Hi, my Cinq is off the road for the time being and will sit in a garage till around Feb, might occasionally take it places. Anyway, any tips for storing it. Am i better leaving a full tank of fuel in it or very little, should i leave a window open - il run the engine once a week - but for a how long?

The car feels slightly damp inside to begin with, is there anything i can put in it to dry the air out (something thats not a dehumidifier!)

thanks!


Cinq Sporting - and yes, its broom yellow!

A few Storage tips:

Wash and wax
Make sure coolant is up to scratch, new is better.
Change oils, but if you're starting once a week just make sure it's fairly fresh.
Drain plastic and fill metal fuel tanks. You'll need a fuel stabiliser if the fuel is going to be in the tank more than a month.
Put the car on stands, let a bit of air out of the tyres or push it a few inches every now and then to stop the tyres creasing up.
Battery shouldn't be a problem if you start the car once a week and let it run up to operating temp. Make sure there is plenty of ventilation, don't gas yourself. If the car is not to be started for a while then dis the neg.
Leave the windows open a touch to let air circulate, if you are going to cover the car use a breathable cover, not plastic.
The car will be a nice cosy place for rodents, who will eat anything thats not metal, including wiring looms, fabric, etc. Make sure you clean the inside of the car and poss put a cover over the exhaust.
Not a lot you can do about the damp apart from running the car and keeping it ventilated. Someone suggested cat litter once, i'm yet to be convinced.

Hope this helps.

85% of Marea HLX drivers have speeding tickets.... lol they'll have to catch me first.

thank-you

fuel stabilisers - where would i get one of them, and will it have any adverse effects on the engine once i start running the car in feb?


Cinq Sporting - and yes, its broom yellow!

Don't remember seeing any at halfords or motor world. Best idea would be to try a motorcycle shop as bikers tend to overwinter bikes more than we overwinter cars. I know Yamaha used to produce a stabiliser.

Stabiliser wont hurt car, it just stops fuel separating and turning into orange goo.

85% of Marea HLX drivers have speeding tickets.... lol they'll have to catch me first.

leave the handbrake off or it will get stuck on

you can get these cristal things from diy stores that are suposed to take the moisture out of the air don't know if they work though.

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About those crystal things, they usually remove moisture from the air and transfer it to some reservoir which is inbuilt into the device. If you do use one, make sure you check the level of liquid or it'll overfill and spill into the car

Was the wife's but its mine now!!
Lowered 40mm: Its a go-kart!!!

You can get stabilisers from shops selling petrol lawn mowers!

and be careful to keep the car as dry as possible, or your car will end up like my Panda did last year (see below)



Steve "2 Pandas" Yensen - the white-haired lunatic and beagle buddy ...

yeah, thats why i want something to keep it dry.

does anyone have a proper name for them crystal things? bloke at B&Q looked at me funny and walked off [:0]


Cinq Sporting - and yes, its broom yellow!

lol,
Try asking for Silica Gel crystals, he'll prob still walk away.

Or try an electronics wholesaler.


85% of Marea HLX drivers have speeding tickets.... lol they'll have to catch me first.

By the way when you wash and wax it, make sure you rinse off all the road salt from the chassis and wheel arches.

Was the wife's but its mine now!!
Lowered 40mm: Its a go-kart!!!

Them crystal things are usaly kept near the draft excluder stuff, they usaly come with a plastic thing that you put them in.

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Please do not Email or PM me asking for support. Post on the forums instead. Your reply may help someone else. Thank you

Is the car going to be in a normal garage (by the house) a large storage garage or in a closed/open barn type thing?

Fuel Stabilisers - in my experience they are not really necessary. I store my racecar over the winter every close season so it sits for six months without being fired up - and considering it's a 175bhp all steel crossflow I would expect it to have trouble starting, but it never does. A few times it's stood for up to two and a half years and still fired up ok.

Moisture - if you can afford one, (check ebay etc) a dehumidifier is definitely the best - I have one in my garage and it pulls 3litres of water out of the air every week. And it still pulls moisture out in the summer. It is def best if you can afford it.

If you're going to cover it as Polecat says - use something kind, like a cotton oversheet.

Tosh

**Men don't stop playing because they grow old; they grow old because they stop playing.**

this is quite an old thread, the car i was storing is now back on the road but this thread could still be useful for anyone else storing a car.

I left the car uncovered but clean, with a full tank of fuel and plenty of brake fluid/oil/water in it. It was fired up once a week for around 2minutes and every 4 weeks it was warmned up and then taken for a quick spin round the site.

As for dehumidifying, i bought a crystal based one from b&q for around a tenner and sat it in the car. I left all the windows up and vents closed. It didnt pull much moisture out until by mistake i left the window open and then pulled a fair amount of water out of the garage air!


Cinq Sporting - and yes, its broom yellow!

Sounds like a bargain for a tenner

Tosh

**Men don't stop playing because they grow old; they grow old because they stop playing.**