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Winter Storage Tips

Joined
2 October 2003
Messages
3,719
Location
NOTL, Ontario. Canada
As we come to the end of the driving season in Canada, here are some Winter Storage Tips for your NSX:


Here is a list of things that the NSX Owners should do before putting their NSX into storage for the winter.
- Clean and wash the car, and if possible, complete with a good Waxing before storage
- Apply a good quality leather conditioner on the seat and door leather surfaces
- Change the Oil and Filter, also include any maintenance items (Transmission, Brake and Clutch fluids replacements)
- Fill the Tank with good Quality Gas and pour in some fuel stabilizer into the Gas Tank. (Alternatively, the tank can be drained by using the drain plug at the base of the tank)
- Increase the pressure on the tires – 42 PSI Rear 36 PSI Front or (can be pumped as high as 50Psi on all wheels)
- Use dense foam or old carpet pieces 8”x 8”square to be placed under the tires during storage – this will prevent flat spots
- Place Bounce Dryer sheet in the Bonnet/Trunk/Engine areas to fend off any rodents
- Cover both the Dash and Seats with Old Blankets, this will keep the leather from drying out and to prevent the dash from cracking
- Install and connect a Battery Tender system in the car – By doing this you can keep the Alarm activated during Winter Storage
- Install Car cover
- I placed Winter tire Plastic bags over the four Wheels, to prevent moister /water/ salt from getting onto the brake disks
- Do not set the Hand or Emergency Brake – You will need to placed wheels chucks around the tires
- Place interior vents to the recirculation position

For those that drive their NSX all year long, these Tips do not apply.

Bram
 
Awesome, just what I was looking for. Thanks Bram.

Regarding the Battery Tenders, do they all work pretty much the same, or is there a brand/model that is recommended.
 
I have a question about bat trnder do you just connect it while bat is in the car and leave it under the hood or how does this go i am just afraid of fire or something hehr

Kther then that awesome post bounce sheets and stealwool in exhaust what i added to all of that :)))
 
Ray, yes, the Battery Tenders all work the same. The one that I have was purchased at Canadian Tire and it been working great since.

The tender is installed with the battery in the car, I fish the cables from under the car by the holes next to the Spare tire and connect the leads to the battery terminals. The main resason for keeping the battery in the car, is to keep the alarm system active.

Bram
 
The prior owner of my car kept a fresh bucket of DampRid in the cabin at all times even though the car was stored in a climate controlled garage. Seats are perfect & not dry, the dash looks/feels brand new w/no cracked piece in the center near the window, and the cabin has no bad odors - smells showroom new/fresh. Seeing the comment above about the leather conditioner & covering the dash & blankets to protect against drying out - sounds completely reasonable and good to me too but also sounds somewhat counter intuitive to what the prior owner of mine did. Can you expand upon the thought to cover the dash/seats, etc? Thx!
 
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I have been using (dry) blankets to cover the interior of my car for several years now. My thinking, is that the leather use to cover the seats is a natrual product and will dry-out during the Winter. although my garage does not get below 10C.
I also place several Silica gel packets (a desiccant, a substance that absorbs moisture) within the inside of the car to try and keep the moisture out, as much as possiable, especially for the Electronics items. I guess I forgot to mension this in the thread.

Hope this all helps.

Bram
 
All good now, thanks Bram! The yin & yang of some localized leather conditioner w/cabin humidity control makes better sense now. Wasn't doubting, was just seeking some clarification... I purchased from a thorough owner who's a flight maintenance director of a small hangar and he has some passionate thoughts about "storing" the car even between drives - he seemed pretty johnny on the spot with minimizing moisture by leaving a bucket of the Damprid in the cabin beetween drives but I don't know that he even touched the leather ever, and the seats look new, especially the passenger seat. He's unmarried and as we know, the NSX is not exactly a chick magnet so the passenger seat was likely pretty lonely from disuse for long stretches of time... Then again at 17.5k miles, the lack of heavy mileage was probably the best way to keep both seats looking unused !


