Storing car for winter, remove battery??
 

So in upstate NY it is about that time for us who can, to store thier investments and protect them from the snow/salt.

I have read a bit about tips offered to people storing vehicles and wanted to know your opinions on whether I should remove the battery or not. It will be going in Oct. 2nd and coming out roughly in the middle of April (about 6 months)

I have also read to fill the gas tank to prevent condensation, add dry fuel, over inflate tires to prevent flat spots so any other tips suggestions would be greatly appreciated...Oh yeah I will also be placing a number of sticky mouse traps under the car just in case....

Last winter..

Removed battery, stored in basement on a wood slab
Removed entire air filter/intake box and stuffed a Champagne bottle
into the rubber coupler
Filled gas, changed oil, lube.
Suspended on jack stands.

If you can't guarentee that the mice can be kept out of the vent system, you may want to remove the cabin air filters - mine had a nice pile of fuzz, rodent pee, etc. piled on top and they chewed the pleats out of the filters! My plan is to add 0.25" welded wire over all the air ducts inside. The intakes appear to be protected fairly well by plastic "fencing".

Looking forward to tips from others!

Charles, did your engine fire right up after the storage? I am thinking about getting a battery charger that can stay on all the time and only charge when needed or is that unneccesary?

I have never stored a car before I definitely apprecaite any tips. Someone had a link on here not too long ago to a good article on car storage I will see If I can find it and add it here.

There are probably many tips on storing for the winter, but with respect to your battery question, I left mine in last year for the five months the car was stored. The garage was unheated, and like an idiot, I did start it up in the spring without charging the battery first (I know, I know....). The battery was a little weak, but it worked fine. I did charge it with a charger after that first start-up though, so I didn't hurt my alternator.

This year, with the battery being a year older, I plan to remove it. As far as other storage tips, I simply made sure the oil was changed prior to storage, filled the gas tank as much as I could, took the 6 CDs out of the changer (do this BEFORE you remove the battery :rolleyes: ), and inflated the tires to about 42 psi. The biggest task was the rodent proofing, as it is a known fact that in my garage the mice have a little community thing going.

Much has been written on rodent proofing in various forums, and I can only relate what worked for me. Obviously, I can't prove that anything that I did worked: maybe the mice didn't like the looks of my RX8 anyway, but at least I had no rodent incursions, and by the end of the winter I had extricated over 12 dead mice from the garage.

1) The floor area where the car was to be kept was swept thoroughly: I left no little mousy tidbits in the general vicinity of the car to tempt them.

2) Glue traps (I used six, but I suppose more or less could be just as effective) placed in areas under the car where I thought mice might be most tempted to exlpore. I haven't really talked to any mice lately to see which areas specifically ignite their little mousy curiosity, so your guess is as good as mine as to where these areas might be. I simply tried to place them under areas of the bodywork leading to what appeared to be temptingly chewy bits that could lead to nesting areas. For example, the rear wheel well area, lined as it is with that oh-so-chewy-looking-trunk-lining-like material, seemed to me like it might be a tempting spot so a glue trap went in front of each rear wheel. The only glue trap which caught a mouse (less than a month after storage) was the one I placed on the garage floor under the engine area.

3) Odour Deterrent: After I started putting Bounce Sheets and two or three open bars of soap around the vehicle, any evidence of mice around the vehicle stopped. The only time I found a mouse in a glue trap was BEFORE I had put out any odour deterrent. The bounce sheets were placed around the vehicle on the floor of the garage, and I placed some in the engine compartment. Make sure you count them if you are going to put them in out-of-the-way places, so you don't go driving off in the spring with a bunch still hidden. I put a couple of sheets and a couple of open soap bars in the interior too. Some of the old British car forums recommend using moth balls as an olifactory deterrent, but honestly and with no offence intended, I think you'd have to be an idiot with no sense of smell to put that crap anywhere near your car.

4) Steel wool in the two exhaust pipes. Don't forget to take them out before you start the vehicle.

5) Sonic Rodent Deterrent: I am not sure of the value of these things. I used two all winter, but I took over a dozen mice out of the garage from item number (6), so I don't really know how effective they were. Nevertheless, I'll be using them again this year.

6) Baited Mouse Snap Traps I have a two car garage in which the second car bay is full of junk: the traps were placed on the side AWAY from the car. My theory on this was, why put baited traps near the car you are trying to keep the mice away from? That's where I managed to snag all my mice... not fun (less so for them, I guess...) constantly checking and re-baiting traps, but it sure beat having a family nesting in my car.

Just looking at my list, it seems like I went a little overboard with the anti-rodent thing, and again, I really don't know if it was my hard work or simply good fortune that kept the mice at bay. Nevertheless, that is the procedure I'll be using again this year. Hope that helps.

my sister had her explorer parked for a month and a mouse or something ate most of her oil cap away...i didnt think that was possible. it also tore up a lot of the interior and some wiring...needless to say the car was ultimately junked.

i live in an apartment where i dont have a garage, and i found a self storage place that charges 170 per month. anyone know if there are any other places i can goto for cheaper in the princeton nj area

thanks

Started up right away. I put it away about 12/20/2003 and brought it back to life on 3/1/2004.

If you leave the battery on a charger, make sure its on a trickle setting. Otherwise, just give it a shot every couple weeks.

I had no idea animal infestations were such a problem...actually I have a special bug zapper in the garage so insects don't take a nap on my car at night (crazy huh?)

Thanks for the input, "trickle setting" is the term I was looking for I forgot what that was called....THANKS!

73JPS "steel Whool in the tail pipes" is a great one! I have been racking my brain to find something practical to use

Again, I appreciate all the input!

I'm in WNY as well. Plan to store in the attached garage.

I don't plan to go overboard:

1) clean floor carefully and lay down a plastic tarp under car
2) clean inside and outside of car carefully - good wax job
3) oil change and full tank of gas
4) D-Con poison baits for rodent protection
5) Car cover to keep the dust off
6) I have easy access to the vehicle and will plan to simply remove the cover and start and run the car every other week and move the car a few feet back or forth.

I'll have to think about the steel wool - good idea.

My friend has done this with his Corvette for several winters and has had no problems at all. Does this make sense?

Auto stores have this green stuff that keeps the Octane up for you while the gas is just sitting in the tank. That can help too. Check the can to see if its ok for fuel injection systems

Just a word of warning on the "mouse bait" stuff: my brother once put that stuff around his car, and in his case, it attracted the mice to the car. My brother found that the mice had picked up the mouse bait and stored it in the liner under the hood: the mice made a hell of a mess in his engine compartment that winter, chewing a couple of vacuum hoses and storing the mouse bait/poison who-knows-where. My suggestion is to put stuff like that well away from the car, and use repellent or passive stuff (i.e. bouce sheets to repel and passive glue traps) near the car.

Just my .02$...

thanks for that! i'll stick to the repellants and passive stuff then...