Leaving A Car For 6 Months

[Guest]

My wife and I are going on an extended cruise next year from April / May to late autumn.Does anyone have any tips regarding the best way of laying up our car?Its an M reg.Peugeot 405 which fits (just) in our garage but once its in there it will be difficult to get out so getting someone to drive it every so often would be a problem.Any opinions / suggestions welcome.

 

[jimi]

Sell it!

Invest the money .. earn instead of depreciate. Rent out the garage as well!

 

[Gordonmc]

This could end up being a long post... but here's my tuppence worth;
1. Change the engine oil and filter for the same reason you would with a boat... gets rid of corrosive impurities.
2. If its an unheated garage, make sure there's up to strength anti-freeze in the rad.
3. Jack her up and put stands at the end of each axle or stub (saves tyres perishing) An old trick was to put the stands in trays containing an inch of old engine oil. (If you haven't guessed, it stopped ants, cockroaches and mice from setting up home in the upholstery).
4. Remove sparkplugs and dribble in a tablespoon of redX into each chamber.
5. Give the underside a good spray with Waxoil if you don't do that anyway and the engine bay the same treatment with WD40. The MOD stuff in a hand-sprayer is cheaper than aerosols. Remember you will burn off residue from the exhaust so the first hour running will be smelly.
6. Leave windows with a 1" air gap and take the floor mats out.
7. The battery is unlikely to survive months without a charge. Either write it off and replace when you get back or arrange for a trickle charge for an hour or so every week.
8. Don't use a dust cover... they hold in dampness.

 

[steve_cronin]

The battery needs keeping up by using a maintenance charger. Don't use a simple charger as this will dry out the battery over a summer. Best to disconnect the battery too but make sure that you know radio keycodes otherwise you will loose it's use on your return.

Leave the engine with new oil and a new filter as old oil will cause corrosion of bearing surfaces if left.

Make sure that the anti-freeze is of the correct strength and fairly new. It also serves as a corrosion inhibitor but this looses it's effectiveness after around three years.

Any engine that hasn't been used for a while can be difficult to start on return due to carbon dust getting under the valve seats thereby spoiling compression when first re-started. There isn't much you can do about this except have a strong extra battery and a pair of jump leads available to you at re-commissioning time. Also be patient when re-starting since a good deal of the fuel in the system will have evaporated and need to be re-plenished by the pump. This will happen almost immediately though in fuel injection vehicles.

The hydraulic brake system can suffer damage because the lip seals of the pistons in the master & slave cylinders get stuck to the sides of their respective bores and when they are moved again they suffer minute damage which can allow air to enter or fluid to escape (particularly past the brake master cylinder) The uneasy feeling of the brake pedal gradually sinking to the floor under gentle braking is a sure sign. Again nothing except regular use can avoid this but you need to be aware of the consequences.

Also to do with brakes, don't leave the handbrake on or this can also cause seizure of the mechanism. Backing off rear brake shoes that have entered any groove in the drums is an exasperating task. Secure the car from rolling with chocks or just leave it in gear if the surface is level.

Ventillation of the garage is important as a vehicle left in humid still air can rust alarmingly.

It's a good idea to spray all the metal brake pipes with thin mineral oil if you really want to "go to town" on the job.
Some people store vehicles for long periods by lifting the weight off the wheels, wheel bearings and springs but for just 6 months this is unneccessary.

Some insurers will let you reduce to "laying up cover" for periods of six months or more which can save a useful amount of the premium.

There are possibly several other little jobs you can do but these are the most important.

Remember that oil is the enemy of corrosion so a general spraying around will only do good. WD40, Duck Oil & other silicone sprays only have a limited effect in this area. Don't spray mineral oil directly onto rubber though as it will soften it permanently.

Steve Cronin

 

[mtb]

Due to the possible cost's sell it has to be the best option , as Steve says your brakes will have problems , tyres and so on .
Auction price round about 800 to 1000 retail 1400 ish so after 6 months depreciation and cost of putting it back on the road !!.
The prices I state are up to date and dont come from a book ( I attend auctions every week ).
Could you not get a mate to use the car.
cheers
mick

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/boats
I want a steel ex trawler or tug cheap needing work

 

[byron]

My son stored his car instead of selling it when he lost his licence. Worst thing he ever did. When it was time to drive again there were a whole host of niggly problems to sort out even though the vehicle had been stored with all precautions taken.
My advice is... sell it.

http://www.alexander-advertising.co.uk

 

[jleaworthy]

You'll save yourself a lot of trouble if you just give it away. Do you have a deserving child, grandchild, child of friends etc? In your position I would plan to keep back some of the anticipated spending money on a long cruise for replacing car on return.

 

[colin_jones]

For the past 8 years, we have left our Daihatsu Sportrak in . our rented lock-up from Mid April to Mid September. We started by getting our local garage to get it out for us, but when they billed us £90.00 for this, we went DIY.

For the past 6 years, we have made sure that all is dry underneath (eg wait a few days) simply put it in neutral, hand brake off, both battery leads disconnected, battery and water and oil checked prior to locking up.

We are not mechanics and always come back to the garage in trepidation but we have never had any problem at all about getting restarted. or rolling again. As soon as it is out, we have it serviced. By being off the road for so long, it is still very low mileage. Means nothing at resale, but makes a car last a long time.

We would obviously prefer to have it looked at and even driven regularly, but this is not possible. The method above might not be theoretically recommended, but it has worked for us.

 

[richardandtracy]

Agreed. Most reasonably modern cars are OK for 6 to 9 months without trouble - except the battery. Take the battery with you for extra oomph, that'll keep it ticking over nicely

Regards

Richard

 

[LadyInBed]

Re: Battery

If you have mains in your garage, you could put a battery charger on a time switch.
"An hour a day keeps the jump start away"!

 

[toad]

6 months is not long,many cars spend that long on dealers forcourts.Change the oil andfilter,put it away after a good run,handbrake off, disconect the battary and have it serviced when you get back.

 

[vyv_cox]

My 1982 diesel VW camper has been standing in a garage for 6 years. The only precaution we take is to have a battery charger connected to a timer, it comes on for about 3 hours per week. Vehicle is MOT'd every year and has passed first time every year. Engine starts first turn of the key. No obvious aditional corrosion. Vehicle drives on average 100 miles per year.

 

[Apetts]

If you leave the car and the tax will expire, or you don't tax it make sure you inform the DVLC that it is off the road - they have a special form. If it is left untaxed for 28 days without notification there is an automatic £25 fine which increases to £45 after a few more days - and it eeps on going up. I now - I had to pay up!

 

[Apetts]

If you leave the car and the tax will expire, or you don't tax it make sure you inform the DVLC that it is off the road - they have a special form. If it is left untaxed for 28 days without notification there is an automatic £25 fine which increases to £45 after a few more days - and it eeps on going up. I know - I had to pay up!

 

[brianrunyard]

6 months is nothing, a lot of brand new cars spend more than that parked in a field.
My suggestion would be:-
1. Ensure the garage has plenty of ventilation
2. Make sure the car is completely dry before putting it in the garage.
If you want to play safe change the oil, remove and fully charge the battery, and leave the car on axle stands to take the weight of the tyres. Some people will suggest connecting a charger via a time switch, I wouldn't take the risk of fire if something went wrong. Batteries aren't very expensive, I'd take a chance on the battery surviving and if it didn't just replace it.

Brian
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/brunyard