Thx for the list & clarification. Soon as you have an unwanted extra conrod lying around that's otherwise going in the trash, let me know...I'll come visit my college girlfriend in Mississauga for a weekend and pick it up. :)
 
Yeah, when the Ti conrods are polished they look really good, hence the reason for putting it on a plaque. I don't have anymore, but if I get one I'll kep you in mind.

Bram
 
i compiled this from the recent threads on the p-car forums for you guys here.

- fuel stabilizer in 1st
- fill it up with Shell 91 as it has no ethanol in it
- Oil change
- 30min highway run to charge the battery beforehand since the tenders tend to only charge it to about 50%. (debatable im sure)
- Wash, wax & complete detail. In & out
- Dri-Z-Air pellets in the car
- inflate tires to 50 psi+ (or whatever your max tires spec states - some p-car owners push it to 58psi)
- for extra care against flat spots -> some drive on and off foam pads and/or put rubber mats/carpet underneath the tires
- for even extra care against flat spots push the car a foot back/forth every 3 weeks

- leave the car in neutral without the handbrake being on (im goign to assume youll need to put a few bricks behind/front of tires to ensure car wont move.
- Plug in the battery trickle charger
- Put duct tape over the exhaust pipes so mice/bug can't get inside

- Cover it and done
- lock the car (puts electronics on sleep mode)
- Turn off most insurance coverage.
- Don't start it till spring.

some people say do an oil change in the spring, saying you'll get some condensation over the winter, while others don't bother.... normally whatever gives you peace of mind in the end.
 
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Good stuff, especially the fuel choice info. Thanks for that.

I'm an engineer and worked in the auto industry, but as I get older and hopefully a little wiser each year, I'm learning that the more I learn, the less I know about some things. So only in a "Mythbusters" sense here and *not* to sound like a questioning jerk (honest):

Can anyone with actual tech experience or expertise confirm: is there really a benefit to changing oil before storage, especially if you haven't put too many months or miles on the oil currently in the engine? I can't help but think that a good hot run to temperature before storage -- especially with an engine having relatively "fresh" oil -- would actually be better than opening the filler cap & filter and likely letting moist air into the engine while changing the oil... In that case you'd want to do a good hot run anyway to distribute the new oil thru the system before storage which...should be little different than doing that if the existing oil is still "fresh," etc....

I have similar questions about parking on a piece of carpet or rubber - thinking the bigger bang for the buck there is providing some amount of moisture barrier between the garage floor & tire and less so for any significant reduction in contact pressure & increase in contact patch when on a thin piece of carpet or rubber, but...it's Friday and I'm late for leaving for Philly to go pick up my 5-spoke OEM Type-R wheels (woo hoo!) so that's it for now.

C'mon true experts - let's confirm. (not being a d*ck, to repeat...) Just trying to verify some true science here and possibly save a few people around $25-40 on a possibly unnecessary oil change. Of course if doing some of this just makes you show your NSX how much you love it, just like doing synthetic oil changes every 4000 miles of non-severe driving, then by all means, right!?). TGIF
 
I don't think all of that is necessary, but none of it will do damage.

FWIW, I never changed fluids before putting the car away for the winter. I did the oil change (and usually brake fluid) once it came out in spring. I never used fuel stabilizer either.

I also never bothered with carpet pieces. Flat spots? Highly temporary; for about the first block I drove after taking it out in spring, the tires seemed lumpy, then immediately became normal after that.

Tires typically lose about 1 psi per month just sitting, so you can overinflate in fall, or add air in spring.

I never covered anything with blankets, although I used a car cover.

This was my routine for 21 winters with the NSX, and it all worked fine, never had a problem due to winter storage.

Incidentally, for about the first 18 winters, I had an onboard automatic battery charger, mounted next to the battery in the car, and had an extension cord draped across the floor. When that finally gave up the ghost, I replaced it with a normal, external battery charger; I installed a cord between the battery terminals and the front grille of the NSX, ending in pigtails which mated with pigtails I installed on the end of the battery charger terminals. That approach was much easier than having to remove the spare tire and reach down to find the extension cord under the car. Whatever kind of charger you get - onboard or external - make sure it has an automatic function, so that once the battery is charged, it shuts off, thereby preventing overcharging of the battery.
 
