Guys

buddy of mine and myself have an issue that arose, IT seems that our vehicles will be imobilized for a period of 15-16 weeks. Far as my cummins goes, i am certain that it will be moved once in a while, but the questions must still be asked..

two vehicles are in question, my buddy's 06 tundra, 4 door etc... (really nice btw) and my cummins.. What is the best way to leave these vehicles parked for such a long time if need be? Any fuel additives or stuff that must be added? should the trucks be lifted off the ground and on jackstands?

What about turning them on? should these vehicles be driven if at all possible? if so for how long? Hows about just turning them on and idling them? I know on a diesel its ok to a certain extent but what about on a gasser?

Im sure some of you guys have done this before, so any and all help will be appreciated

Many thanks in advance

Rick

 

best bet is to start them about every 2 weeks and drive them around a little.
I have a couple of trucks that I only use in the summer, about every 2 weeks I start them and just drive them on the driveways around here.

put some sta-bil in the gasser, can't hurt.

 

Our truck has set on the ground for several weeks in AZ summer. Not the best for it, but it started up ok and ran fine. Sometimes thing happen.

 

oh,

and I put some mouse bait blocks on the floor on the passengers side, wouldn't want the critters to go hungry!

 

My cummins was parked from the beginning of may , until the first week of august Last year, It was started up and driven around the yard a little every couple weeks , everything was fine , except the fuel , I forgot to put any sort of fuel additive in , and I had a problem with algae growth , I plugged 3 fuel filters the first week I had it on the road again, changed it twice since then with no problems , just preventative.

If there is not going to be anyone around that can start/move it for you , change the engine oil before you park it, put fresh fuel in with lots of conditioner ( one that will prevent algae) check all fluids , etc , put mouse poison in as has been mentioned, and dis-connect the batteries. Somewhere to store it inside would also be a plus if it is available.

 

If you can't get the vehicles moved for that 15 weeks, I would buy a drill powered oil pump primer...I use them before I fire a new engine, and if an engine sits for 15 weeks, there won't be any oil film left on the rockers, lifters, rings, bearings, and so on. They aren't expensive, and its easy peace of mind.

 

Throw a battery maintainer on them.

 

I work offshore so I leave my vehicle for 2 wks at a time every month. The thing I do is top off the fuel tank to fight any condensation in the fuel tank. I also use some fuel additive. But other than that I don't do anything. The oil primer is a great idea. I use synthetic so don't worry about it though. The gasser needs Sta-Bil for sure.

 

All the advice given so far is good Rick, but I would try to get someone to drive them a bit every couple of weeks if at all possible.

I would be happy to take care of yours for ya if you need me to

 

4 months of storage? No biggie, go near a Navy base - there are folks that store their vehicles a lot longer than that on a regular basis. Its been going on for years.

Growing up, we used to winterize our boats for the winter too. 4 months there as well. If they were fresh water cooled - drain the cooling water and fill with anti-freeze, change the oil, and fog the gasser engines down. Maybe some dissicant bags inside the cabin's.

If you can't find someone to warm it up and drive it periodically, treat the fuel and park it somewhere safe (indoors would be better). Battery tender not necessary but not a bad idea. Depending on what electrical loads are placed on your battery when its parked (alarms, radios...), disconnecting the battery will help them from discharging while you're gone, but will prove to be a hindrance if you want someone to start it up periodically. No need to worry about parking it on jacks, or on wood.

If you store it in a deserted barn etc to save some bucks, yeah, its been known that wildlife may find a home in it somewhere. I had a buddy whose beautiful interior in a 38 Cigarette was inhabited by a family of racoons - they apparently didn't like the decor too much and ripped it apart.

As long as you don't park it at the seashore, your truck will not desintegrate into a pile of rust in 16 weeks.

 

JKM I have a diesel Mercedes (1960) that has been sitting in bro-in-law's garage for 6-7 years.... is there any additive that I can put into that fuel to kill the algae, or do I just need to drop the tank and dump it? Gonna change the filters anyhow, just didn't want to drop the tank if I didn't have to. Think about it, the #2 that it has in it is about 7-8 years old and doesn't have all of the detergents that we have in our fuel today.
Just a question, I want to get it out and fix the gear shift linkage that parked it long ago...
Any help would be appreciated.

Hay

 

IF there is algae in there now , your going to have to drop the tank and clean it out. We have machines that sit all winter here , with no algae problems , but it is warm and moist here in the summer, I think that is why I had the algae grow in my tank when it doesn't in the machines.

You can try changing the FF , but if it keeps plugging your going to need to flush the system...

The algae will look almost like sawdust except that it floats, it will not be green.

 

Thanks for the help. I will probably get to it next weekend.... when we clean out the garage enough to back it out...

Hay

 

Good luck with the old girl, feel free to PM me any questions I might be able to answer.

 

Best I remember on the battery part of it was when I bought my truck new and was doing the walk around inspection with the guy at the dealership that does the final inspections with you I remember him saying something about a switch or something to pull or flip located close to drivers side battery, it was for in case the truck was setting for a long period of time.So you actually did not have to disconnect the cables.You might take a look in your owners manual to see about that. I never had to use it myself.

Tony