Laying a car up for 6 months?

[danzman1991]

Hi guys,

So this is the first winter since I bought the car that I'm going to tuck it up in the garage, October - March/April (ish).

What precautions should I take (silly question probably but wanted to ask for some advice) - is it just a case of disconnecting the battery, leave the handbrake off with the wheels chocked, then 6 months later connecting the battery up again, change the oil & filter, be careful with the brakes for 20 miles..?

Should I leave the fuel tank more or less empty or brim it?
Any way to avoid 'flat spots' on the tyres or is 6 months too short a time to cause this?

Cheers chaps!
Daniel.

 

[Darren S]

Ideally, could the car be raised with the wheels off? Might be a little overkill for six months, but like you say - that would certainly negate any flat spots - especially if they were decent/newish tyres.

I'd personally not try to leave too much petrol in the tank. Hardly drain it, but just leave a couple of litres in there.

If indoors, maybe lift the wipers blades up - stop them sticking to the glass? Close all the air-vents too - stop any spiders, etc from entering the cabin area.

D.

 

[DOHC-kinda-guy]

If you jack the wheels off the ground you can use jack stands on the suspension to keep to keep it compressed. But only if it's in a stable area. You can also get trickle charges for about 20 euro that are meant to keep your battery topped topped off, but don't use to much power, they're not intended to charge, only keep topped off.

Depending on were you live it may be a good idea to get something to keep rodents away, like mothballs or whatever you prefer.

 

[Fletcher]

I left my 172 SORN on the drive for 16 months. I just pumped the tyres up and disconnected the battery.

 

[bloke]

park it, leave window open a bit, tray of cat litter in it and bob's your uncle

 

[Inequality Street]

Ideally, could the car be raised with the wheels off? Might be a little overkill for six months, but like you say - that would certainly negate any flat spots - especially if they were decent/newish tyres.

I'd personally not try to leave too much petrol in the tank. Hardly drain it, but just leave a couple of litres in there.

If indoors, maybe lift the wipers blades up - stop them sticking to the glass? Close all the air-vents too - stop any spiders, etc from entering the cabin area.

D.

I always thought it best to brim the tank, leaves no room for condensation etc then? I've never done it thou, I assume there are huides on google.

 

[Darren S]

Could be m8. I was always led to believe that you had evaporation/pressure issues with a full tank? Hopefully someone knows the proper answer!

D.

 

[DOHC-kinda-guy]

It's best to not have allot of fuel in the tank because it like oil will degrade the longer it sits the worse it gets until it basically brakes down into sludge, keep as little as possible in it for long periods, 6 months isn't to bad Just park it with 1/4 +/- and add a little bit of fresh gas to it when you go to start it up just to smooth it out, heck just park it with whatever it has really, 6month isn't really that long to worry about it, worse case scenario you may need to change your fuel filter... Now if you were storing it for an extended period of time, you'd probably want to drane the tank...

But yes, even with modern EVAP controls fuel will still evaporate.

 

[kieren17389]

Each to their own but really dont see the point in leaving a clio off the road for that long just because of the winter. Unless you're banned for the next 6 months id run it around atleast a day a month. Its very rare we have that bad of weather so dont see the need in leaving a car off the road for so long unless its something classic or worth alot of money.

 

[DannyR]

I wouldn't jack it up. I left one jacked up for a month once and it fucked the brand new shocks!

 

[JP83]

Modern cars are much more capable of withstanding longer terms spent parked up now.
If it's been a classic, I would say do this, and do that.

With the clio, I'd just leave it. At most, out a trickle charger on the battery or fire it up once a week.

 

[Bluebeard]

Pump the tyres up to 60psi. Stops them getting flat spots.

Disconnect the battery or put it on a trickle charger.

That's the only things I do.

 

[AlexW]

TBH, advice depends if its inside, outside and what the car is, we assume Clio obviously.

I'd just park it, then realise I still own it 6months later, thats what I do.

 

[danzman1991]

Cheers for the advice guys, it's not a Clio but a mint '95 106 Rallye, didn't know where else to put the thread

Don't tax it for 6 months of the year as it will hardly get used during the winter months (hardly gets used during the summer months tbh!) so won't get the opportunity to give it a run.

Here's the old girl in the garage of my new home!

6 months is hardly a long time, but just wanted to ask for some guidance as most of you guys on here are pretty helpful!

Cheers.