Winter Storage

Ok, this isn't hard guys. I'll put it a different way. You are wasting money, changing the oil twice. James, the point of changing oil is to get rid of it BEFORE it has lost all its detergents and additives and BEFORE it has become filthy or as you put it, shitty. So unless you are going 15,000mi between oil changes, the oil you have in there when you put it way will be just fine when spring hits and you want to warm it up to temperature and drain it for fresh oil. Changing the oil is preventative maintenance, therefore it should never get to be "shitty".

Josh, from a wear and tear standpoint, the worst thing you can do to your engine is start it. That is when it's at its most vulnerable. The oil has drained back into the pan and upon initial startup there is minimum friction protection until oil pressure builds again. Add that to the fact that idling the engine for extended periods is also not good for it. Forcing it to heat cycle in the winter once every 2 or 3 weeks is doing more harm than good.

Buy a battery tender and leave it connected. Be sure that the paint is clean as possible(no bird poop, tar, etc) and every once in awhile, sit in it and make car sounds with your mouth. That's the very basics on how to store a car.

ok.




??

I'm used to storing a motorcycle where you replace the oil before you store it, and fill the gas tank completely and add fuel stabilizer. I'm having a hard time following what you wrote, so is it the same for storing a car as a bike?

All im saying is that I want clean oil in my engine when its sitting. I dont care if its wastefull, my oil gets changed every 3000 miles or 3 months no matter how clean the oil is. Its preventative mantainance. I Go to school for this remember, And have done 8 trillion oil changes.

blizzard wrote:

I'm used to storing a motorcycle where you replace the oil before you store it, and fill the gas tank completely and add fuel stabilizer. I'm having a hard time following what you wrote, so is it the same for storing a car as a bike?

It's completely the same execpt for substituting car sounds with motorcycle sounds. Also, there is no need to fill the tank on modern bikes. That was an old school trick to prevent the tank from rusting while it sat. Modern tanks are lined well plus made of aluminum which does not rust( it can corrode however). It was a rule made around the time everyone was still chaning their oil every 3000 miles. Adding stabil to whatever fuel is left when you store it is a good idea though. If it is a carbed bike, make sure the fuel petcock is set to off and run the bike until it dies.

I change the oil on my STi every 5000 miles and mine is one of the few with original engine. I completely agree with Overblown, changing the oil over the winter while its sitting is going to be pretty pointless. Change it in the spring.

LLcoolJames wrote:

All im saying is that I want clean oil in my engine when its sitting.

That makes sense. The one thing every not running engine needs is clean oil. They explode otherwise.

LLcoolJames wrote:

I dont care if its wastefull, my oil gets changed every 3000 miles or 3 months no matter how clean the oil is.

This also makes sense. In 1970. Also, the terroist thank you for your charity.

LLcoolJames wrote:

I Go to school for this remember, And have done 8 trillion oil changes.

I am happy to hear you are in school. Keep up the good work. If you do, perhaps you won't have to worry about doing all those oil changes anymore. You think J Leno changes his own oil? To be honest, I don't care how you store your car. It's yours and you can do how you please. I'm just having fun giving you some shit and thats all. You really are wrong though.

LLcoolJames wrote:

All im saying is that I want clean oil in my engine when its sitting. I dont care if its wastefull, my oil gets changed every 3000 miles or 3 months no matter how clean the oil is. Its preventative mantainance. I Go to school for this remember, And have done 8 trillion oil changes.

James, don't take this wrong. You are a cool guy... but there is way more to wrenching than what you learn in school. The guy at jiffy lube has done way more oil changes than you have, and I don't go to him for automotive advice.

Another piece of advice, if you have soft tires they can flat spot from sitting in the same spot.

Evan

i agree with overblown 1000% and I work on cars for a living since i was a junior in high school and been doing this HI perf stuff since before 1994

1994, good year

and i only change my oil in the spring.
Perhaps this we should expand this thread to and include some other winter storage advice considering this is the how to section.
240sxguy already mentioned flat spots on tires.
I always add a fuel stabilizer, remove the battery and make sure it is in a heated environment, and remove my serp belt. I dont know if the belt thing is a must, but my dad told me that it takes pressure off the pulleys and bearings so I just do it, takes me two seconds

overblown wrote:

LLcoolJames wrote:

All im saying is that I want clean oil in my engine when its sitting.

That makes sense. The one thing every not running engine needs is clean oil. They explode otherwise.

LLcoolJames wrote:

I dont care if its wastefull, my oil gets changed every 3000 miles or 3 months no matter how clean the oil is.

This also makes sense. In 1970. Also, the terroist thank you for your charity.

LLcoolJames wrote:

I Go to school for this remember, And have done 8 trillion oil changes.

I am happy to hear you are in school. Keep up the good work. If you do, perhaps you won't have to worry about doing all those oil changes anymore. You think J Leno changes his own oil? To be honest, I don't care how you store your car. It's yours and you can do how you please. I'm just having fun giving you some shit and thats all. You really are wrong though.

- dirty oil contains acidic properties and other magic cock pony I dont want contacting any part of my engine for a long period of time.
- still makes sense today as well
- I know your giving me shit, im just giving it back, mostly cause I feel that neither one of us it wrong . even if I could afford to have someone else change my own oil, I think Ill still do until I physically cant.

STIvr4guy- I write every oil change sticker at work for 5000 miles. hell ford recommends 7500 or 10000 miles on all their new cars. I just dont trust the oil that much. especially the oil coming out of my truck or my falcon. quality of the oil is important here too. the $1.35 a quart farm and barn oil I usually use on my falcon doesnt have much quality to it, so im going to change it more often. the motorcraft synthetic blend I use in my truck is much higher quality but I still change it at 3000 miles, just cause I can. Im not doing any harm to it.

240sx- I work in a quicklube too. This doesnt mean Im a bad guy to go to for auto advice. lol I think

steve- you have way more experiance than me. you know more than me. But I also have worked on cars since the dawn of my time, even if thats less time than you that doesnt make me R-tarded

If you are that worried, why don't you store it with NO oil in it?

because thats worse lol

Plus id probly forget about it and go to crank it over in the spring.

Im not that worried about it. Its 50/50 that I think its a good thing to do, and I enjoy doing it

Well the top part of your engine is oil starved all winter! My god man! You had best fill it to the top of the fill tube then!

I am aware I won't be able to change your mind, but that doesn't mean I won't give you tons of shit.

I welcome it

actually thats not a bad Idea. I wonder how many quarts it would take to fill the old 144 to the top........

LOL

1 foot x 1 foot styrofoam insulation squares, 1 inch thick. place 1 behind or in front of each tire, drive car on to them, let sit on suspension all winter, no flat spots! it works!

I pull my entire engine and submerge it in 250 gallons of virgin crude oil for the winter.

Peter MS3 wrote:

I pull my entire engine and submerge it in 250 gallons of virgin crude oil for the winter.

Hahahahahaha

Peter MS3 wrote:

I pull my entire engine and submerge it in 250 gallons of virgin crude oil for the winter.

Good idea!

I like the styrofoam block idea! That is badass. Thanks.

LLcoolJames wrote:

steve- you have way more experiance than me. you know more than me. But I also have worked on cars since the dawn of my time, even if thats less time than you that doesnt make me R-tarded

not saying your a retars at all. Im saying changing the oil that much is not needed...... BUT.... if you want to what the hell go for it.

I agree with james, the small expense of knowing you have fresh oil in your engine for 4-5 months of sitting is well worth the $ to me. Better safe than sorry as far as I see it.

Why did this get stickied?

So people who "know" can argue about it all over again this year.