Winter car storage checklist

[eljay]

While most of us are driving our B6 beauties daily and throughout winter, some are too nice to drive and get stored. As well, you may have another car that you are storing for winter.
So, I thought I'd post my winter storage checklist I follow for that summer ride that I found and tweaked slightly. The checklist I follow is pretty much identical to this article I just found on Wheels.ca.

Winter Storage Procedure

1. Change oil and filter. If you are nearing your coolant and brake fluid flush intervals, do them now as well to have fresh fluids in.
2. Fill the tank with fresh fuel from a top quality station using high octane (no alcohol if you can help it).
3. Go for that last short brisk drive to burn off any moisture anywhere.
4. Use a gas preservative/stabilizer such as STA-BIL. After you put the fuel stabilizer into the tank, let it idle for 5 mins to distribute it throughout the entire fuel system.
5. Wash and wax your car right before storing it. Make sure it is fully dry in all the crevices.
6. Clean your interior and vacuum it out, use leather cleaner/conditioner and vinyl cleaner/conditioner as required. Treat all rubber with a good rubber cleaner/conditioner. Do NOT use water on the carpets/seats right before storage, or you risk mold and mildew developing.
7. Put an open box of baking soda inside the car on the passenger side floor or other suitable place. This absorbs excess moisture in the air. A large bag of desiccant gel works as well.
8. Over-inflate your tires. Over-inflating does NOT mean going over the max psi printed on the sidewall! Never do that, but you can come close. I use 45psi. This reduces flat spots on the tires. They will still happen, but will be smaller and you will recover from them faster in the spring this way.
9. To stop moisture from getting under the car put a couple layers of plastic sheeting under the entire car and several feet either side/ends. If you store it in a heated dry facility, this may not be necessary.
10. Park the car with some hard cardboard or plywood under the tires to put a tiny bit of space between the tires and cold concrete. Do not store the car on jack stands with wheels hanging! You risk damage to your suspension components if you do.
11. Make sure the handbrake is disengaged to prevent pads from sticking to rotors over the storage period. Put blocks under tires to prevent the car from rolling. You can leave it in gear. It should be parked on a level surface anyway.
12. Put the system on max a/c for a couple of seconds before shutting off to close the outside vent. If the garage is heated, crack the windows open a little bit to allow air circulation.
13. Put steel wool in the tailpipes and air intake duct at the front to prevent any critters from treating your car as a luxury winter accommodation. This is especially important in unattended facilities.
14. Connect a quality battery tender to your battery. It is not necessary to take it out of the car nor disconnect it. If you do, take the usual steps to be ready once you reconnect it, like having a radio code ready.
15. Leave yourself a sticky note on the dash or steering wheel to remind yourself to undo some of your steps above in the spring like: disconnect battery tender, take out the steel wool from the pipes/intake duct, remove baking soda, adjust tire pressure, remove wheel blocks.
16. Cover the car with a high-quality car cover made for your car. Low quality covers will scratch you paint, trap dirt and moisture underneath and are many times worse than not using one at all.
17. Kiss your ride goodnight for a few months.

IMPORTANT: Do not start your car while it is stored unless you plan to actually go for an extended drive and get it fully warmed up and burn off moisture that will happen with a cold engine start-up. If you do, repeat the procedure above. You may be tempted to do so on a sunny dry day in winter, but keep in mind all the dust and salt on the road that you will collect and bring it back with you from that ride. Simply, don't do it.

Hope this helps. If any corrections are needed, please let me know.

[redline380]

I have some issues with this.

1. Hell no! Keep that oil in it. Change first thing in Spring. Condensation will sit in there all winter long. Best to give it fresh stuff in the spring. And it would be a waste to change it when going into storage and when coming out.
2. Hell no! Run that tank as dry as you can. Why would you want 5 month old gas in the spring? Fill it up in spring to give it fresh stuff.
14. Screw that, just pull the battery. Odds are if this car is going into storage for the winter, it is going to freeze out. If the battery drains, that too will freeze and it will be junk in the spring. Best to simply pull it and place it inside over the cold months.

[ADCS]

I have some issues with this.

1. Hell no! Keep that oil in it. Change first thing in Spring. Condensation will sit in there all winter long. Best to give it fresh stuff in the spring. And it would be a waste to change it when going into storage and when coming out.
2. Hell no! Run that tank as dry as you can. Why would you want 5 month old gas in the spring? Fill it up in spring to give it fresh stuff.
14. Screw that, just pull the battery. Odds are if this car is going into storage for the winter, it is going to freeze out. If the battery drains, that too will freeze and it will be junk in the spring. Best to simply pull it and place it inside over the cold months.

1. Yes change oil. You do not want old oil that has already absorbed some moisture sitting in the engine. With no heat cycles you won't get new moisture ingress.
2. No real comment but i would probably keep the tank full.
14. Pull the battery and do what? Leaving it sit somewhere else will still cause it to drain.... leaving it in the car on a trickle charger will prevent the water mixture from freezing.

[redline380]

1. Yes change oil. You do not want old oil that has already absorbed some moisture sitting in the engine. With no heat cycles you won't get new moisture ingress.
2. No real comment but i would probably keep the tank full.
14. Pull the battery and do what? Leaving it sit somewhere else will still cause it to drain.... leaving it in the car on a trickle charger will prevent the water mixture from freezing.

1. Okay, that's your opinion.
2. Not sure why you would buy $35 in gas just to have it sit all winter long.
14. Batteries don't drain sitting. Pulled mine last fall, let it sit in a spare room, put it in the car in spring without charging, fired right up.

[MCT9891]

Although I don't know the physics behind it, I was always told to keep a full tank when winterizing my bikes (and I do). Something about condensation build up, you don't want water in the tank, so I'd agree with the OP on this one.

[redline380]

Although I don't know the physics behind it, I was always told to keep a full tank when winterizing my bikes (and I do). Something about condensation build up, you don't want water in the tank, so I'd agree with the OP on this one.

There's already a boat load of water in gas. That's why they make this stuff for us Northern's where it can actually get cold enough to freeze the water in gas lines.

[eljay]

I'm assuming the car is stored in a heated (above freezing) garage.

Ideally, one would change oil before and then again after storage. But unless it's a collectible Ferrari, that's overkill. The next best thing is to change it before storage, so the contaminated fluid is not sitting on all the wear surfaces in the engine for 5 months and are coated with fresh oil instead.

Regarding gas sitting in the tank for 5 months, that's exactly why I put STA-BIL in it, so it stays fresh. An empty tank in winter with swinging temperatures is not ideal, especially, in most garages where one car is stored and another driven and the door is open/closed and temperature goes up and down frequently. Moisture will build-up on the inside of the tank walls. So, while there's already water in gas, why add more. It's the same reason why it's not ideal to drive with near empty tank during winter. It should be kept full or above half, if possible to avoid the same issue.