Winter Storage

Jim, this is your advice for the spring:

"You can do this in one of two ways. First, if a Manual, put the car in Neutral and push it back a few feet. Then, place the gearshift in 5th gear and push the car forward, this will rotate the engine. If you run out of room, say in a garage, go to neutral again and repeat procedure so you're sure one complete revolution of the engine has occured. This will loosen any frozen engine parts (such as rings, chains, etc.), without the extreme torque of the starter motor. This torque is so great that it can tear rings or do other damage. If you have a TipS car, take a large socket on a breaker bar and turn the crankshaft pulley bolt clockwise to rotate the engine. "


I still don't get this! Can I do this on my own, or will I need to enlist the help of the Chicago Bear's front line to push my car?? Can I have the car in 5th or 6th gear and push the car backwards...down the driveway?? Or do I need to really go forwards?

OK, what if I store the car with the battery maintainer (I am not taking the battery out) and lock the car so the alarm is on. In the Spring, if I open the doors with the key (since the fob won't work with that much time past) how do I get the car pushed in gear to get one or two engine revolutions before the alarm turns on, because the car was not started soon enought with the key??

Thanks!

[MNBoxster]

Originally Posted by bmussatti

Jim, this is your advice for the spring:

"You can do this in one of two ways. First, if a Manual, put the car in Neutral and push it back a few feet. Then, place the gearshift in 5th gear and push the car forward, this will rotate the engine. If you run out of room, say in a garage, go to neutral again and repeat procedure so you're sure one complete revolution of the engine has occured. This will loosen any frozen engine parts (such as rings, chains, etc.), without the extreme torque of the starter motor. This torque is so great that it can tear rings or do other damage. If you have a TipS car, take a large socket on a breaker bar and turn the crankshaft pulley bolt clockwise to rotate the engine. "


I still don't get this! Can I do this on my own, or will I need to enlist the help of the Chicago Bear's front line to push my car?? Can I have the car in 5th or 6th gear and push the car backwards...down the driveway?? Or do I need to really go forwards?

OK, what if I store the car with the battery maintainer (I am not taking the battery out) and lock the car so the alarm is on. In the Spring, if I open the doors with the key (since the fob won't work with that much time past) how do I get the car pushed in gear to get one or two engine revolutions before the alarm turns on, because the car was not started soon enought with the key??

Thanks!

Hi,

You can push the car in 5th or 6th - this gives you the greatest mechanical advantage, to try it in 1st, you'd have to go all Ahhhhnold on it. Without a Timing Belt, you could push the car either way, but forward turns the engine in it's proper direction, not a big deal either way w/ no TB.

If you keep the alarm on all winter (which I don't recommend), you'll be drawing considerable power from the battery and make the Maintainer work alot harder (maybe more than it was intended for, the battery too for that matter. But, so far as the Key Fob is concerned, it's the Car's Alarm, not the Key which goes dormant. You don't need to start the car to reinitialize it, all you need to do is unlock the car with the key, that will wake up the car's Alarm to accept the Key Fob signal. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

PS It should read - First, if a Manual, put the car in Neutral and push it back a few feet. Then, place the gearshift in 5th gear and push the car forward, this will rotate the engine. If you run out of room, say in a garage, go to neutral again, push the car backward, and repeat procedure so you're sure one complete revolution of the engine has occured.

Originally Posted by MNBoxster

Hi,

You can push the car in 5th or 6th - this gives you the greatest mechanical advantage, to try it in 1st, you'd have to go all Ahhhhnold on it. Without a Timing Belt, you could push the car either way, but forward turns the engine in it's proper direction, not a big deal either way w/ no TB.

If you keep the alarm on all winter (which I don't recommend), you'll be drawing considerable power from the battery and make the Maintainer work alot harder (maybe more than it was intended for, the battery too for that matter. But, so far as the Key Fob is concerned, it's the Car's Alarm, not the Key which goes dormant. You don't need to start the car to reinitialize it, all you need to do is unlock the car with the key, that will wake up the car's Alarm to accept the Key Fob signal. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

PS It should read - First, if a Manual, put the car in Neutral and push it back a few feet. Then, place the gearshift in 5th gear and push the car forward, this will rotate the engine. If you run out of room, say in a garage, go to neutral again, push the car backward, and repeat procedure so you're sure one complete revolution of the engine has occured.

