Z storage and maintenance during Winter
 

Just to review. My friend who's Corvette sits in my garage over the winter advised me NOT to run the Z for more than a few minutes, especially during really cold times due to the oil . Now what does anyone here do? I normally run my z for 15-20 minutes in nuetral and move the wheels out back and forth a couple of times. Then I use Meguires Ultimate detailer around the tAILPIPES AND PUT BACK THE COVER. I've been doing this now since I got her in 2009 and have no problems . What you guys say?

Wouldn't you want to do the exact opposite of his advice? You would want to run it until it gets warm enough to evaporate off the condensation in the oil?

you cant burn off the moisture inside the midpipe.

dont run it at all unless you intend to drive 10-15miles..


my last fire up was mid-october.

score
 

1 for and 1 against

Agree that running it without getting oil up to operating temp just exacerbates condensation in the engine oil and internals. Run it up to temp and get the water out of the exhaust, or don't run it at all.

Modern oils have enough film strength that the moving parts will stay sufficiently lubricated.

search...there's plenty of threads on this. use keywords like hibernation, battery manager, tender, stabil, etc. youll see suggestions on how to hibernate your car. GL

Storage for 4-6 months requires no special attention. I clean mine, pull it into the garage and cover it. No battery tender, no Stabil, no dyer sheets or any other BS. 4-6 months later I uncover it, start it, drive it. I drove my car a few days ago for the first time in 5 months. Other than a mile or two of working out the tire flat-spotting, all was well. It fired right up.

I would drive it once in a while for 3 reasons. 1. Recharge the battery. 2. Avoid the flat spots on your tires. 3. I can't help to drive my z.:tup:

But you have to drive it not let it sit there idle for 15 minutes. Otherwise the moisture or water will rust your exhaust from inside.

:iagree:

I don't over think storing a car for a short term. I do start mine two or three times throughout the winter. Same goes for my vette. Cars run perfect every spring.

If I had my choice I'd opt for putting some dryer sheets (specifically Bounce original scent, so the legend goes) inside my car rather than go through the real BS of having to track down electrical faults after some f'ing mouse, in addition to crapping and pissing inside the car, has chewed through an impossibly hard to track down wiring harness. To each their own. Your mileage may vary.

Best,
Mick

Carpet squares under tires stops flat spotting

+1 with wat mick said.

these are preventative measures we take to ensure a smooth start up in spring time.


it's not a requirement by any means and honestly it's up to the owner wat he/she wants to do with their cars. i dont have mice problems, but i still place dicon under my cars in a little tray and do the whole nine yards on my hobby cars. typical hibernation is 5months, but this winter's been burtal...already passed 6months and therefore very glad i took the extra steps to ensure my car is in great condition.

You are making the assumption that dryer sheets deter mice... they don't. I've seen mice use dryer sheets as their nesting material.

But whatever makes you feel better.

Everyone has their own opinion on this. For me, I change the oil before storage and take it on a nice long run to get the engine/oil temps up. Then I do a full detail, hook it up to a battery maintainer and put her in the garage under the cover. I will not start it up until we get decent spring weather. Last time my Z ran was the first week of Nov.

Personally I don't think idling the car in the middle of winter a couple times a month is beneficial. Given your battery isn't dead, modern day cars should start right up with no issues after sitting for a few months.

Mine only last 2 weeks. The battery dies so quick.:confused::ugh2::wtf:

Thats odd. I still have my oem battery and during the summer there's times where I dont drive it for 2-3weeks and it still starts right up.

Do you have any aftermarket electronics? Maybe your battery is going bad?

Battery dying
 

I finally read the manual ( funny huh?) and it says to disconnect the negative terminal on the battery for storage over 30 days to prevent battery discharge.

Storage
 

Its been so shity here this winter . Anyways, I change the oil right after putting her back on the road , if it helps or not, next year i will use a battery trickle. Recently it didnt start well when very cold so I ran it 35 min in nuetral( any difference on that) and moved her out back and forth to roll the tires. Next yr, maybe differnt.

Disconnecting the battery for storage is an unnecessary inconvenience, window reprogramming, radio etc, if you just hook it up to a $40 Battery Tender (maintainer, float charger...whatever, but not a trickle charger).

They recommend disconnecting in order to prevent parasitic drain. If it's on a float charger, that doesn't matter.

what's this thing winter you speak of?

