I know it is early, but everyday when i leave work at it is 40-50 out i debate about getting the car ready for storage. my question is, i hear many of you unhook the battery to keep it from dying from the anti-theft system, when the battery is unhooked/or dead for that matter, how can you get into your car with the windows fully extended? do you just force it past the plastic molding, and not cause any damage, or do you leave the window down about a half inch? also recommendations on fuel, put some fuel additive in it? full tank, half tank, empty???? I hear some raise the car up and put it on jack stands, is this needed, or just being picky? I know it would keep me from wanting to drive it on a nice day in december or january. is there anything else i need to know? I plan on cleaning it up real well, and putting another coat of wax on it, probably here towards the end of october, but i may start driving my other vehicle a little more often until then.


also when the car comes out for storage it is going straight to the body shop to have my SS ducktail spoiler installed, along with cdc classic chin spoiler, california dream hood, and maybe painted stripes, maybe even 1/4 window louvers.... i cant wait for spring

thank you

kenneth

 

Hey Vista

Here is my .02cents worth...

Disconnect and/or remove the battery and use a trickle charger on it to keep it alive.

Use the key on the drivers door to get in your car with the battery disconnected.

Always store a vehicle with a FULL tank of gas. This prevents condensation from building up in the tank. A fuel stabilizer may not be a bad idea either, but I have never tried it.

If you plan to drive the car occasionally, there is no need to put it on jack stands. That process it only for long term storage to prevent flat spots from forming on the tires.

After you wax her up, put a good quality cover on. This will help keep the dust off as well as protect it from accidental bumps and stuff.

 

thank you 2k5gtc, when you use the key to unlock, does it manually lower the window? thats good to know

kenneth

 

Using the key to unlock does not manually roll down the window, nor does it need to. The windows roll down and up when opening/closing to help the door seal better, it is not required to open the door. The doors will open/close even if the windows don't roll down. The window does not go up into the rubber seal far enough to be a problem.

 

I stored my Lightning the past 2 winters but then sold it to buy my GT and will store my GT for winter.

As was mentioned always store a vehicle with a full tank of gas and that is for two reasons. First it greatly reduces condensation build up inside the gas tank. Second it is done for safety, an empty tank or ÂĽ full tank etc is more dangerous because the tank can build up more flammable fumes inside the tank. USE fuel stabilizer in the fuel and when you do its best to put it in BEFORE your final fuel up for storage and drive it a few miles to insure the stabilizer makes its way into the complete fuel system, fuel lines, injectors etc.

I have read many sites before, when I was preparing to store my Lightning the first winter, that is in highly recommend to NOT put a vehicle on jack stands because you do not want to unload the suspension. It recommended that you keep the load on the suspension of the vehicle.

With radials you don’t have to worry about flat spots as they really don’t develop them like the old bias tires use to. They can get flat spots after long term storage in one spot 3 months or longer but those flat spots will go away within a few miles of driving.

What I did was aired my tires up to 45 – 50psi to prevent, as best as possible, from getting any flat spots and I can say in the 2 different winters of storing the Lightning I never felt any flat spots.

Another recommendation, if you are putting it in a garage with a cement floor get one of those large cheap plastic tarps to throw on the floor. It will act as a moisture barrier between the cement floor and under carriage of the vehicle. Water can and will seep up from the ground through the cement. You won’t see the cement wet but moisture can and will seep up through cement (if there is ground underneath it) if you have a crawl space between the garage floor and dirt then no need to worry about it. If your cement floor is painted or tiled you don’t have to worry about that.

Where ever you’re storing your vehicle INSURE there are no food sources. No dog food, open bags of trash etc. If you keep trash in the same area as the vehicle make sure it’s in a closed and secure trash can or you will have mice. Mice will make a home inside your car and can cause a LOT of damage. Mice will chew in wires, fabric etc to make a nest so you don’t want any food sources to attract them.

This sounds goofy but it works to keep mice out a long with NO food sources. Use those fabric sheets for the dryer and place them by the vehicle wheels where mice use to get access to the car. Also place some of the sheets by the opening of the garage door or anywhere else a mouse might get into the garage. COVER your exhaust tips as mice like to make homes inside the exhaust. While they may not cause damage in the exhaust pipe if they get stuck in there when you go to start it up and die it’s going to stick for a while.

Prior to storage roll the windows up tight and run the A/C and shut the car off with the A/C running. That will insure the ventilation is closed off so mice can’t get to the inside of the car through the ventilation system.

If I think of some other things I’ll post them up…

 

[quote=06VISTA;746111] i debate about when the battery is unhooked/or dead for that matter, how can you get into your car with the windows fully extended? do you just force it past the plastic molding, and not cause any damage, or do you leave the window down about a half inch?



Open the driverside door and then disconnect the negative battery cable. The window now stays in the factory open door position. Lock and unlock door manually.

