Leaving a car off the road.
Discussion
Ive sorn my golf gti off the road until may as of today. Unfortunatly the battery has died on me this week and dont plan to touch it for 4 months so will i expect any problems from now til then when i decide to get it back on the road? Rather it not seize up or anything.
Ive got about £400-500 worth of work to do on it when i have the money but proving difficult when saving the last stretch of money for a mortgage in a few months.
Any advice would be helpful. Cheers.
Ive got about £400-500 worth of work to do on it when i have the money but proving difficult when saving the last stretch of money for a mortgage in a few months.
Any advice would be helpful. Cheers.
Look on classic car websites for lists of advice on "winter layup".
https://www.google.co.uk/#q=classic+car+winter+lay...
John
https://www.google.co.uk/#q=classic+car+winter+lay...
John
LordHaveMurci said:
E-bmw said:
Bennachie said:
Over inflate the tyres............
Why?As soon as you have driven 100 yards they are fine even after many months.
If you want to, you could put the car on axle stands just in case one or more goes down, I just used to position 4 x blocks of 4 x 4 wood cut to the right height so that if the tyres went down (which one always did) the car would settle onto the blocks & keep the weight off the flet tyre.
I'm assuming it's not in a garage? Sensible advice is to leave the handbrake off, but in reality, nothing else really matters for a few months. I've been leaving my Evo ( garaged, admittedly ) for 6 months at a time for 10 years now, however, because it's garaged, it's on a smart charger.
I don't bother doing anything other than disconnect the charger and crank it now, on the advice of an engine builder. It'll build oil pressure immediately. The tyres feel a bit square for a few miles, I drive it gently to burn off the old fuel, then brim it with fresh, and drive it normally afterwards. I've owned the car for 13 years now, including one spell where I lived abroad and left it for 16 months, it's been fine.
I used to have a Corrado VR6 that was extremely temperamental about being left in the garage however, even with the handbrake off it seized the rear callipers, amongst other things! Thinking about it, on yours, it may indeed pay to crank it before letting it start, the tappets on older VWs sound bad enough from cold at the best of times!
I don't bother doing anything other than disconnect the charger and crank it now, on the advice of an engine builder. It'll build oil pressure immediately. The tyres feel a bit square for a few miles, I drive it gently to burn off the old fuel, then brim it with fresh, and drive it normally afterwards. I've owned the car for 13 years now, including one spell where I lived abroad and left it for 16 months, it's been fine.
I used to have a Corrado VR6 that was extremely temperamental about being left in the garage however, even with the handbrake off it seized the rear callipers, amongst other things! Thinking about it, on yours, it may indeed pay to crank it before letting it start, the tappets on older VWs sound bad enough from cold at the best of times!
i regularly go away for the winter and have a nice routine down...
Do not over inflate tires! . . It can lead to premature cracking of the rubber, you'd be better off leaving them as they are (doesn't matter if they're even slightly under inflated) and rolling the car onto a different patch of the tire every couple of months...
Do leave the hand brake off as it is quite likely to seize, leave it in gear and/or chock the wheels...
When starting a car that hasn't been run for a few months, it is advised to remove the spark plugs (and perhaps remove fuel pump fuse or disconnect injectors or disable fuel is some way) and turn over a good few times to get oil circulating before any pressure is put on engine internals. I've had it before (both first and second hand experiences) where cars have spun a big end shell after being sat for a few months.
It's also worth leaving a moisture trap in the car to avoid mould on the interior.
Don't bother with any sort of cover, even the very expensive ones are likely to harm paint work in harsh winds... You'll be much better off giving the car a good clean, wax and polish before you leave it.
Do not over inflate tires! . . It can lead to premature cracking of the rubber, you'd be better off leaving them as they are (doesn't matter if they're even slightly under inflated) and rolling the car onto a different patch of the tire every couple of months...
Do leave the hand brake off as it is quite likely to seize, leave it in gear and/or chock the wheels...
When starting a car that hasn't been run for a few months, it is advised to remove the spark plugs (and perhaps remove fuel pump fuse or disconnect injectors or disable fuel is some way) and turn over a good few times to get oil circulating before any pressure is put on engine internals. I've had it before (both first and second hand experiences) where cars have spun a big end shell after being sat for a few months.
It's also worth leaving a moisture trap in the car to avoid mould on the interior.
Don't bother with any sort of cover, even the very expensive ones are likely to harm paint work in harsh winds... You'll be much better off giving the car a good clean, wax and polish before you leave it.
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