Storage for winter

[Dylan R]

What fuel additive should I be using to keep fuel system safe from rust when storing 06 mustang gt over winter? First winter storing a car ever so need some guidance on the whole prep.

 

[Laga]

Your pump gas all ready contains 10% ethanol. That will absorb over a half cup of water. With a full tank and a sealed fuel system. There will never be any water to cause rust. You can add stabilizer, but four months of storage is nothing. My father’s 93 Fleetwood sat for two years and only needed a jump to start.
My 17 year old, at the time, 05 gas tank.

 

[GriffX]

Hm.... I do winter storage for 20 years now, for 6 month, 10% EtOH blended fuel can be stored for 3 month and it will separate slowly into a water/EtOH phase and a fuel phase. The water/EtOH ignites very bad and the fuel phase has low octane. Our tank systems are fully closed so no water from the air can be sucked in. With more water the separation increases. On not tuned cars you will probably not notice anything but it is a good idea not to floor the pedal.
For rust protection just fill your tank up.

 

[StockishS197]

For 6 months or less, Seafoam will be just fine. Just pour some in and top off the tank before storing

 

[Midlife Crises]

Winter storage. Change oil and oil filter. Top off fuel tank with Chevron supreme and connect a battery tender to the battery. Leave it alone from October through April.

 

[GriffX]

What I will do on Fr:
Wash the car + do a short dry up everything cruise, fill up
drive in the garage
vents to 0 position, put dry bag in
Open hood, doors
disconnect battery
close doors (no problem with short drop)
spray brake disks with rust protection for motorcycles
remove antenna
remove wiper blades, put them on some foam at the windshield
pump the tires up to 3 bar
put a very thin plastic cover over the car
no oil change, oil has rust and acid protection in it

Start up in May:
Start with full throttle -> clear flood mode, oil the motor for 5 seconds

 

[MrBhp]

Leaving the hood up is a great idea even if you live in a one mouse town.

 

[Juice]

Nothing. Just fill it up.
I have no issues storing gas for 2 years. Gas will last longer than even that. You want as little air and as much fuel as possible in the tank.
Store it with say 1/4 tank or less, fuel will go stale much quicker.
Bonus: I mix 100:1 2stroke oil in my bikes.

 

[brasil]

@ GriffiX. the thin plastic cover...is not a good idea. Better use a fine pure cotton cover.

 

[GriffX]

@ GriffiX. the thin plastic cover...is not a good idea. Better use a fine pure cotton cover.

It depends. When you have air movement (and I have in my garage) the lighter the cover, the better. I use thin painters foil. I once had a soft cotton cover for my motorcycle and the air movement was enough to sand the clear coat where it touched the bike together with captured dirt. I fix the thin foil at the corners with masking tape.
Yea, I'm crazy I know

 

[JC SSP]

No you are correct. I had a typical canvas car cover on my Taurus. I was working overseas and when I came back it sanded the roof!

 

[brasil]

..I use "flanell " car covers for all of my cars..since years or even decades . Never had a scratch..

 

[Ret]

Storing your car for the winter. Looks as if we have several views on this subject.

Rule one, have the car serviced including full tank of gas.
Second, the car doesn't come out of the garage when the state starts spraying the highway.
Third, Hood up and slow trickle battery charger attached.
Fourth, Start the car up and let it run for 20, 30 minutes every three four weeks.
Fifth, check tire pressure from time to time.
I don't place a cover over my car as the hood is up and I'm in and out of the car from time to time.
I don't rotate the tires but do change the position of the car so that the tires don't develop a flat spot.

 

[DE_Marcus]

Good thing I stumbled upon this because I specifically drove my tank almost empty because "there's now way a 2007 Car has a Metal Gas Tank while my 1998 has a plastic"

WELP.... time to get some gas cans ready.....

Also my first car to be stored away over the winter.....

Bought some rounded rubber for the tires so the load isn't on one spot. Gotta pump them more tho....
Covered it in a breathable cover with a soft fleece paint-friendly back side. We'll see how good that is.
Left the windows 1/5 open.
Removed the battery completly to store somewhere else.
Removed the Antenna of course. Will also do the wiper blades.
No gear or handbrake (wheels can't roll away on the rubber lol)
Changed the oil and filter 2 days before storage but drove approx. 900-1000kms on it. I thought it would be smarter to change the oil after the winter and then do the first start, guess I was wrong.
Since the intervall is 6 months it's probably best to just change it every end of October without Filter and beginning of March with Filter. Or what's smarter? My Plate allowes me to drive from 1st of March to 31st of October.

