Engine Rust During Storage

[Brucelee]

Your friend is wrong and is likely damaging his engine rather than protecting it.

Letting your car idle does little except create negative conditons internally. Now, if he wanted to take it out for a half hour run every couple of weeks, that would be good.

Personally, I have never seen any internal rust on an engine that was functioning properly. On the other hand, it it were stored outside at the beach, I guess it is possible.

WD40 works well on rotors in storage.

Spray it on and forget it.

[stephen wilson]

There's many different opinions on this subject. I agree idling the car isn't ideal. it will move the pistons/springs and circulate oil, but you really need to get the oil hot enough to drive out any condensed moisture. Many seasonal engines, race cars, jet skis, get "fogged" before winter storage. It's an oil sprayed into the intake of a running engine just before shutdown, but I wouldn't do that on a street car with a MAF sensor! I've never done this one my Formula Ford, which sits for about 7 months a year, and never had a problem. (though I probably should!).