed in by then
Chris

[Jimb]

Long term storage I plug the exhaust with a rag, inflate to tires to 50 or so, and put on a battery trickler.
Jim.

[Zippy]

There seems to be a minor controversy over running it for awhile versus actually driving it. Some say that just running it causes a buildup of condensation which can lead to rust in the exhaust system. I don't let my plates expire so I take it out for a spin on those cold clear days. I don't take it out in the rain or snow either.

I used to use a battery tender but I don't anymore It caused premature failure on 2 of my batteries.

Definitely go with the mouse traps. My wife had a nest in her Highlander "in the thingey under the hood" that the mechanic at the dealer found when she took it in for service. I would put them under the car but never in it. I do not want to attract them into the car. We don't have cats so I use peanut butter, which the mice seem to love. They also like our dog's food so I use that too. She can't get under the Fiat so that works pretty well. Check your traps often, if there is one there will be more. Here is a link to an article on eHow that lists many different ways to get rid of mice
http://www.ehow.com/topic_3766_mouse-traps.html
Also BE VERY CAREFUL when cleaning up mouse droppings and nests. Some mice cary this deadly virus.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/h ... cation=rss

[narfire]

Good point about the traps IN the car.
I did the dog food thing as well, I felt like Bill Murray in Caddy Shack. I drilled a hole in the kernal of dog food and tied it in with fishing line. We don't have canned stuff here so had to use dry.
Another good point about the Hanta virus. I knew two that have died from it.

[Zippy]

Good point about the traps IN the car.
I did the dog food thing as well, I felt like Bill Murray in Caddy Shack. I drilled a hole in the kernal of dog food and tied it in with fishing line. We don't have canned stuff here so had to use dry.

Yea, the dry stuff. I figured they must like it after I found they had made a hole in the bag and were running across the floor with a chunk it.