Chigga1

BLAH..... just drive the car!

haha

pinkcivicchick

iTrader: (-1)

THANKS!!

imported_SiR_YO

how bout if I want to drive the car "every so often" .... once every 2 weeks? weather pending? or is that span of 2 weeks with a partially filled gas tank harmful?

imported_gatherer

that should be fine Ed my car commonly sees that sort of time

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

yeah, same here... I often don't drive my car in the summer neither.... weekends usually if the weather is good, and I've got a trip that's a minimum of 16 kms. Otherwise, it's city mileage, which I just don't do My car at 115K kms practically drives like a car with 40K kms.

imported_SiR_YO

nice.. good to know .. thanks guys... just cuz if there are a few shows during the winter I'd like to go, and wouldn't want to either replace the essential fluids all over again, and or put my rims back on etc.... I was thinkin' of just putting fire and theft on it for insurance.. so that's gonna be another "issue" if I decide to drive it a bit here and there

kimchee

I've done that before (driving once in a while, had a partially full gas tank.) I'm never leaving the tank half full again.
The condensation builds inside the tank where the fuel is not touching... which started to form rust from the inside out. I lost a lot of fuel when I decided to fill up my tank... Now I top it up everytime with my new tank.

imported_SiR_YO

so whether it'd be a week, 2 weeks or even a month if you drove your car once in a while, you'd fill it up to the top before "storing" it until the next drive?

Rockin_Festiva

dont jack your car up and put it on blocks, it causes your suspension to hang and expose most of the shock, which is supposed to be hidden behind a rubber boot, then that metal shock will rust the second condensation touches it then have fun when they blow a few weeks after driving it again!

Corrado2nv

^^^ agreed and with most other posts on this thread.

My routine pretty much after every season is to get the oil changed (synthetic for me) and make sure the coolant is in good shape. I'll wash her one more time and get the tank as close to the 'red' mark as possible. Once that's done, I drive her in the garage, up on some thick carpet squares cut out for the tires. Take out the battery and place it on wood or other non grounding surface.

Sofar, this routine has worked for me for 5-10 years. I've never had a problem starting the car in the spring and flat spots where never an issue.


The reason for all the above IMO, is as follows:

1. change oil (depending on how dirty) to get rid of contaminents.

2. check and change coolant if necessary for same reason as oil.

3. leave as little gas as possible, so not to avoid losing the octane rating in your gas tank. I've heard gas has a octane shelf life of a 2-4 months or around that.

4. I chose carpet instead of jack stands cause its easier and works pretty much the same. The reason you don't want your suspension hangin' in the air, is cause it was designed to be under load. If you let it sit with no load you can cause premature wear in those components. Ex: blown shocks, unusual wear on bushings and strut mounts.

5. simple reason is cause the battery will die out on you by the time you turn the key in the spring. And if you place it on concrete which is basically ground you offer a passage for the current to leave the battery, hence a dead battery. Place a non conductive item between it and the surface. You could trickle charge it too every month or so.

And for those that do wanna drive it when weather is good, that's fine, but for those of us that don't..leave the car off...do not start it! If you do, you'll add un-neccessary condensation in metal areas, which obviously lead to corrosion, and so on. Once its off..leave it off!

Like I mentioned this routine has served me best over the past years, without complaint. Hope this helps.

Take care,

Corrado2nv

imported_gatherer

I dunno about you guys but I have those "boots" on my shocks and when the suspension is at full droop I still don't see the shaft of the shock

imported_Shazza

wait...hang on...arent u supposed to drive the car once in a while like at least once a week if ure not driving it everyday?

ok...so if ure planning on driving it in the winter once in a while i.e. once a week, then u should keep a full tank? but if ure not planning on driving it at all u should keep a near empty tank?

therein60mins

geez.. its only a civic... drive it!!...

2000SE

Read the manual ... it's in there under "storing the car"

Change the oil

fill the tank and add fuel stabalizer.

djrolaidz

i took some 3 inch thick sheets of insulation from work that i park myne on top of inthe garage so its not on the cement hey for free cant complain

imported_Torrey

Park it over carpet on ****ty tires, drain all your oil and coolant and call it a day.

I don't see what the fuss is over storing a car. It's not rocket science.

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

believe it or not, the most 'damage' is caused to a car when storing it. even properly storing it is harder on the car than driving it, but throw into the mix a pile of salt, snow, and idiot drivers... it becomes safer to store it.