Excellent, thanks, Jim!

OK, I thought when the car goes dormant, and you use the to key to open the door, you had only about 30 seconds to start the engine with the key before the alarm sounds, since the car wants to make sure you are the "owner" and have the key vs. someone who just "broke" in? I guess I am wrong?? I need to read my owners manual more!!

[Sammy]

Just out of curiosity why are you guys using a battery maintainer? Not that its a bad idea, just never used one before when I was in my "boat phase". With my boats I simply unhooked the battery and left it alone. I never once had a problem with the battery when spring came along? Of course 2 of the 3 boats I've been through were new and I never kept them for more than a couple years.

[NickCats]

Sammy,

My garage must be some type of power sucking vortex

About a month ago, my Harley sat in the garage for two weeks.

I went to start it up and the battery was dead ( brand new battery, replaced the beginning of this year ).

Now if the bike sits more than two weeks, on the charger it goes...

My Box also sat for about two weeks.

When I went to use the key to open the trunk, no dice...

Then I tried to open the door with the remote, nada...

I opened the door with the key and thank goodness the car started.

So, now if the Box sits more than two weeks, on the charger it goes.

I will still drive the Box this winter if the roads are clean, so I am not going to put it in full storage mode.

I guess that's the price I pay for owning 3 vehicles

Nick

[Sammy]

Originally Posted by NickCats

Sammy,

My garage must be some type of power sucking vortex

About a month ago, my Harley sat in the garage for two weeks.

I went to start it up and the battery was dead ( brand new battery, replaced the beginning of this year ).

Now if the bike sits more than two weeks, on the charger it goes...

My Box also sat for about two weeks.

When I went to use the key to open the trunk, no dice...

Then I tried to open the door with the remote, nada...

I opened the door with the key and thank goodness the car started.

So, now if the Box sits more than two weeks, on the charger it goes.

I will still drive the Box this winter if the roads are clean, so I am not going to put it in full storage mode.

I guess that's the price I pay for owning 3 vehicles

Nick

I also had a "motorcycle phase" (might I add this was phase 1 and I expect phase 2 sometime in the future) and I had the same issues I had that you are finding with your Harley. Whenever I was ready to pull my bike from winter storage I would hook up the battery directly to my car battery and let it sit overnight (el cheapo trickle charging method). I never once started the vehicle with the motorcycle battery hooked up as I don't think that it is good for it. The car battery has plenty of juice without the car running. I'm pretty sure bikes are a different animal than todays cars (carb vs. fuel injection) which makes after storage starting a little tricky.

I am surprised that you have trouble with your Boxster. I can leave my truck at O'Hare for weeks at a time in the dead cold of winter and it always starts right up. I finally bit the bullet and bought a new battery for my truck this evening as the battery that was in it was 6 years old. I figure my luck was running out and I'd rather spend a little money on a new battery than risk it dying on me...

Does the maintainer actually prolong the life of the battery if the battery would've lost its charge? Or does it prolong its lift regardless of the condition?

[NickCats]

Originally Posted by Sammy

Does the maintainer actually prolong the life of the battery if the battery would've lost its charge? Or does it prolong its lift regardless of the condition?

That's a good questions and I can't say I honestly know the answer. I would assume that it is not good for a battery to discharge to the point where it will not start the vehicle, so I assume a charger would be good since the battery would be kept fully charged.

I bought my bike brand new in June 2005. After this winter and the bike wouldn't start I took the battery to the dealer. They ran some tests and claimed the battery was shot and would no longer hold a charge so they gave me a new one ( free under warrantee ). My guess would be that if a battery discharges to a certain point it is no longer usable.

This is my 6th bike and my 3rd Harley and the first time I ever had battery problems. My current Harley has a radio and a bunch of other electronic gizmos which I think still puts a drain on the battery even when it is in storage.

As far as the Boxster and the charger I figure better safe than sorry...

MNBoxster, perhaps you could shed some light on the subject ?

Nick