Laying up a modern diesel for winter.
Discussion
Hi, I am trying to get a consensus of opinion on looking after a modern diesel engine if it's off the road over winter. On an older vehicle without all the emission control I would start it up once a month let it get up to temperature, give it a good rev, let it settle again for a while and off it goes for another month. The purpose of this is to get fresh oil through the bearings, in the bore, on the cam lobes and drive out any moisture. My concern with modern vehicles is that the EGR, DPF and Cat are going to get all fully of soot without a good drive down the road. Thoughts on this are most gratefully received.
Chipper61 said:
On an older vehicle without all the emission control I would start it up once a month let it get up to temperature, give it a good rev, let it settle again for a while and off it goes for another month. The purpose of this is to get fresh oil through the bearings, in the bore, on the cam lobes and drive out any moisture. .
Pretty poor practice on anything. Just hook up a battery conditioner and leave it until you need it again, there's no need to lubricate the bearings or anything, the engine is sealed and the moving parts are filled with oil.
I've no doubt some people on here still jack their cars up over winter to relieve the weight off the axles and rotate the tyres but there isn't really any need with anything built after 1930.
I've no doubt some people on here still jack their cars up over winter to relieve the weight off the axles and rotate the tyres but there isn't really any need with anything built after 1930.
23.7 said:
Chipper61 said:
On an older vehicle without all the emission control I would start it up once a month let it get up to temperature, give it a good rev, let it settle again for a while and off it goes for another month. The purpose of this is to get fresh oil through the bearings, in the bore, on the cam lobes and drive out any moisture. .
Pretty poor practice on anything. If it was mine I would park it up, possibly put battery on trickle charge and forget about it until I wanted to use it again. I would then open the door remove trickle charger, start it and drive off. Been doing this with old cars for 40 odd years and never really caused any issues.
The bigger issue I have found is that they are very sensitive to low battery states. I've had 2 BMWs, an E63 and an F32, both give a lot of wallet clenching but ultimately false alarms on the first drive after standing idle, even with a solar powered battery conditioner*. So I would put the battery on a conditioner over winter and charge it properly before first use. Or put up with dash looking like a Christmas tree if I was in a rush :-)
As to the concerns in the OP, just because it's diesel doesn't mean it wont respond to an Italian Tune. Yes, I know I have no finesse, now where did I put that lump hammer and ugga dugga gun? :-)
As to the concerns in the OP, just because it's diesel doesn't mean it wont respond to an Italian Tune. Yes, I know I have no finesse, now where did I put that lump hammer and ugga dugga gun? :-)
The few things i would do is make sure its had a recent oil change, so nice clean oil sitting in the sump not some that's covered 15k miles and full of nasty stuff.
If outside make sure there's strong anti freeze solution in the coolant and consider draining the windscreen washer bottle or if not make sure that's got some strong anti freeze solution in it, make sure the tyres are well inflated, if outside consider a cover that stops rain getting to the brake discs...also try and leave the park brake off.
Otherwise, park it up and maintain the battery, on or off the car.
What do you think happened in massive car compounds when thousands of rental defleets had covered their alloted mileage in 3 months but to keep the used market stable would be stood for months on end before being sent out to trade.
Just parked up, some places they might drop the battery lead off, others just leave as is. In both cases it usually meant a jump start off the Yardy's minibus when the time came.
If outside make sure there's strong anti freeze solution in the coolant and consider draining the windscreen washer bottle or if not make sure that's got some strong anti freeze solution in it, make sure the tyres are well inflated, if outside consider a cover that stops rain getting to the brake discs...also try and leave the park brake off.
Otherwise, park it up and maintain the battery, on or off the car.
What do you think happened in massive car compounds when thousands of rental defleets had covered their alloted mileage in 3 months but to keep the used market stable would be stood for months on end before being sent out to trade.
Just parked up, some places they might drop the battery lead off, others just leave as is. In both cases it usually meant a jump start off the Yardy's minibus when the time came.
Edited by Smint on Friday 15th October 14:43
Edited by Smint on Friday 15th October 14:45
Edited by Smint on Friday 15th October 14:46
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