Alfa GTV in Storage
Discussion
My friend has a 2001 Alfa GTV 2.0 Twin Spark in permanent storage. The storage is a large warehouse building that is unheated but ventilated.
Is there anything he should do to preserve it, such as run the car intermittently or place it on axle stands. The tyres are of the budget variety so preserving these is not important.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Is there anything he should do to preserve it, such as run the car intermittently or place it on axle stands. The tyres are of the budget variety so preserving these is not important.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Depends how long he intends to keep it 'permanently' stored.
12 months, 24 months, what to do has already been said. If the clutch was more than 50% worn, theres a good chance it will have seized if not used for 12+ months.
5 years+ then you'd want to do a lot more to store it without it needing a lot of work to recommission.
Storing any car for long periods without using it is not good, period.
12 months, 24 months, what to do has already been said. If the clutch was more than 50% worn, theres a good chance it will have seized if not used for 12+ months.
5 years+ then you'd want to do a lot more to store it without it needing a lot of work to recommission.
Storing any car for long periods without using it is not good, period.
Rob 131 Sport said:
The storage plan is for 5 years. I suppose the question is what he needs to do now and intermittently.
The question is more about the intermittently bit and what can he do for that.Far better to be able to drive it at least once every couple of months. Even a 20 mile run once every 2 months will work, but remove battery, and take home leave on a charger, and then take to car drive it, put back into storage, remove battery again etc., and repeat.
If driving it at all is not an option, then you are in the do as much as you can, but knowing that, clutch, brakes, seals, fuel lines might all need recommissioning afterwards.
I'd drain the fuel tank, as modern fuel will turn to sludge. Trouble is empty tank can then rust, so its a double edged sword.
I'd consider putting up on stands tbh.
Leaving an old Italian car unused for 5 years is a disaster in the making though imho.
Is the storage facility dirty or clean, and is it rodent free, as you don't want mice getting in and knawing their way through the wiring loom etc in the underbonnet area.
RicksAlfas said:
Pump the tyres up hard, leave the handbrake off, trickle charger on the battery if possible.
I don't think occasional start ups do any good. If you could take it for a decent run (hour or longer) that would be OK, but a brief start up and then cool down is pointless.
When I bought my first Ferrari (a 348 TS - So an older model) from The Ferrari Centre (now Kent High Performance again), I asked the guys there about how to deal with the Winter months, when there could be snow/ice/salt on the roads.I don't think occasional start ups do any good. If you could take it for a decent run (hour or longer) that would be OK, but a brief start up and then cool down is pointless.
Their advice was, if possible, drive the car at least once a week, for @ 30~50 miles, making sure the oil got up to normal operating temperature (They emphasised that it was the oil that needed to be to temperature, and not just the coolant, because the oil takes a lot longer to heat up), along with the gearbox oil.
If it was not possible to drive the car, then their advice was to fire up the engine at least once a week, to circulate the oil and coolant throughout the engine, and not to let the engine just idle, but to gently apply some revs, starting with 1500~2000rpm for a few minutes, and then increasing the revs to a max @ 3000rpm~3500rpm, replicating the sort of revs that would be used if the car was being driven, again, until the oil was up to full operating temperature (made far easier to judge in a car fitted with an oil temperature gauge).
That to me at least, is far more mechanically sympathetic, and makes far more sense than to simply leave the car standing, with all of the oil slowly draining to the bottom of the engine.
4rephill said:
RicksAlfas said:
Pump the tyres up hard, leave the handbrake off, trickle charger on the battery if possible.
I don't think occasional start ups do any good. If you could take it for a decent run (hour or longer) that would be OK, but a brief start up and then cool down is pointless.
When I bought my first Ferrari (a 348 TS - So an older model) from The Ferrari Centre (now Kent High Performance again), I asked the guys there about how to deal with the Winter months, when there could be snow/ice/salt on the roads.I don't think occasional start ups do any good. If you could take it for a decent run (hour or longer) that would be OK, but a brief start up and then cool down is pointless.
Their advice was, if possible, drive the car at least once a week, for @ 30~50 miles, making sure the oil got up to normal operating temperature (They emphasised that it was the oil that needed to be to temperature, and not just the coolant, because the oil takes a lot longer to heat up), along with the gearbox oil.
If it was not possible to drive the car, then their advice was to fire up the engine at least once a week, to circulate the oil and coolant throughout the engine, and not to let the engine just idle, but to gently apply some revs, starting with 1500~2000rpm for a few minutes, and then increasing the revs to a max @ 3000rpm~3500rpm, replicating the sort of revs that would be used if the car was being driven, again, until the oil was up to full operating temperature (made far easier to judge in a car fitted with an oil temperature gauge).
That to me at least, is far more mechanically sympathetic, and makes far more sense than to simply leave the car standing, with all of the oil slowly draining to the bottom of the engine.
Meant also that you kept using and topping up the fuel from a jerry can etc., which avoided the fuel going off issue etc. Made sure to operate the heater and other stuff while sitting there driving it nowhere. I never left the battery in it though, always removed each time.
