Winter technical storage details
 

Hi All;

I will be putting my 8 in the garage for the winter and would like to know the storage format for approximately 6 months storage.
Oil, Battery, Tires, etc.
The garage is not heated.
If anyone has any information on how to boost your spirits and to deal with RX8 withdrawl that would be handy as well.

Hope everyone are enjoying their summer.

^^BUMP^^
I would also like to know in case I go underway in the future.
thanks

will send you my replys when I receive them

http://autorepair.about.com/library/.../aa122003a.htm

The part about the mice on the 2nd page is a good tip. Someone here had a rodent eat a hose and it took weeks to get it fixed.

Generally, for most cars the procedure goes like this.

Add fuel stabilizer to the tank and run it a few miles to be sure that the fuel is all through the system to the injectors then top off the tank and store the car. You need to top off the tank to prevent water vapor from condensing in your tank causing water fouling of the fuel as well as potentially rusting the tank.

Change the oil before you put it away so it is nice and clean in the pan. Six months won't be enough to foul the oil by storage, but if you are storing for more than nine months, you will need to change the oil after storage as well before running it.

Pull the battery and store inside a house or heated building of some kind. You can store it in an unheated garage, but you run a higher risk of the battery discharging by the time you get back. Either way, if you have a bettery charger, when you go to restart the car, it is a good idea to slow charge the battery back up instead of just putting it in the car which will quick charge it.

For the tires there are a couple of choices to try to deal with flatting. I know some people who will put their stored cars on jack stands for the storage period which totally eliminates flatting of the tires, but I've always felt that it puts stress on other parts of the car so I don't do that. I use the more common practice of super inflating the tires to close to their sidewall max pressure. The increased pressure helps alot to prevent flatting of the tires.

The only other thing is that if you are thinking of leaving the car in storage for more than a year, it's a bit more dangerous than with reciprocating engines. The rotaries need a certain amount of lubrication of the rotor housings (which they get from being run) and without it, the rotors can freeze inside the housings necessitatiing a total engine rebuild. so if you are thinking of that it is probably a good idea to try to spin some oil into the rotors housings somehow. However, for six months, I would think that you would be fine.

My suggestion RXzoomer8 ... don't store it. Not sure where you are in Canada, but we have owners from St. John's to Montreal to Edmonton on this forum who have very successfully equipped the cars for winter driving. At a minimum, you will be looking at wheels and tires, and IMHO, painting your calipers if your city uses any amount of salt. Compared to the "cost" of your car payments throughout the winter months it was a good investment for me.

very excellent point, Mr. Parsons, it would definitely be cheaper to keep the car going through the winter if you're thinking it wouldn't be a good car for the winter (it'd be a better car than many, i can tell you... i've only driven the inferior kind).

i know for sure that you definitely want to have the car's chassis bear the load of the car's weight (it does it whether the relatively low amount of stress is at suspension mouthing points or hard points on the frame) rather than the tyres.

also, for winterizing boats they use a kind of super-light oil which is fogged in ("fogging oil", go figure) which sits there in the motor until startup in the spring to protect the combustion chamber of the engine. wouldn't the same work for a car engine, spraying it in through a fuel injector fitting (instead of gumming up the MAF or whatever)??

Thanks much, I whole heartedly concur, but already have that dilema in that I own two cars, one that is great in snow, a Hyundai XG300 that will go through anything most days.

What are the owners doing re: insurance coverage if they are storing their vehicle in the winter?
Probably a great topic that I don't recall seeing any threads.

I am located in the Niagara Wine Country and have only had 1 other 8 reported in my area.

Anyways hope all is well in your neck of the woods, and pray for a mild winter.

I'm a new RX-8 owner in Buffalo NY - not far from you. I have only seen two other 8's in recent months in the area.

I will have access to an attached garage for the winter. I'm planning to keep it simple and stop by every week or two to start and run the engine until good and warm and will have room to move the car back and forth a bit to avoid the car sitting on one part of the tires.

I'm thinking this will also help with the RX-8 withdrawal problem!

also - should add that my insuror (State Farm) allows me to keep car registered with plates for the winter. i can notify them (once per season) when i put away for the winter and then when i take it out in the spring. in the interim, my premium is reduced 75% and i remain covered. nice to not have hassles of taking on and off road and re-registering.