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Good stuff. I've heard some people say to leave the gas tank empty while others say full. So not sure which method is actually best.
 
ur not being a d*ck at all. its merely what i compiled.

- my oil change will happen to be fresh just by chance due to mileage
- will throw some additive and a tank of gas as well
- ill air up the tires, maybe throw some carpets underneath
- unless my car is completely disgusting i may not even washing it... ive waxed it twice this year thus far.
- ill throw some garbage bags with elastics around the exhuast tips (after they have been completely cooled off)
- trickle charger + cover

i actually think half that stuff is overkill despite the fact that ive never stored a car before.... sometimes i feel that there is a myth is that the second you stop driving your car, itll start to rot.

i can understand more if the car was in hot/humid/rainy weather and if car not stored inside away from the elements, but inside a garage should be pretty dry not to mention we're talking freezing cold cdn weather.

Good stuff, especially the fuel choice info. Thanks for that.

I'm an engineer and worked in the auto industry, but as I get older and hopefully a little wiser each year, I'm learning that the more I learn, the less I know about some things. So only in a "Mythbusters" sense here and *not* to sound like a questioning jerk (honest):

Can anyone with actual tech experience or expertise confirm: is there really a benefit to changing oil before storage, especially if you haven't put too many months or miles on the oil currently in the engine? I can't help but think that a good hot run to temperature before storage -- especially with an engine having relatively "fresh" oil -- would actually be better than opening the filler cap & filter and likely letting moist air into the engine while changing the oil... In that case you'd want to do a good hot run anyway to distribute the new oil thru the system before storage which...should be little different than doing that if the existing oil is still "fresh," etc....

I have similar questions about parking on a piece of carpet or rubber - thinking the bigger bang for the buck there is providing some amount of moisture barrier between the garage floor & tire and less so for any significant reduction in contact pressure & increase in contact patch when on a thin piece of carpet or rubber, but...it's Friday and I'm late for leaving for Philly to go pick up my 5-spoke OEM Type-R wheels (woo hoo!) so that's it for now.

C'mon true experts - let's confirm. (not being a d*ck, to repeat...) Just trying to verify some true science here and possibly save a few people around $25-40 on a possibly unnecessary oil change. Of course if doing some of this just makes you show your NSX how much you love it, just like doing synthetic oil changes every 4000 miles of non-severe driving, then by all means, right!?). TGIF

awesome thank you!

Incidentally, for about the first 18 winters, I had an onboard automatic battery charger, mounted next to the battery in the car, and had an extension cord draped across the floor. When that finally gave up the ghost, I replaced it with a normal, external battery charger; I installed a cord between the battery terminals and the front grille of the NSX, ending in pigtails which mated with pigtails I installed on the end of the battery charger terminals. That approach was much easier than having to remove the spare tire and reach down to find the extension cord under the car. Whatever kind of charger you get - onboard or external - make sure it has an automatic function, so that once the battery is charged, it shuts off, thereby preventing overcharging of the battery.
 
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Guys, these are just tips that you can use before putting the car into storage, some Folks may find these useful other's may think it's not worth the effort. Collectively, these are all great suggestions and may help some folks.

With respect to changing the oil and filter before storing the car.....I look at it this way, if you have "Old oil" in the engine you will have some acid and other chemical build-up in the engine during this period, and who know's what the long term effect these will have on the internals of the engine (I'm not a Chemical Engineer). Come Spring when you start the car for the first time after several months, you now have new oil being pumped over all the internals.

My two cents.

Bram
 
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Winter Storage Tips

theory-vs-reality.jpg

I think I'm leaning a little towards Ken's side.

I'll do an oil change and fluids in the winter, but some of the other stuff is a little too OCD for me. Theory vs reality on that stuff. :)

But then again, it never goes into complete hibernation. Clear, dry cold day I'll still taker her out to just so it's not sitting for months straight.
 
