Puttin the PT to sleep for the winter

[deederz]

I am about ready to put the PT up for the winter. Back in the days before on board computers and such, we always used to disconnect the battery at this time and recharge it before bringing it out of storage. Is this a good idea with my PT? Sorry for the ignorance but all my other cars that I stored for the winter were OLD.[8D]

[bigtommy83]

I cannot forsee that being a problem. Just take the battery out of the car. Store it off the floor in your basement or something. Are ya gonna put it up on jackstands too?

[quicksilverdon]

Other than clock & radio presets, should be okay, I would think.

[crazie.eddie]

Not sure, but woulnd't you have to worry about the fluids kind of gunking up, especially the gas? I would think of it as a lawn mower or snow blower. Before storing it away, you normally just run it until it's empty of gas. What I normally do with my '89 Supra was just to start it every week or 2 weeks and let it run for a bit, making sure the garage was open. I had enough room in the garage to move it forward and back, alternating each week.

[Jimbo]

Don't think you have to do anything with the gas.If you were storing it for over a year maybe ,but just over the winter it should be fine.
Although some winters can seen like they last forever.

[Cal Cruzer]

quote:Originally posted by crazie.eddie

Not sure, but woulnd't you have to worry about the fluids kind of gunking up, especially the gas? I would think of it as a lawn mower or snow blower. Before storing it away, you normally just run it until it's empty of gas. What I normally do with my '89 Supra was just to start it every week or 2 weeks and let it run for a bit, making sure the garage was open. I had enough room in the garage to move it forward and back, alternating each week.

Use fuel stabilizer in the fuel tank before putting her to sleep. Fresh oil too. If you really want to do the whole job there are other things you should do before storage like pulling spark plugs and squiring a little oil in the cylinders to keep them from flashing and getting it up off the floor to keep the tires from flat spotting.

[purple04]

A full tank of gas is better than an empty one. The hose(s) between the pickup sock, pump and tank outlet have rotted on a friend's car twice now when storing with a low tank. A real pain to change. A short (3-6 month) rest shouldn't be a big deal, but if you want to get very careful, the jackstands keeping the tires from flat spotting should be under the suspension, not the body, to keep suspension bushings in their 'normal' position. Ther are a number of sites with good storage info, just read them all and get a good cross-section of what you are willing and able to do.

[deederz]

thanx all for the info! i usually put Stabil gas stabilizer in the tank and run it a while to get it through the system. probably do the jackstand thing, although i didnt with my other cars being as its only a few months...though they will seem like years!!! thanx again[8D]

[SuGamer]

quote:Originally posted by crazie.eddie

Not sure, but woulnd't you have to worry about the fluids kind of gunking up, especially the gas? I would think of it as a lawn mower or snow blower. Before storing it away, you normally just run it until it's empty of gas. What I normally do with my '89 Supra was just to start it every week or 2 weeks and let it run for a bit, making sure the garage was open. I had enough room in the garage to move it forward and back, alternating each week.

Warming up the car every once in awhile is bad! Remember the question you had on another forum about water coming out of the exhaust? Well that happens when a car is stored too. If you just start it up and let it run, say 15 minutes or so, it's not enough to blow out that condensation. The result? [:I]You'll eventually rust out your exhaust from the inside out. It's better to just disconnect the battery and let it sit. If you want to start it up every once in a while you need to left it run for at least half an hour, and part of it at slighty higher than idle. That way all the water will be blown out. The longer a car sits, then more condensation it will build during the winter months. Learned it the hard way years ago.[:0]

[crazie.eddie]

Actually, I did let it run for about 1/2 or more. At times, when the driveway was clear enough of snow/ice, I would pull it out into the driveway a little more. But thanks for the info.