car storage.

[rossco]

I'm planning on putting a car of mine away in long term storage in my parents garage. Before i do is there anything i should do before i put it in there, and what about when i bring it out again (like in maybe a year or two).

Also.... as a new turbo owner, is there any general maintenance or regular servicing that needs to be done to turbochargers?

cheers all.
rossco.

[pidge]

The usual things done before storing an car are:

- Coolant system flush and fluid change.
- Engine Flush and oil change.
- Brake system flush and fluid change. (could be skipped)
- Clutch system flush and fluid change. (could be skipped)
- A damned good clean.

This is to make sure no significant amount of corrissives in the coolant and oil are present, and there is a minimum amount of water in the brake fluid in the Brake and clutch hydrolics (non-silicon based brake fluid is hydroscopic - it quite happily absorbs water - which eventually leads to steel brake lines rusting from the inside out...)

Once you've parked your car up:

- Jack it up and put it on blocks. This prevents flat spots on the tyres.
- Disconnect the battery and remove from the car.
- Make sure the handbrake is not applied.
- Drain the fuel tank.

When you come to take the car out of the garage:

- Charge up the battery (you probably should do this once every few months), and but back in the car.
- Check the tyre pressures. If any tyres are grossly under inflated (less that say 20psi), pump up the tyre.
- Check that the brakes and clutch work, and that the wheels turn freely out of gear with he brakes off.
- Put the Handbrake on and take the car off the blocks.
- Pump up the tyres.
- Roll out of storage
- Check all fluids - coolant level, engine oil, brake and clutch.
- Take out the spark plugs and squirt a few cc's of light oil in each cylinder around the cylinder walls, wait a few minutes, then turn over the engine by hand. This is to make sure there's some upper cylinder lubrication - any oil that was there will have drained away!
- Crank the car for about 15 seconds. This is to prime the oil pump.
- Put the spark plugs back in.
- Fuel the car up.
- Start the engine. Watch out for smoke from the oil you've just put into the cylinders!
- Check that the oil pressure light goes out/oil pressure reads OK.
- Go for a short drive to make sure things seem right.

[solberg Fan]

I think you should turn the engine over every once and a while, get the oil moving around. it should keep things from coroding( spelling??). Thats what i do, but im sure someone else will have a few diffrent ideas. You dont have to start it, just get the oil pressure up.
Ive also herd about people pooring a little oil into the cylinder and turning it over with the spark plugs out to coat the bore with oil.
Our local garrage reckens that turbos should have an oil change every 5000Ks and a filter every 10,000Ks.

[rossco]

cheers guys. i love you both.