trucks not going to be driven for a few months, what needs to be done?

[Dropt72Shortbed]

sounds like a dumb question but ive been starting my truck once a week while dismantling the front clip. ive now got the radiator core support off so i dont plan on starting it again for another 6 months or so until ive got the front bagged and the engine compartment detailed.

do i need to drain the oil out the engine? anything else i should do? what about the gas in the tank? i have no working gas guage so i have no clue how much is in there.

[Burlinator]

if you ever wanna fire it up just pull out the thermostat and stuff the ol garden hose in there

[mrein3]

Your biggest problem is going to be the gasoline if there is any ethanol in it. Get a product like Stabil and treat your gas according to the directions on the bottle.

When the time comes to fire it up again I pull the coil wire and use the starter to spin the engine until the oil pressure comes up. When you have pressure (oil light goes off or pressure guage says something) hook up the coil wire, pour a drop or two of gas in the carb, and start it up. Change the oil and filter and you should be good to go.

[JimKshortstep4x4]

We have been storing cars for years when winter hits and this is what we do for the engines. We run them until the engine and exhaust system are up to temperature and then we pour motor oil in the engine's carburetor while maintaining a fast idle
until smoke starts coming out of the exhaust. Once the smoke starts we dump more oil in and kill the engine. It usually takes 1/2 quart of oil per engine. In the spring when the engine is started it will smoke until the oil is burned out, (including the exhaust system) for 15-20 minutes or longer.

The oil coats everything including the inside of the exhaust system. We have done this for a long time and the engines have held up well. There is no problem starting the engines in the spring after sitting for (6) months.

Jim

[chevy72402]

Originally posted by mrein3
Your biggest problem is going to be the gasoline if there is any ethanol in it. Get a product like Stabil and treat your gas according to the directions on the bottle.

This is a flat out false statement! I have stored my 72 w/402 bb for over 6 months and had no problems when I walk over to the hanger that it sits in and fire it right up mrein3 is stuck in the 80's with his thinking about ethanol.

[Patrick Sullivan]

Gas does indeed begin to go "stale", break down, gum up after a while. Don't know the chemical reasons for it, it just does. I don't imagine it's real good stuff to be running through your engine.. if it'll even start.. my biggest worry would be it gumming up in your float bowl(s) and blocking jets.

[mrein3]

Originally posted by chevy72402


This is a flat out false statement! I have stored my 72 w/402 bb for over 6 months and had no problems when I walk over to the hanger that it sits in and fire it right up mrein3 is stuck in the 80's with his thinking about ethanol.

Actually I do know what I'm talking about. I have personally seen numerous vehicles, outboard motors, snow blowers, lawn mowers, and roto tillers ALL WITH ETHANOL RELATED PROBLEMS! You can tell me what you think you know but that won't change what I know and have personally observed.

How come EVERY marine mechanic says,
"Just don't put ethanol in it"
when talking about outboard motors?

You probably can get by for 6 months but why take the chance on something you care for and would like to keep in good shape? Especially when you can treat a whole tank (20 gallons) of ethanol for $2?!?

Make sure after you treat the gas that you run it for a while so you get the treated gas in the carb bowl. That is where you get the problems.

Or you could just listen to the corn lobby and leave the crap gas to sit and rust in your carb.

[chevy72402]

so I am the corn lobby?? nice. I thought last time it was welfare??? I tell you what how about the next time you want to go hunting on a farmers land you tell him your opinion about corn and about farmers being on welfare!! see how far that will get you.

Sorry to take away from your post but this guy and his liberal agenda against ethanol bugs the heck out of me. I guess he would rather support Iraq. So go ahead and wave you Saddam flag mrein3. I would rather support americans even if you think that it is welfare. I know how much we pay in taxes every year to support people on welfare so I guess it just comes back to us in a different form. I'll tell you another thing. you think it is welfare come on out to our farm/ranch and work the hours I have worked this summer,work with cattle and dirt. Get out from behind your little desk and your ac office. do a hard days work for a year and tell me its welfare.

Trust me I ain't complaining about farming or ranching I think that it is good HONEST work but when someone tries to take away from it like he has in the past that bugs me.

Back to the question at hand!!!

make sure your tires are all inflated and if you have any mice problems put moth balls in your truck!!!!!

