For those who store their cars for the winter and longer, what procedures do you follow? A change in my circumstances has meant I've needed to take my Z off the road for the foreseeable.

I am particularly interested in whether letting the car idle once a month is a good idea for our cars in particular. I was planning to leave mine idling for 30 minutes + with a few rev ups towards the end. 

As for other things, I have a dehumidifier in my garage to keep moisture under control and have over inflated the tyres to try and keep flat spots away.

DONT start it up and let it idle it will ruin your engine just put a trickle charger on the battery and leave it but if its for more than the Winter months then take the battery out. Handbrake must be off. Dehumidifier is good and over inflate the tyres also I have seen people put foam/polystyrene under the wheels to let the tyres take their shape in the foam. A car cover to keep the dust away and I am sure other members will have more info for storage.

Interesting. I had heard conflicting arguments about the start up. Thanks for all of that. Annoyingly I had to quickly shuffle it out of the garage and back in recently and wasn't able to let it warm up so I was planning on giving it one final run up to temp at least to try and evaporate any water in the oil. Would you say just to leave it?

Does it ruin the engine through wear, oil contamination or carbon build up (or a combo of all)?

Edited January 2, 20214 yr by Peage

I've kept mine over winter in a dry garage and on a battery conditioner at all times (the type you don't need to disconnect the battery). If the

car isn't driven for a few weeks then I will move the car by hand (half a revolution of the wheels) to stop any flat spots developing on the tyres.

Some brands seen to be more prone to getting them.

If you have mild steel in your exhaust system, then a major cause of failure is internal corrosion from acid moisture produced by the

combustion process. You need to drive the car after starting it to get rid of it, otherwise it just sits in the system and does its worst.

Another thing people forget about is when the engine has a cambelt, if it is not moved/started for a long time, the belt can take on that shape, and once moved again they get damaged as they are forced to move and bend in ways they are no longer good for.

21 hours ago, Gaz 300 said:

DONT start it up and let it idle it will ruin your engine just put a trickle charger on the battery and leave it but if its for more than the Winter months then take the battery out. Handbrake must be off. Dehumidifier is good and over inflate the tyres also I have seen people put foam/polystyrene under the wheels to let the tyres take their shape in the foam. A car cover to keep the dust away and I am sure other members will have more info for storage.

Sound advice indeed - in fact I was discussing this very issue with Jimmer and Simon when I picked up my Zed last month...... Definitely not a good idea to let the engine idle for any length of time without driving the car?

19 hours ago, AndrewG said:

I've kept mine over winter in a dry garage and on a battery conditioner at all times (the type you don't need to disconnect the battery). If the

car isn't driven for a few weeks then I will move the car by hand (half a revolution of the wheels) to stop any flat spots developing on the tyres.

Some brands seen to be more prone to getting them.

If you have mild steel in your exhaust system, then a major cause of failure is internal corrosion from acid moisture produced by the

combustion process. You need to drive the car after starting it to get rid of it, otherwise it just sits in the system and does its worst.

More sound advice - and something I have done when the car has sat unused in my garage for more than two weeks. 

Interesting comment from Gary too, about putting polystyrene under the wheels; I have also seen other people leaving the car on axle stands to preserve the tyres!

A lot of helpful information here. Thanks everyone.

Sounds like leaving it alone wins the vote. I'll try some of the recommendations around the tyres too.