Prepping truck for long term storage

The only two things you need to do are

A) disconnect the battery so it doesn’t drain

B) store it at a fiends house with many cats so they will kill rodents



all else is a bunch of bull crap u don’t need to do .

 

Non-ethanol is pump gas if you look around for it.

What issues would you expect to find? What kind of 'scientific tests' are you looking for?

The chevy we did this most often to (every year from 2008 - 2019) had 225,000 mi when we sold it, didn't burn oil, and generally ran the same as before we started storing it half the year. I did it to my Nissan in 2018 for 3 months and then again from April 2019 till March 2020. And its been running as great as it always has. Definitely not enough change with either vehicle to say 'oh man, i should put in stabil!'

 

Do you have a buddy that might be able to drive it for you occasionally? Driving once a week enough to let every thing warn up and burn off any condensation, circulate fluids, keep battery up, prevent oxidation of fuel etc. would my first choice.

 

Just curious if you had the gas analyzed, similar to how you can send oil samples off to a lab for an oil analysis. I understand you never had issues with leaving a vehicle parked for 6-8 months not using it. But that doesn't necessarily mean the quality of gas was better or equal to gas sitting the same amount of time with fuel stabilizer.

 

Ah ok. Nah. The time and cost of getting such a test never really seemed worth it. Had we noticed issues or something, then it might be worth looking into. Last time I pulled the charger off the nissan, closed the hood, checked the air pressure, loaded up the bed with junk, and then drove it 330 miles. Other than me constantly forgetting that it has a 6th gear, it was fine

 

I think its more of a matter of personal experience. ive got 15 years of storing cars, mowers, snow blowers, weed whackers, and any other engine. Never had a issue with just putting gas in the tank, unhooking the battery and leaving it. And this comes from MN, where we have some crazy temp swings. It can go from 60 degrees to below zero in 2 days.

Yeah the fuel may be not perfect as it came from the pump, but it still runs just fine. Take a nice long drive, burn out half the tank, fill it back up.

 

If I wasn’t so lazy I could do such a test free of charge. I am an analytical chemists and have most types of analytical equipment at my disposal. Gasoline would probably be a GC-MS method where you inject a sample at time =0 and then a sample stored at t = months... and just look at what peaks in the chromatogram go up or down. I’m sure google has some ISO analytical method for either liquid injection or head space injection for fuel analysis. With a MS detector you might be able to tell the exact molecules gasoline is “degrading “ into. But I’m sure google has a lot of research papers on the topic so f all that BS.
What I should be doing.... is analyzing just how potent my edibles really are.

 

Looks like you are in SoCal. So very little to worry about really. As far as I know the only thing that could do horrible damage would be rodents. Avoid parking anywhere prone to that.

Depending on the type of tire you can get flat spots. On most tires these days they'd likely sort themselves out after some highway miles. I've found over inflating for storage usually eliminates this issue. Be sure to deflate before driving though! Really over inflated tires can really make handling poor.

I've done both full takes with stabilizer or just rather empty tanks. Both seem fine. I've tended towards the rather empty tanks as then I'm running less old fuel through the tank.

I disconnect my battery rather than using a tender given where my truck is parked. Don't be surprised when your truck takes a few turnovers to get going after you've disconnected the battery. This is normal. The ECU has forgotten everything it knew about the engine.

Lots of good advice in the thread already. None of it would hurt, but perhaps some is overkill. Nothing wrong with overkill though.

 

6 months is not a long time to store a vehicle. You really don't need to do anything except connect battery to a maintainer to keep it charged and guard against rodents if you have a such a problem. Don't need to stabilized the fuel and modern radial tires don't get flat spots.
Now if you're storing for 9-18 months or more you need to take precautions.

 

Good idea with the mothballs....dryer sheets work well to in many areas. Those little bastards will store everything from seeds, and nuts to acorns where you can't remove them after, not to mention chew on wiring. Manufactures i would think have their wires treated with something that rodents won't like...at least for a few years.
As far as fuel depends where the vehicle is stored, and climate. Fuel will stay fresh a lot longer in a dark, cool area than sunny and hot. I've had fuel stay fresh for years as long as its sealed off from air, and in a dark room. Had fuel go south in 2 years when not treated under average storage. Higher octane fuel will stay fresher the longest.

 

Radial A/T tires do get flat spots from sitting long periods. My goodyear adventure's with kevlar were a perfect example. I was told to try and put up with them till they got back to normal, or i either had to replace them if they didn't. Well a few days later they were ok.

 

Lot of mothballs to keep mice away...even under the hood...no joking

 

Can't say I've ever stored any of said vehicles in a cool or dark area, but it was winter so definitely cold. It was always either completely exposed or under a cheap car cover.

 

Any flat spots that develop on modern radial tires from storage will be gone within traveling a few blocks. Now old bias/ply tires for older and classic cars can be ruined from flat spots from storage.

I've been storing both newer and classic vehicles with very little use for 30+ years now, so have more than a little experience on the subject.

 

TBH, even for a year of storage you could prob just park it as-is and then boost it when you get back and everything would be fine. For me and my personal stuff, I always do a few things mentioned in this thread and have never had a problem. Cheap, peace-of-mind insurance is how I think of it.

Couple things to add though.....
-I always change the oil before storing engines (bc I keep my stuff forever) There are acids in used oil can slowly eat away at bearings etc during storage and might eventually cause premature wear.
-A battery tender is always my first choice, if not possible, I disconnect it.
-Fuel stabilizer definitely isn’t “snake oil” and it’s super-cheap so I always use it even for short, six month storage periods.
-Using a cover for outdoor storage will do more damage to the paint than leaving it uncovered. A good wash and wax and not parking under anything is best.
-Old-school bias-ply tires need to be lifted off the ground for storage. Newer radials like ours will be fine after a few miles.

 

I totally agree with the above regarding outdoor car covers. I had a Porsche 930 Turbo that I was restoring years ago and had it parked in a paint shop lot in Miami covered up awaiting new paint and when they removed the cover the paint was blistered and coming off in sheets.
Wasn't a big deal as they were completely re-painting it anyway, however I have never used an outside cover since. We "assumed" condensation was building up under the cover then turning to steam by hot sun which did the damage.

 

I've got a few toys here that sometime's don't see much use plus i tend to keep fuel in them occasionally syphoning it to run my lawn tractor and power equipment so the gas can stay 1/2 full till i use them, which can be 9 months to a couple years. I rely on stabil a lot, but i they to keep them out of the sunlight to.

 

6 months causes major brake rust here and will cause flat spots on under inflated tires.

Doing too much isn't bad thing.

I just had a customer that had 8 months and winter tires were pretty much junk, all four brakes shot and the battery was shorted.