[mrein3]

Originally posted by chevy72402
Sorry to take away from your post but this guy and his liberal agenda against ethanol bugs the heck out of me. I guess he would rather support Iraq.

chevy72402 is missing the point. We'll have to agree to disagree on ethanol. I want ethanol to work. I use it where it makes sense. It DOES NOT make sense to use it in stuff that sits around. My daily driver gets ethanol. The wife's Exploder gets ethanol. My truck gets ethanol because it gets used more often than not. My boat, snow blower, lawn mowers, weed whip, and Chevelles don't get a drop of ethanol. Never will.

BTW, the liberal point of view on the ethanol subject is to be for the corporate welfare we pay to the big ethanol producers who pay farmers $2.95/bushel for corn to turn it into ethanol at a cost of $1.50 to $1.90 per gallon to sell to me for $1.39 per gallon at the pump.

Every year the American worker bails out the farmer through high taxes. There is no welfare in the latest farm bill. RIGHT! Who is gonna bail my rear end out if I lose my job? Farmers? Not likely.

Liberal? WOW!

[chevy72402]

hmm. do you own your business?? do you have the government looking over your shoulders telling you what you can and can't do with your land? come pay our farms TAXES for a year then tell me that you bail us out.

And it is the LIBERAL view look at what this states stupid democratic senator is doing by obstructing Bush from going to war with Sadam. I know more republicans that are for this then democrats because the democrats are sitting in their offices. not out in the great outdoors. granted I do know a few democrats in this profession that are democrats. but they work the dairy end of it. maybe I'll argue with ya later right now I am going to go to my welfare job. oh yeah try working 14 hours a day and have someone call that welfare. see how well that fits with you!

[Gene]

Wow this went from a storage question to an all out farmer vs. city boy war! Hey guys, I hate to butt in but I have say that if not for our farmers we would all be in bad shape! I am a mill worker in the city so I am not biased... We should do all we possibly can to ensure that the farmers do not go under, if that means we as taxpayers have to pay a little more in taxes..so be it. Hell I would rather help out a farmer than pay for another friggin turnpike!!

Come on guys! This is a truck board not a political one? Let's talk trucks and leave this other crap to the politicians..

[johnnyp]

Hey, I'm from Nebraska, so I'll leave the ethanol issue alone. But, here's some good advice from the Guild of Automotive Restorers.

Once you have found the right spot to store your car in for the winter, you shouldn’t just drive it in, lock the door and walk away. Although it does not take long to prepare your car for winter storage many don’t do it and there can be some very negative results, especially over several winters.

In this column I’ll outline the several steps you should take when you put the car up.

Most of you will have unheated storage with concrete floors. There is nothing wrong with this as long as a couple of small precautions are taken.

First, jack the car up and put it on stands. Do not put it on the frame though, put the stands on the axles or control arms so that the weight of the car is still on the suspension. I have seen cars standing over winter on their frames with their suspensions dangling at full extension. This is not good for the car.

The idea of getting the car up on stands serves two purposes. It gets the weight of the car off of the tires so that they don’t develop flat spots, and it gets the car a little further from the ground allowing less condensation to occur and letting any that does develop during rapid temperature changes to dry off faster.

Your cooling system should be checked and antifreeze added to bring the freeze point to around fifty below. Run the car when you do this, don’t just top up the rad with antifreeze. If you don’t run the car long enough the thermostat won’t open allowing circulation through the motor which means that your car’s motor may not be protected from freezing.

Leave the windows down about an inch. This will let fresh air circulate and keep the interior dry and fresh smelling.

You should store the car with a full tank of gas and you can purchase gas stabilizer from most auto supply stores. The gas stabilizer will stop the additives in the gas from precipitating and keep it from varnishing and gumming up your carburetor.

A lot of people feel that the car should have an oil change before it goes away but I feel that you are better off changing the oil in the spring. The reason for this is that during the winter, rapid temperature changes occur when the sun heats a building which has dropped too far below zero during the night. The temperature change causes condensation both on the outside and on the inside of your motor. Changing the oil in the spring will eliminate any buildup of water in your crankcase and in the pan. Believe it or not I have seen many oil pans which have rusted from the inside out because condensation has formed and the water builds up on the bottom of the pan under the oil, then starts pinholing the pan.

