Storing Taco for 6 months

I tried searching but my keywords weren’t getting hits.

My ‘13 Tacoma has become a secondary vehicle since upgrading to a tundra. I’m planning on storing it through the winter on the side of my house.

my thoughts for storing it for an extended period of time are:

-pull the battery and keep it in the garage.

-seafoam and a full tank of gas. In AK we don’t have ethanol added to the gas

What else should I do? Pull the spark plugs and fog oil each cylinder?

Or would you keep it operational and start it once a month? It will be snowed in so I won’t be able to drive it but could could idle and rev it.

 

Copied from the horse's mouth: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...entionally-powered-vehicles-1-6-months.33252/

 

Some sort of fuel stabilizer and a full tank of gas for storage is better than empty because it doesn't leave as much empty surface area for condensation to form from my understanding. Also good to run it for a bit after adding to get it circulated through the lines.

You probably don't need to fog the cylinders for just 6 months but you could if you wanted to. I store a car in the winters in NH and never fog it, but my dad and I do fog his boat. That sits for longer sometimes.

 

Ughhh thank you! My fault for just searching the 2nd gen forum. Nuke the thread. Hate being that guy

 

You have a good plan, seafoam and a full tank of gas, battery inside the house and give it a trickle charge sometime in that period. I wouldn't fog the cyls for that length of time.

 

pest control

 

^This. My Tacoma sits for several months during the off season. I spray rodent repellent under hood every month. It would be good to additionally put mouse traps or bait stations around the truck.

 

I'd use Sta-bil over Seafoam and run the truck so it gets through the whole system. Since you have non ethanol up there I would leave the tank full. If you didn't I'd do my best to run it dry. I can only get ethanol here and run my outboards dry of fuel before storage and don't fog them for the 6 months they are stored. I still treat the fuel before running them dry.

 

Six months is not a long time to store a vehicle. Honestly, the only thing I'd do is either pull the battery out or keep a trickle charger on it. Make sure you give it a long drive before you put it in its storage spot. Once there do not start it until you can be sure you can drive it a good long distance (at least 25 or more miles) in the spring or whenever. I have several older cars that I store regularly so I'm speaking from experience and I've never had an issue with stale gas or anything like that.

Another consideration is if it's soon due for an oil change, you should do that before you store it and before you take it for its pre-storage drive.

And, yes, agree totally about rodent/pest control if that's an issue where you are.

 

If you can drive your Tundra why can’t you ocassionally drive your Taco also? If it’s absolutely impossible to drive it during to winter then I agree with what vaca (above) says.

 

I’d put you battery on a tender,

 

Thanks for the additional replies. Rodent prevention is a great idea.
I love my taco. Bought it new and have done all the maintenance myself and here we are at 140k and no problems. It’s a forever vehicle for me and don’t want to sell it. Snow piles up here so that’s why she’ll be hanging out on the side of the house. Won’t be able to drive in over a 6ft + snow bank.

Putting it in “storage” on the insurances and firing it up come April makes the most sense. So thank you all for the input, won’t to keep her alive and well for many years to come!

 

I’d skip the Seafoam garbage and get fuel stabilizer
I don’t think fogging is a bad idea, however I would wait to use it until it’s ready to come out of storage.
I might add a cover and rodent protection, as well as checking tire air pressure to avoid flat spots

 

Yeah what -- uhh .. 6 months?! Not much to do.

If it was for 6 YEARS, then I'd take some of these proactive storage measures.

Honestly -- I have a 1999 beater Taco with 180K on on the ODO. My backup vehicle, sits parked in the carport forever.

All I ever do is start it up & drive it once a quarter or so. Well -- truth be told, I keep a NOCO™ battery maintainer on it. But that's all.

 

I agree with the folks that say not to start it while it is sitting idle. If for no other reason a warm engine will attract any critters that are around. Six months is not a long time: new and used cars sit on dealer lots for longer than that. For longer periods, I might remove the plugs and squirt a a few pumps of light engine into each cylinder.

 

Start it up and run it once a month for an hour, and roll it back a foot, then forward a foot the next month to avoid the brakes locking up

 

It’s only 6’ of snow if you do nothing all winter. If you plow/blow/shovel in front of the truck each time it snows just like you do your driveway it won’t be a problem. I’d keep your insurance on it and drive it once a week rather than letting it sit.

 

Idle and rev or drive it for extended time every few weeks, just dont forget and it doesnt take long is my suggestion. Have read bad things about Seafoam products.

 

Good advice in this video. Running it occasionally is a bad idea unless you're going to go and give it a good time long drive to get the oil temps and exhaust temps high enough to burn off any water created by combustion.

https://youtu.be/D7hvTWsLIP8?si=AJGIZWWsUvYSsdzc