Of course, where it being stored might make that not possible etc. But that would be the very least I would do if storing for 5 years if I was able to.
The clutch space cylinder seized solid when I left my Land Rover for a few months without use.
Given the relatively low value of the Alfa and that storage for a long period is unlikely to end well, I'd want to consider;
- getting a mate to drive it regularly
- selling it and buying another one in 5 years
Given the relatively low value of the Alfa and that storage for a long period is unlikely to end well, I'd want to consider;
- getting a mate to drive it regularly
- selling it and buying another one in 5 years
4rephill said:
When I bought my first Ferrari (a 348 TS - So an older model) from The Ferrari Centre (now Kent High Performance again), I asked the guys there about how to deal with the Winter months, when there could be snow/ice/salt on the roads.
Their advice was, if possible, drive the car at least once a week, for @ 30~50 miles, making sure the oil got up to normal operating temperature (They emphasised that it was the oil that needed to be to temperature, and not just the coolant, because the oil takes a lot longer to heat up), along with the gearbox oil.
If it was not possible to drive the car, then their advice was to fire up the engine at least once a week, to circulate the oil and coolant throughout the engine, and not to let the engine just idle, but to gently apply some revs, starting with 1500~2000rpm for a few minutes, and then increasing the revs to a max @ 3000rpm~3500rpm, replicating the sort of revs that would be used if the car was being driven, again, until the oil was up to full operating temperature (made far easier to judge in a car fitted with an oil temperature gauge).
That to me at least, is far more mechanically sympathetic, and makes far more sense than to simply leave the car standing, with all of the oil slowly draining to the bottom of the engine.
Using my Alfa Gtv for my commute, I'd 100% agree, I drove it, rain, snow and sun, took it from 66k to 160k miles, no rust, original sensors, all the rubber kept the water out. Between 70 to 100 miles a day in total (out and return)Their advice was, if possible, drive the car at least once a week, for @ 30~50 miles, making sure the oil got up to normal operating temperature (They emphasised that it was the oil that needed to be to temperature, and not just the coolant, because the oil takes a lot longer to heat up), along with the gearbox oil.
If it was not possible to drive the car, then their advice was to fire up the engine at least once a week, to circulate the oil and coolant throughout the engine, and not to let the engine just idle, but to gently apply some revs, starting with 1500~2000rpm for a few minutes, and then increasing the revs to a max @ 3000rpm~3500rpm, replicating the sort of revs that would be used if the car was being driven, again, until the oil was up to full operating temperature (made far easier to judge in a car fitted with an oil temperature gauge).
That to me at least, is far more mechanically sympathetic, and makes far more sense than to simply leave the car standing, with all of the oil slowly draining to the bottom of the engine.
Last MOT after the lock down and zero commuting, it had it first rust hole that needed repairing, boot rubbers sometimes let the water in and the lambda sensor needed replacing.
smn159 said:
The clutch space cylinder seized solid when I left my Land Rover for a few months without use.
Given the relatively low value of the Alfa and that storage for a long period is unlikely to end well, I'd want to consider;
- getting a mate to drive it regularly
- selling it and buying another one in 5 years
There is a bit of history behind it in that he originally bought it when it was a year old, sold it at 3 years and then bought it back around 7 years ago. He spent about 3 years ago around £3k recommissioning it and wants to retain it into the cars (and hisGiven the relatively low value of the Alfa and that storage for a long period is unlikely to end well, I'd want to consider;
- getting a mate to drive it regularly
- selling it and buying another one in 5 years
) old age.Rob 131 Sport said:
smn159 said:
The clutch space cylinder seized solid when I left my Land Rover for a few months without use.
Given the relatively low value of the Alfa and that storage for a long period is unlikely to end well, I'd want to consider;
- getting a mate to drive it regularly
- selling it and buying another one in 5 years
There is a bit of history behind it in that he originally bought it when it was a year old, sold it at 3 years and then bought it back around 7 years ago. He spent about 3 years ago around £3k recommissioning it and wants to retain it into the cars (and hisGiven the relatively low value of the Alfa and that storage for a long period is unlikely to end well, I'd want to consider;
- getting a mate to drive it regularly
- selling it and buying another one in 5 years
) old age.In which case I'd be looking to see if a mate / family member would be prepared to take it out once a month and pay the insurance / tax so that they could do so. I'll end up cheaper than decommissioning it again in 5 years time!
I've left two cars in storage for about 3 years at different times. Both Japanese though, which tends to be a head start. As said, starting them without driving does more harm than good. If I'd been in the country and had access to them, I'd have pulled the plugs and periodically spun them over with the EFI fuse out to get the oil around now and again without compression. My biggest concern with one of mine is that fuel pumps are known to give problems after long periods of inactivity, and I suspect leaving it with the best quality fuel ( I used VPower ) will give it a fighting chance of surviving potential problems like that. I got away with it on mine. They both just started and drove when I wanted them out.
Again, pump up the tyres, handbrake off, trickle charger. Mouse traps.........
Again, pump up the tyres, handbrake off, trickle charger. Mouse traps.........
Edited by Heaveho on Friday 28th May 17:21
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