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Old 11-06-2006, 09:37 PM   #10
MNBoxster
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
Posts: 3,308
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brucelee
I would change it before winter and drive the car at least once week during the winter if possible. Drive it to full operating temp.

Short of that, change oil before winter and follow dry storage recs.

Dealer is wrong.

Or, change both before and after. If you do this, throw in some cheap ass oil for winter.
Hi,

Sorry Rich, I have to disagree. The primary reason for changing the Oil prior to storage in the first place is to get rid of the moisture laden Oil. If you run the car over the storage season, you defeat this purpose by introducing moisture back into the system.

Also, everytime you start the car in a cold condition, you're putting a lot more wear on it than if you run it in temperate weather. A daily driver experiences this as well, and while it may not grenade on you, I suspect that if you check tolerances, compression, etc. you'll find that the car stored and left will post better numbers down the road (which translates into lower repair costs/longer life).

It would be very bad to idle the car until warm because you're not running the RPMs sufficiently to assure full Oil pressure. Also, since you've overinflated the tires to prevent flat-spotting, you'd have to lower their pressure to have good traction and be safe on the street. Not to mention that if your battery is pulled, you'd have to reinstall and connect it as well, and you'd be using fuel, dropping the level in the tank, creating a void which would allow moist air to migrate into the tank and condense later.

The best thing is to set it and forget it. It's hard to do, but it's the best thing for the car. If you're not going to follow this, then all the work you put into storing it is just a waste of time...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

Last edited by MNBoxster; 11-06-2006 at 10:27 PM.
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