:iagree: except for the dryer sheets...we live in the country and mice can wreak havoc so I do use dryer sheets.

Started up and drove mine yesterday for the first time since 11/1/13. No issues.

Hubby is a mech. He voiced same condensation concerns so mine sits for months w/o being started.

Yea I have aftermarket sound system wired up with the capacitor. But because my battery dies very often during the winter time, might as well my battery is going bad. :(

Hoping to take mine out of storage in 2 weeks...

It sits the whole time, I used to just disconnect the battery but last 2 years, but using a trickle charger. Oil change as soon as I take her out.

Trickle chargers can be dangerous. Since it doesn't shut down, you can overcharge the battery and boil off the electrolyte. A float charger or battery maintainer like a Battery Tender monitors the charge state and shuts down when charged. You can leave it on all winter without fear of damaging the battery.

Sorry, I can not comment on this.

I live Los Angeles.

xD

No need to apologize. You probably can't help it.

it's like a big kick in the ballz.

You'll be better of not starting the engine at all than running it for a few minutes. If you do start it, let it get up to operating temp (oil 140-180F) and then let it run for 5-10 minutes. Your procedure is probably OK but may be a little on the short side if ambient temp is very cold - go by the oil temp gauge.

How often your should crank the car up, if at all, is open to debate and will depend on conditions in the storage area. If the humidity is low and temperature swings are small (so the engine doesn't "breathe"), you can probably go 3-4 months with very little condensation. High humidity with large temperature swings will mean more condensation.

As others have mentioned, you're probably not going to get the exhaust warm enough to get rid of excess moisture (the combustion process is constantly making water which will condense after you turn the motor off so it's impossible to get rid of all the water in the exhaust pipes) but it's better than having water in the oil and most exhaust parts are designed to be corrosion-resistant.

As for the battery, I highly recommend that you use a float charger if you won't be starting the car every 3-4 weeks or so. They are cheap, easy to use, and will save all the stored data in the ECU/radio/&c.

full tank with stabil, battery tender NO starts.. hasnt started since 10/31 and im not happy about that LOL

Full tank, battery tender without a start since 12/02 and plan to take her out next weekend.

March 17th
 

It was 14 degrees here this morning. Unbelievable! Last year in the 70's. I'm gonna take her out after the salt is washed off and drive her down the highway, slowly at first till she runs nice and hot.

I personally don't start up my car unless I plan to pull it out and give it a drive for 1+ hours. No *real* reason, but it makes sense to me. Put it away in November, took it out for one day in January, and then just this weekend have been out. No issues other than condensation.


And the snow from Saturday night that I got caught in...

I also didn't do anything special. Car cover came late and I didn't do a very good wash before snow hit, since it's my first winter with a nice car and I kept it out until the last minute, which I won't do again. :) Didn't detach the battery or hook anything up to it (I have no outlets in the garage it is stored in).

Ordinarily I just disconnect the flux capacitor and the machine the goes "ping!" for the winter.

This year was so bad I had trouble finding days to run it long enough to get the temp up and the water out of the exhaust. So I did laps around the neighborhood every couple of weeks. Sometimes I even took the Z.

I'm driving it everyday as soon as this weather breaks....

Weather
 

Your weather sucks too. This is getting ridiculous.

:rofl2: i luvs professordave. :icon17:

My battery died over this winter because I didn't put a battery tender on it. Oh darn :rolleyes:. I think I found a reason to buy a Braillie light weight battery. :tiphat:

I should really just take the OEM battery out and have Autozone charge/test it first.

Surprisingly bad and long winter.

We have a winter tire law here. You must have winter tires on between December 15 and March 15th, so most people just store their nice cars between that time.

Usually on the 15th I'm itching and waiting to pull the Z out...not so much this year, its like -12 (Celcius) and ice and snow all over....worst pothole season I've seen also.

I'm off the the Caribbean this Saturday for a week, I guess I'll worry about taking her out of storage April 1st :(

I don't feel bad for you. :icon23:

lol, the trip will help ease the storage blues :icon17:

The way this winter is going I hope the weather breaks before I come see you in June for the Grand Prix. Bad enough sitting there in the wet the last couple years, but I hate cold! I hope it's 99F like it was in 1999. Everyone but us 2 from Chicago were bitching about the heat...I learned long ago, there is no such thing as too hot. Especially after this winter.