winter storage?

my uncle wants to store his thunderbird for the winter but doesnt have a heated garage. what should he do to the car in a non-heated garage for the winter?

 

*Full tank of gas + Fuel Stabiliser
*Keep the car on the ground, do not have it jacked up.
*Keep the tire pressures extremely high to prevent flatspotting them, unless he has an old spare set to use.
*A fresh oil change before the car is put away helps.
*Remove the batery and keep it inside the house

 

Make sure the antifreeze is up to snuff. Don't want it freezing, and cracking the block or something...

 

also park the tires on an pieces of old carpet will also help prevent flatspotting of the tires

 

yeah, my cars gets to stay outside

 

its not the cold and snow that hurts them

its the SALT - so outside and off the road is just as good as being inside

 

And DON'T start the car every 2 weeks. Alot of people do it, but it's bad for the motor and exaust system.

Also, you may want to plug up the intake and exhaust pipe with some plastic bags to prevent moisture and animals to crawl in there.

 

yup mines outside..till it goes in to get paint, and have hte motor hauled out

 

crap i better tell my old man to stop doing that than

 

Inside (even if not heated) is better then outside. It's not the cold that damages a vehicle, but the moisture that gets into everything when it's parked outside. Indoors and dry is best...heat is irrelevant.

As for the flat-spots thing... not bad to take the precaution, but not really an issue. That is mostly a hold-over from the days of Bias-Ply tires... if you look at a radial tire you will notice that the side in contact with the ground bulges and is a bit flatter... that's what they are designed to to. 99% of the time your "flat spots" in a radial from sitting all winter will work themselves out in a couple of km.

But, NOT STARTING the car is the most important advice. (Followed by change the oil and put fuel stabalizer in it.)
The engine will not come up to temperature, so the contamenants and moisture in the oil will not get burned off, the gas from all those cold starts can actually wash a bit of the oil coating off the cylinder walls, you can't do more damage to your engine then cold start it, so why do it that many times, and finally you will get condensation and moisture building up in your exhaust which will rust it from the inside out.
.... and there are no positives to doing it. If the car starts now, it will start in 3 months...

 

thanx for the advise man

 

NP man.

 

thanks for the input guys... its appreciated

one other thing, what about putting a tarp under it to prevent moisture from the concrete floor?

 

that does nothing.

if you want to protect the underside from moisutre, you can do 2 things.

1. cover the entire undersection of hte car with plastic

2. spray rust-check on major components....then you'll need a tarp to catch all the drip!

 

Good to know about not starting the car periodically, i always used to do that with my old car when it was put up for the winter.

I just wanna add that u may want to flush you coolant if it's a few years old.

 

Good to know about not starting the car periodically, i always used to do that with my old car when it was put up for the winter.

I just wanna add that u may want to flush you coolant if it's a few years old.