 

SONIC, Mice do not like fabric sheets? I thought they eat anything

 

thank you all for your suggestions. i havent thought about alot of those. for me it looked like the window went about a 1/4 inch into the molding and trim, just an illusion i guess

again, thank you all for your help

kenneth

 

Before storage, I securly raise the car enough the get under it and wipe down the following:

• underside (I wax as much of this area as I can)
• lower half of the engine (I found a power steering leak last year)
• front suspension
• rear suspension

It takes some time and a lot of damp rags. I then spray any exposed metal with WD40 for protection.

Next I remove the wheels and clean / wax the rims, inside and out and then clean the wheel wells.

I don't detail to the point of perfection, but it keeps crud from building up in the areas that don't normally get cleaned.

 

I am no expert on mice and eating everything but I can say, at least in my opinion, mice hate those dryer fabric sheets. I say that because the first year of storage of my Lightning I really did not do anything other then cover the exhaust. I found dog food in the air box of the truck when doing my bi-weekly inspection.

I then read about the fabric sheets and placed them around each wheel and found no further evidence of mouse crap on the engine or anywhere near the Lighting and removed the dog food from the basement garage. I put down about 15 – 20 mouse traps and caught about 15 or so of them.

Last year I did the same except I also placed 3 of the fabric sheets at each side of the garage door where mice could possible get in, it only takes about ¼” if that and mice can squeeze through. In any regards I again placed another 15 – 20 mouse traps and did not catch one mouse last year, no evidence there had been any mice in the garage at all.

Another tip about the dryer fabric sheets is you can use them to keep mosquitoes away. If you wipe the sheet on your clothes and even your skin mosquitoes will not bother you. I got that tip from a camping site and it works and works well and it doesn’t stink like some of the stuff you spray on.

Where I was catching mice the first year after noticing they had been in the engine bay was I placed mouse traps 3 wide by 3 deep by each opening of the door. No mouse was getting past all those mouse traps and living…

 

This is some good information for a Californian moving to Michigan next month. For the past 2 years I've only had to worry about rain in the winter, know I've got to worry about storage and MICE?

I knew I would need to store it but didn't think about all the little tricks of the trade. Do you do anything to the engine itself? Spray a little oil in the intake to coat the valves? Or do you run it each week?

 

I plan not to disconnect the battery but leave it installed and connect the battery tender to it. This will ensure its always charged.

 

Great info Sonic...I really have no mice problems here but the mosquitos..lets just say they are floridas state bird

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by topconbob

This is some good information for a Californian moving to Michigan next month. For the past 2 years I've only had to worry about rain in the winter, know I've got to worry about storage and MICE?

Generally as long as you don’t have any food sources (dog food, cat food, garbage that is not kept in a tightly sealed container such as those 40 gallon plastic cans with lids) you should be ok as far as not attracting mice. They will not make a home/nest where they can not get food on a regular basis.

Again, I am no mice expert by any means but after finding dog food in the air box of my Lightning, when I owned it, freaked me out so I did a lot of reading on the subject. I personally would still place mouse traps by the garage door openings on the sides just to make sure you catch any trying to get in, or any other possibly openings in your garage where they may get in.

As far as what to do with the motor I can make some recommendations based on what I have read and learned but again not an expert in that field either. The important thing is to make sure you change the oil and have fresh oil in the motor. Oil can and will collect containments such as water (moisture), unburned gasoline etc and you don’t want that sitting in the motor for 2 – 6 months so its best to put a fresh 6qts in with a new filter.

As far as starting it during storage I have read many opinions on both sides. One side states to never run the motor as its bad on the oil. Oil will not get hot enough to burn any moisture off and neither will the exhaust system get hot enough to burn off the moisture it will collect from running the motor a short time.

The other side of the argument states its not good to just let a motor sit in one spot because the valve springs could take a set from either being in the closed or open position and just sitting there so some experts recommend turning the motor by hand every few weeks.

I “kind of” follow both recommendations which is I do not start and run the motor but I don’t turn it by hand either. What I did with my Lightning was take a grease pencil and marked the lower pulley. I would then crank the motor, or turn the key on and then off quickly so the motor turned over but not started. I would check the lower pulley to see if the grease mark was in a different location. If it was then I figured it was good and the valves were in a different position.

Some people will change the oil again right before taking it out of storage. I don’t do that because if its less then 6 months and I haven’t actually ran the motor the oil is fine. It is not contaminated so no need to change it or the filter.

Some people will actually pull plugs and squirt a little motor oil down into each cylinder and then turn the motor over to coat the cylinders. I don’t see how that does much good because once it sits, even for a month, the oil will run down the cylinder and pool against the rings. That won’t hurt anything but what ever coating the cylinder had is gone so why remove all the plugs, squirt oil in them, and then have a nice smoky 5 – 10 minute start up after storage?

 

The other thing I wanted to add is if I knew for a fact the motor would not start by holding the gas peddle all the way down or WOT that would be a good way to rotate the motor and get the internal parts oiled during storage every few weeks.

I have just been too much of a wussy to try the WOT, peddle all the way down, to see if it works or not. I would hate for a cold motor to start up and hit the rev limiter…