Prepping a car for storage

[R Thomas]

I know its the wrong time of year for this question but, what things do you do before you tuck your car away for the season? One thing that concerns me is fuel left in the car, what additives and should it be full or close to empty? I have for lack of a better description a winter car and keeper. It occurs to me the winter car being stored for 8-9 months at a time could use a little prep too.

[edwardb]

You'll get lots of opinions on this, but living in the sunny state of Michigan, I get to store my Roadster about 6 months each year. My routine is: Change the oil so it has fresh oil in it. Fill the tank. Add a fuel stabilizer that specifically is also for fuels with ethanol. Very unlikely you can find fuel without at least some ethanol. Last year I used STA-BIL 360, but there are other products. Run the engine a bit after adding the stabilizer so it's in the entire fuel system. It's not a bad idea to add a few pounds of air to the tires. Make sure all the fluid levels are topped off. Finally, I remove the battery and put it on a tender in my basement. Where I store my car is unheated, so I don't leave the battery in it plus I make sure the antifreeze is up to snuff. Some guys will pull the plugs and put a squirt of oil in each cylinder. I've never done that, but doesn't sound like a terrible idea.