Anything else I should do?

 

[GriffX]

Left the windows 1/5 open.

Put the vent selector to 0. Open the doors before you disconnect the battery to use the short drop and close the doors after. Put a dry bag (e.g. from Louis motorcycle) inside.

Removed the battery completly to store somewhere else.

If the car is cool and dry, no need to do this. The fully charged disconnected battery lasts 6 month easily if cool.

Changed the oil and filter 2 days before storage

Not necessary at all. The oil is ageing by high temps under usage and is pH buffered. I change the oil at 5-7000km, time doesn't matter.

No E10 fuel, it starts to separate after 3 month into water/EtOH phase and fuel phase, it gets dull. The H2O/EtOH phase doesn't ignite good and the fuel phase has low octane. E10 is a bit dull right from the pump. If you have E10 left in the tank, add 98 to it. It is usually EtOH free.

 

[DE_Marcus]

Put the vent selector to 0. Open the doors before you disconnect the battery to use the short drop and close the doors after. Put a dry bag (e.g. from Louis motorcycle) inside.

I always put everything to 0 or middle position if I leave any of my cars lol. I have the 3 dry bags from when it was in the container in the car plus one of my own. Idk if the short drop is enough. Sadly a pretty humid place where it's stored.

If the car is cool and dry, no need to do this. The fully charged disconnected battery lasts 6 month easily if cool.

Yea but they put in a brand new AAA Battery. Since they're apparently trash I wanna give it the best chance at survival lol. Already had to jump twice after leaving on the ignition a bit too long.

Not necessary at all. The oil is ageing by high temps under usage and is pH buffered. I change the oil at 5-7000km, time doesn't matter.

No E10 fuel, it starts to separate after 3 month into water/EtOH phase and fuel phase, it gets dull. The H2O/EtOH phase doesn't ignite good and the fuel phase has low octane. E10 is a bit dull right from the pump. If you have E10 left in the tank, add 98 to it. It is usually EtOH free.

Intervall is 5k miles so 8k KMs. Probably not gonna rack that up over the season, so I thought about just changing it before every first start up in March. Already put in 5W30 instead of 20.
But I read alot about the oil turning sour/acidic plus condensation building up and all of that attacking the metals in the engine if used over the season and letting it sit over the winter. So idk....

Ew E10..... What's currently in the tank is cheapo Austria JET 98 E5. I would just fill the tank to the brim with normal 95 E5.

 

[GriffX]

Good storage for a battery is 0°C, fully charged on a slow tumble shaker

This acidic story was probably true in 1960th, all oils are pH buffered, called basic reserve. Regarding this "attacking metals", according to the van't-Hoff rule, the chemical reaction velocity doubles with increase of 10 Kelvin. So, this attack reaction at 80°C compared to winter storage at 10°C ist 128 times faster.

98 fuel (93 US) is allowed to have 5% EtOH but often doesn't, because the 100% EtOH is more expensive than fuel. To make 100% EtOH is not easy, with a distillery you get 95.6% max and have to purify it afterwards.
(sorry PhD in chemistry)

Do not think too much about winter storage, driving will age the car much faster. Only what I noticed is that the ball bearings of the belt pulleys don't have a good quality, I think I got a damage there from not spinning them. One got bad in spring and I changed them all (to SKF bearings)

 

[bullitt1011]

You ask this question and you will get alot of variations. I have been doing the same thing for 28 years
1. fill tank full add sta-bil
2. oil change
3.battery tender Jr. (for trickle charging battery) will not over charge.
4. Tires at 40 PSI (heavy rubber mat under car 10'x20' or use plastic drop sheet) Tires on pieces of plywood (helps keep tire pressure up off of cold floor
5. Hand brake off trans in 1st gear (but I still put chock behind rear tire)
6. car cover and say good night.
It goes without saying the car has been washed and cleaned inside and out.

 

[brasil]

... the best "winter storage " is... to ride /drive the car ..unless there is SALT in the streets.
I also think, that a car that can sit " unmoved /unused for 10-12 weeks.. because sometimes the cars are on a car carrier ship..all the way from Japan to Germany... this journey takes 8 week or sometimes more. And the cars are sitting were they were parked, while leaving Japan.

 

[brasil]

just asked the www... Japan to Germany minimum 70-80 days... so we are talking about 3 month- nearly