What you can do is overfill your motor with oil when you put the car away so that the crank is actually submerged in oil. Just remember to drain it in the spring.

You can use storage preservatives in the motor as well if you are inclined to go that far but for what really just a short term lay up it is not absolutely required. These sprays are found at automotive and marine suppliers and can be sprayed into the carb or into the cylinders. If you are in an area where you get a lot of condensation and humidity then you may want to use preservative sprays. These sprays are more than just W.D.40. They are formulated to cling to the metal surfaces over the long term. Penetrating oil does not do this.

Chrome can be protected by using a thin layer of vegetable oil on it or by spraying it with a preservative spray. Now a small caution here. I know that vegetable oil will not harm paint work but I do not know about all the various preservative sprays. Check the label before using a preservative near paint work or on vinyl.

There are a few critters which can play havoc with your stored car as well. Although I did mention mice and steps to defeat them in the last column, I’ll just add a couple more problem creatures to the list here.

Mice and rats are both prime destroyers of car interiors, which they move into to get out of the cold and which they rip apart to create their nests.

Squirrels do the same thing, and if anything can be even more destructive, but they rarely choose a car to live in over trees or attics. The exception to this seems to be in the upper stories of barns where I have discovered a few nesting squirrels in cars. Chipmunks will also move into a car, usually if it is stored outside, although they don’t seem to be quite as destructive and dirty as mice and rats.

Raccoons will take advantage of a car that they can get into and they make the biggest mess. They will eat leather and completely strip seats and headliners to make themselves a comfortable winter lodge. The cars that they will usually take advantage of are convertibles and the old touring cars which of course are open to them, having no windows.

Pigeons can make a mess of a convertible roof and their droppings on a car’s paint can leave discoloration and rings which cannot be buffed off. If there is a chance that pigeons or any other birds have access to the storage building make sure that the car is covered in a waterproof cover which you can launder at the end of the storage season.

Insects are rarely a problem in our temperate climes because of course they are dormant through the winter. The same cannot be said of storage in more southerly environments, but that is another story.

You should also top up all other fluids such as power steering and, more importantly, the master cylinder with brake fluid, once again to cut down on condensation.

Last but not least, the battery. If it is a six volt your best bet is to take it out of the car and store it in a cool basement on wood, not on a concrete floor or on a steel shelf which will gradually trickle discharge the battery. Make sure that you keep it charged during the winter although do not overcharge it, which will eliminate the battery's ability to hold a charge. Once or twice on an overnight trickle charge should suffice and make sure that it is full of water before you charge it.

Twelve volt batteries are not quite as sensitive. You can leave them in the car, just take one of the cables off to ensure that the car won’t drain the battery and also make sure that the battery has a full charge before you disconnect it. You can during the course of the winter put a charger on it once or twice but you will usually find that it is not necessary.

That pretty much covers it. There really isn’t a lot of preparation required but the small amount that it does take to lay the car up over winter can save you lots of problems later on.

[Dean]

You can probably get buy without doing much for six months, but more than that is a different story. I agree with the oil down the carb while running. We have done the for many years. Something has to be done with the gas also. And don't just dump the Stabil in the tank and leave it. You have to run it thru the whole system. That gas will ruin alot of stuff over time. I have thrown away two carbs that were completely ate up. I also had to buy a Honda ATV carb for the same reason. Some idiot parked in and let it set for 2 years as is.

Just my 2 cents............

93 posts...almost there....whew been a struggle

[Dropt72Shortbed]

ok guys, so go buy a gas stabilizer AND pour how much oil down the carb while its running? just enough for the motor to cut out?

[mrein3]

Be careful with dumping oil down the carb. If you pour too much in and it makes it to the cylinder in the liquid state things may break on the compression stroke.

Every fall I winterize my outboard motor with "engine fogging oil". The process on my 1996 Johnson was to put the dog ears on, pull the cowl, start it up, hook the oil to a fitting on the engine and spray away. I haven't had to do it yet but I'm guessing my 2002 Bomb-ba-deer (Evinrude) has the same process.

Has anybody tried spraying marine fogging oil in the carb?