Well I think I am going to be putting away my G for the winter. I picked up a winter car (2000 Honda Accord 5spd), and now need to research what to do when storing the car.

A part of me wants to take all the necessary procedures to store the car, and another part just wants to flush the fluids and start/drive it every week when the roads are dry, to avoid drying/cracking of important seals in the motor.

What are you guys planning to do, and when?

 

hi, i do not have an extra car, but i am also planning to put in the underground garage on december
and drive it time to time weekly to keep my car fresh. definitely with winter tires.

the route i drive is full of rich reckless ladies with huge Lexus'. i trust my driving but not them

my car is 2003 so any rough winter may give more damage.

i am not against people driving in the winter (free will ) but if i have another alternative i would not use it.

my 2 cents

 

I plan on parking my G before the first sprinkle of road salt. I don't have a garage so I will put it in a 10x24 storage garage. I plan on dropping by every week or so to start it up. Just changing the oil, flushing the rad and changing the tranny and dif oil.

 

What seals are you referring to that will crack and dry during 4-5 months storage? Also what other procedure do you deem necessary beyond changing the fluids for storage?

I've been storing cars for nearly 20 years out of the past 30+ I've been driving. IMO all you really need to do is change the fluids, clean the car and then leave it. You might consider remove/disconnecting the battery or charging it periodically. Alternatively if you can drive it for 30 minutes plus every so often that will keep the system charged and remove all of the engine and exhaust moisture from sitting and start up.

The worst thing you can do is start the car every week or so and let it idle. That builds up moisture and causes rust/corrosion.

 

+1...

when i used to lease a vette i would throw it up onto jack stands to avoid getting flat spots on the tires. other than that, trickle charger on the battery, some large desiccant packs for the interior to absorb moisture and top it off with a good car cover. u can also apply some lithium grease on the weather stripping if u have frameless windows.

 

Heated garage!

 

i won't be parking mine. all we get in the winter is a bit more rain than usual. maybe 1 or 2 days of snow too. if it's unsafe to drive the G, i take the CRV.

i never take the G skiing to Whistler and park in an underground garage. i wash it weekly and take care to spray the undercarriage/wheel arches.

i don't even have winter tires since i never drive it in snow/ice conditions. if we get that condition in Vancouver, it's either the CRV or work from home. with the moron drivers here you don't want to be on the road anyhow. since we get so little "extreme weather", it's a real shock when we do and most people have no clue about how to drive. wheels spinning/not moving? solution: more gas!

 

I've noticed that traction on my summer tires is very limited (on dry pavement) due to cold temps. They work well in warm temps that they're made for but poorly in temps less than +10C.
If you don't winterize soon, be very careful driving with your summer rubber on.

RBull describes winterizing well in his post above.

Colin.

 

Winterizing is definitely conditional on your situation.

When I was in Regina this is what I used to do for a heated garage.

1. Very thorough clean exterior and interior.
2. Generous amount of armor all and trim dressing on all rubber and trim pieces.
3. Light Grease on the door sliders.
4. Fill the gas tank as full as possible with Premium gas to minimize vapor lock and evaporation.
5. Throw the car up on jack stands and take the opportunity to clean and degrease/tar my wheels and tires and examine the wear on the treads. As well my intension was always to clean and repack my hub bearings but I never did it...
6. Silica gel packs and a slow release air freshener.
7. Top up all fluids and test the antifreeze.
8. Disconnect battery.
9.After sitting about a month I would Flush and drain the oil, refill with fresh oil. In my mind it would settle out the contaminants better.. Perhaps I'm delusional!

That's all I can remember

 

valve seals, piston rings, etc.

extra steps include removing the wheels, putting the car on jack stands, stuffing the exhaust holes with steel wool, putting a can of baking soda in the interior to absorb moisture, removing the battary, and a whole lot of other stuff. there is more, i just need to research it.

 

Mine goes away next week, probabally on Thursday,

I almost have all the fluids changed, just doing the power steering now, and I'll change the oil next week before she goes away.

1 Question - do you guys use fuel stabilizer? I was told this is a must.

 

Those are some good points. I pump the tires to about 42 pounds to help reduce flat spotting.

 

I just put in a bottle of octane boost when it's time to break her back out.

Oh, and a bottle of gasline antifreeze I forgot!

 

Who mentioned it was a must? I called the fixed op/service manager at my dealer and he said not to. I have never used it on the G. Infiniti does not recommend the use of it. Other manufacturers like BMW do not endorse it either. I was told the systems nowadays are well sealed and don't collect moisture or contaminants. I was also told manufacturers can't/don't test all of the additive products like stabilizers to see if they are safe and that is another reason why they aren't recommended.

However I always use fuel stabilizer on my other power/lawn equipment.

 

if you're referring to me, i drive on all seasons, not summers. i do agree that even "all seasons" are not great in cold weather. however, we get so few days of legitimate cold weather that it hardly pays to have 2 sets of rubber. like i said, the G car is parked on incliment days anyhow.

we have winters for the CRV and that makes a HUGE difference compared to the all seasons.