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Garaging a car for 7 months


MargaretD
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HI,

We are hoping to leave a car in France for 7 months of each year, as we don't have space in England for one, and neither do we need one here.

However, I am looking for 'voitures d'occasion' and don't know whether it's easier to store a petrol or a diesel powered car.

If you have any ideas please let me know.

M.
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I would suggest diesel. Modern petrol has a shelf life of only a few months before it looses potency and can cause trouble.

However, I wouldnt write off a petrol engine for that alone if it is the model you want.

Brim the fuel tank before storage to avoid an air gap in the tank where condensation can form, leave the handbrake OFF, chock the wheels or if possible jack it up and leave it on axle stands to prevent flat spots. If possible, leave the windows open a crack to let air circulate - however an average barn has a lot of rodents in it, and if they get into the interior....well, you don't want that. A mouse can fit through a hole only large enough to slide a pencil through. If damp is a problem, a plastic tray full of salt will absorb a lot.

Dont worry too much though - I regularly leave cars sitting for several months, sometimes years and its very rare for there to be anything more troubling than a flat tyre or a discharged battery.
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Just one thing to add re the salt dehumidifier, dont fill the tray or whatever full unless you place it in a container of at least 3 times the volume to catch the overspill, the salt will absorb many times its volume of water.

My parents caravan in the 70's ended up with tide marks on the seat cushions for the above reason, this summer I left my flat for 3 months, in my wardrobe at the bottom I store dry foodstuffs etc, there were some Tesco stock cubes (mainly made of salt) which were foil wrapped and in the box yet they absorbed so much humidity that a load of goo oozed out and thats in summer not winter!!

Second the bit about leaving for a long time, if you take the precautions above not much will be amiss, my 70's Lotus Elan I dragged back to life last year to move it after a 9 year hibernation, the time before that it was even longer.

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Wow! Thank you so much for your ideas. Yes, it would be in our garage - but we do have a rodent problem in there, sadly.

We have preferred diesels in the past, but I wasn't sure which would be best to store over the winter.

Thank you again. Now to find 'that' car without spending too much!!!

Margaret
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If you put the car on axle stands, place the axle stands in trays of oil, rodents would have to climb the stands to get into the vehicle and I wouldn't think they would  like swimming through oil? I should imagine that extra large garden trays would suffice?[I]
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[quote user="NickP"]If you put the car on axle stands, place the axle stands in trays of oil, rodents would have to climb the stands to get into the vehicle and I wouldn't think they would  like swimming through oil? I should imagine that extra large garden trays would suffice?[I][/quote]

You'd need some pretty big trays and high axle stands to stop this guy and his mates!

http://www.arkive.org/brown-rat/rattus-norvegicus/video-06a.html

 

 

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[quote user="nomoss"]

[quote user="NickP"]If you put the car on axle stands, place the axle stands in trays of oil, rodents would have to climb the stands to get into the vehicle and I wouldn't think they would  like swimming through oil? I should imagine that extra large garden trays would suffice?[I][/quote]

You'd need some pretty big trays and high axle stands to stop this guy and his mates!

http://www.arkive.org/brown-rat/rattus-norvegicus/video-06a.html

 

 

[/quote]

If you've got those in a garage the games up anyway, so you wouldn't need the axle stands

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[quote user="dave21478"]..... chock the wheels or if possible jack it up and leave it on axle stands to prevent flat spots. ....[/quote]

Dave - A quick look on the internet seems to suggest that if you do get a flat spot on a tyre as a result of leaving your car parked for an extended period, a short drive that warms the tyre up a bit will get rid of it: it'll just be a bit vibration-prone at first.

Other people suggest parking the car with each wheel on a bit of styrofoam - the kind of plastic your new computer comes packed in. It's a lot less trouble than using axle stands.

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I don't think petrol is a problem my 22 year old Citroen stands for years unused Make sure its full of anti freeze, battery disconnected and the hand brakes off

When restarting pump up the tyres connect the battery drive carefully as the disc pads/discs will have corroded
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  • 2 weeks later...
Flat spotting of tyres is very rare these days. The flat spot is caused by a hot tyre with nylon cords cooling when parked over time, thus causing the nylon to "set" in the shape it was left ie: flat at the bottom.... Like ironing a pleat into a piece of nylon cloth. Warm the tyre up again by driving and the flat spot goes.

Modern radial tyres do not have nylon cords in the tread area, and all but the very cheapest have rayon or poly-amide casings cords, which don't take a set.

So forget all about jacking the car up - this advice dates from the time of nylon casing cross-ply tyres. (Some older classic cars may still have these tyres, in which case feel free to leave it on stands).

As for petrol "going off", this may be technically correct, but it is still volatile enough to start a car/chainsaw/generator,etc. after long storage in my experience.

Cheers

Ron
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Well, no, actually.

Every season, every single petrol powered garden tool I own - three chainsaws, 2 strimmers, a hedge trimmer, a rotovator, a leaf blower and various mowers will either not start at all or run terribly if left on the old petrol from the previous summer. I am also currently rebuilding the engine of a motoculteur belonging to a friend who ran it flat out on old petrol despite it missfiring and ruined the engine internals.

Drain the old stuff and put in fresh petrol and they all run perfectly.

A little excerpt from the manual for my latest purchase....

"At the end of your working season, drain the fuel in order to protect the fuel system and important carburettor parts from harmful deposits"

As for the tyres - rather than a physical flat spot on the circumference, what is much more likely is for the sidewalls to start cracking where the bulge at the bottom of the tyre is if left for a long time.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Well, no, actually.

Every season, every single petrol powered garden tool I own - three

chainsaws, 2 strimmers, a hedge trimmer, a rotovator, a leaf blower and

various mowers will either not start at all or run terribly if left on

the old petrol from the previous summer. I am also currently rebuilding

the engine of a motoculteur belonging to a friend who ran it flat out on

old petrol despite it missfiring and ruined the engine internals.

Drain the old stuff and put in fresh petrol and they all run perfectly.

I agree, the modern unleaded fuels seem to go off very quickly, my Honda 4 stroke mower which normaly starts first pull, will not run with fuel that has been left longer than a couple of months.

Les

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