Winter Storage

[peterbrown77]

But why? The oil drains to the sump anyway, it's not like having a full sump is going to protect the cylinder walls, chains, lifters, etc.....and the old oil contains acids anyway and will just form sludge won't it? I was thinking of adding stabilizer, fogging the engine, draining the oil, and stuffing some oily rags in the exhaust pipes...

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by peterbrown77

....."and the old oil contains acids anyway and will just form sludge won't it?"

You just answered your own question as to what you should be doing; you should change the oil and filter before putting the car up. I don't know what you read, but several decades of experience says that article is nonsense...........

[Overdrive]

Originally Posted by JFP in PA

You just answered your own question as to what you should be doing; you should change the oil and filter before putting the car up. I don't know what you read, but several decades of experience says that article is nonsense...........

I agree with JFP's suggestion here. If you're concerned about putting the car up with contaminated oil, just change it right before putting it up, and unless you're really not going to touch the car whatsoever over the dormant period, just take the car out for a drive when you get the opportunities of nice days over the winter, and that way it doesn't sit totally unmoved and unlubed until that lone startup at the beginning of spring.

And even if you do decide not to run the car at all over the winter, I really doubt a fresh fill of good synthetic is going to get completely ruined over a winter of sitting. I'm not an oil expert by any means, but I have to imagine more than one source would be up in arms about it if it was really that big of a concern that it could cause some sort of damage.