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I do an oil change before I park it for the winter. Give it a good wash using dish soap (removes all the wax) . Fill up the gas tank and add the appropriate amount of Sta-bil. I use to cover it but I realized I like to look at it all winter. Oh yea, I keep my garage at 70 degrees.
 
Just a general FYI, I picked up a large container of sta-bil tonight from Canadian tire for $10.49. It was the largest size they had and will treat up to 80 gallons (+/-320 litres), so I should be set until the spring of 2017.
 
Most of the above is not necessary but doable if "you" want to...........fill it, stabilize it, park it, cover it and I put in on jack stands. No need to change perfectly good oil before and after winter if you still have life left in it.........Been doing the same routine for 14 yrs and like NSXTASY never an issue with anything. If you're happy doing a 25 point check list, then do it no differently if you do absolutely nothing it will still be the same come spring...........the car is happy either way, "you" on the other hand needs to be comfortable.
 
For 22 years I've done the following.
Like Ken I ran extension wires from the battery through the rad support to the front. I plug in my battery charger on a 2 amp auto shut off trickle and leave it for the winter.
I fill the gas tank to minimize condensation.
I treat the leather seats and leave the windows open a few inches to allow some air circulation and put on my oem car cover.
I change the oil etc. in the spring.
Never had a problem come springtime start-up.
 
With respect to changing the oil and filter before storing the car.....I look at it this way, if you have "Old oil" in the engine you will have some acid and other chemical build-up in the engine during this period, and who know's what the long term effect these will have on the internals of the engine (I'm not a Chemical Engineer). Come Spring when you start the car for the first time after several months, you now have new oil being pumped over all the internals.

Bram
I've thought about the effect of residual acid and other impurities in the oil sitting over a winter and what damage they might do.
I think the impurities in the main oil sit in the pan and has no effect on the engine.
The rest of the impurities are thinly spread in the oil film in the upper engine.
Technically to remove these impurities you would need to flush the upper engine or put in new oil and a filter and run the engine to put new oil in the upper engine and dilute the impurities.
Then you'd need to dump this now somewhat dirty oil and do another change to have the cleanest oil possible for the winter.

This seems like a lot of work and expense to remove the small amount of impurities in the upper engine film so I don't bother.
However you may be right in the effect of these impurities.
NSX engines do seem to last a long time and failures seem to be more related to mods and driving habits than that little bit of oil in the upper engine
Does this make sense?
 
Just a general FYI, I picked up a large container of sta-bil tonight from Canadian tire for $10.49. It was the largest size they had and will treat up to 80 gallons (+/-320 litres), so I should be set until the spring of 2017.

I don't think it's meant to have that kind of shelf-life. You may want to look into a stabilizer for your stabilizer to ensure it maintains its ability to stabilize.
 
^LOL.

I plan on doing this - Changing the oil, but only because it is due in a couple hundred miles.

Putting a battery tender on it, simply because its cheaper than buying a new battery come spring and less hassle than fighting battery problems.

Putting the car on jack stands to alleviate the possibility of flat spots in the tires, and also because I have 8 pairs of stands and it will get a couple out of my way.

Filling the tank completely and putting stabilizer in it.

Conditioning the leather - Mainly because I haven't since I bought the car... this more than likely will not be a yearly step toward storage.

I also intend on going out in the garage and starting the car every couple/three weeks, just to keep things moving and lubricated.

My garage is heated so I'm not overly worried about anything getting so cold it freezes or cracks the leather/dashboard. I keep the car in a climate controlled garage at all times when it isn't driven so it should remain good to go for years to come. Annnnd, I know I don't have mice in there either. I'll still put the vents on recirc to be safe and probably throw some bounce sheets in it to keep it smelling fresh if anything (it already smells like a new car inside).

As much as I love Montana, the 5+ mos of winter suck in some aspects...
 
I have read on multiple forums and threads on Prime that putting the car on jacks for long periods of time is not good cor the suspension.
 
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