Taking car off road - maintenance

D

delgirl

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We are taking our car off the road at the end of the month.

What is the best way to maintain the car for say 6 months to a year:

- should we take the battery out?
- should we leave the battery in and run the engine for a period of time each week/month?

Any other mechanical tips appreciated.

Thanks.
 
PaddyBloggit said:
Get a trickle charger to keep the battery charged:

[broken link removed]
Click to expand...
I have one of those and they are brilliant. I used to car pool so my car was lying idle every second week. The battery started to go down and the car becoming hard to start so i got a solar charger. Started perfectly thereafter.
 
Thanks for the info PaddyBloggit - should we run the engine from time to time as well or is it not necessary?

thanks
 
delgirl said:
Thanks for the info PaddyBloggit - should we run the engine from time to time as well or is it not necessary?

thanks
Click to expand...


Should be no need to 'run the engine' with a trickle charger as the battery is always topped up. Usually when people run the engine they have it in their head to charge the battery but in reality the car would want to be driven to get any decnt charge on the battery.

No need to do anything with the trickle charger although I would disconnect the trickle charger every 2 to 3 months and start up the engine just to check all is well.

If you're storing outside it might be no harm to invest in some kind of a breathable car cover.

Again, remove the cover every so often to check for smoke/soot that may have gotten onto the bodywork.

A friend of mine had a boat covered near his chimney and when he took the cover off the boat was covered with an ingrained layer of a soot type substance.

Only you can determine whether you need a cover or not ... just watch out for the above if you do use one.
 
The car would need to be driven at least once month for a few months this would ensure at least the following.

Tyres would be rotated and will prevent cracking in the walls
Engine oil will be circulated around the engine and will re-coat the moving parts with a film of oil.
The brakes would be tested and will ensure moving parts are freed up.
The sterring system will be freed up
 
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