OK guys, I need your advice. Winter has arrived here in Western Canada which means no more driving the Z 'til spring. I need to know what you would suggest for storing the Z. I've got an unheated garage that the car will sit in. I've checked with my local dealer and was very disappointed with his response (Uh, disconnect the battery 'til spring). I also phoned Nissan Canada and was told by the girl on the other end that they don't give out that info. WTF !!!! I would appreciate any useful suggestions that you guys might have as it seems that I won't be able to get any from Nissan. Thanks.

 

I'm in the same situation...she's in storage right now, matter of fact. Here's my 2 cents:

1) Take the battery out, if possible, and put it in your basement. I've killed many motorcycle batteries by letting them freeze. It's a real pain because they don't fail right away...they'll wait until about June. Car batteries are a bit tougher, though. There's also a bunch of electronics that run when the car's off. In 3-4 months, they can drain the battery completely, which is not good for anything other than a deep-cycle marine battery.

2) Park it on something other than concrete/asphalt. My storage place has a concrete floor, so I bought 4 bags of gravel to put under the tires. The idea is to keep the tires from being flat-spotted. Performance tires are softer and even more prone to this.

3) There are two camps on this one. Some say the gas tank should be full, the others say to leave it empty. If the tank is full, then condensation (water) can't build up in the tank. If it's empty, there will be less bad gas (a.k.a turpentine) you have to burn out in spring. I shot for half way. It's half full.

4) If you have a cover, make sure it's a good one. Covers like the Nissan one will allow water to evaporate through it. This means that when the temperature fluctuates (and the car becomes colder than the air) the cover will allow any condensation buildup to get away from the car.

Nissan probably won't be able to tell you much...they only sell new cars! Ask some of the guys with classic cars worth lots of money...they can tell you. Probably some websites will have info.

 

WHATEVER you do, do NOT leave it half-full. You will get condensation in there for sure.

The best bet is too leave the tank full and add fuel stabalizer. It works, trust me. I did this to my 2002 Maxima for 6 months while I was in Italy and on 5 different occasions in my previous car, Mazda Protege. NOT 1 problem.

And yes I removed the battery and stored it in my house, that way it didn't drain in the cold weather.

If you're worried about the tires, then jack the car up and put 4 tire stands up and take the tires off.

Gl, I used to live in North Dakota, it got down to -106 wind chill one time. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

 

Hey, I'm from western Canada too, Calgary, Alberta to be exact. Appreciate all the info. on winter storage.

I am seeking another advice though. I was gonna put the Z away last week for good until next spring, and then got caught in pouring rain. Was gonna to wash it, but then it started to snow, I mean, really snowed. Now the roads are icy and slippery, and many parts still covered with snow. Looks like it's here to stay until spring. Now the car is very dirty sitting in the garage. My dilemma is I want to wash it before putting it away, but don't really want to drive it on the road as it will only get dirtier. Wondering if anybody knows if I leave the car dirty and unwashed until next spring, will it damage the paint?

Ths.

 

Yeah, I thought about the fuel stabilizer, but the Nissan manual strictly prohibits fuel additives of any kind. I'm not going to risk the warranty...I might just end up filling it up and siphoning out most of it in spring.

You don't want to jack the car up for a long period of time. The springs will relax without the weight of the car on them. I've had this happen on several cars over the years when I was doing engine rebuilds...the front springs would gain about 1" in lift and the car would permanently look like a '66 Impala lowrider...not a great look for a Chevette, let me tell ya!

DOO, I would probably get that junk off the car the first chance you get. With all the acid rain and stuff these days, it's probably not helping the paint. Here's a trick that I've used a couple times: get a bucket of hot water (really hot, like burns the hands hot) and a sponge. Give the car a sponge bath. The water will be hot enough to evaporate before it freezes...if some beads up, just be ready with a bath towel. If you have a dark car and wait until a sunny day, it's even better.

 

Thanks Archman. But I think it was Monentum that had the dirty Z. I was lucky enough to get mine wash and waxed 1 last time before the snow hit Alberta. I did some checking on other sites and most agree that the car should NOT be jacked up for storage. I'll be pumping the tires to 50 PSI and laying some 1"x 8" lumber underneath.

 

momentum, last winter I parked my talon in my garage and quite a lot of dust was collected on the car.
Anyways, when spring came, I sprayed the car with the hose for about 10minutes to get the dust off, then washed it normally.

my talon has a sweet paint job so of course I tried to take good care of it. But I was to lazy to wash it before last winter.

 

oh yeah doo925,
there was another thread about winter storage last week or two.
see ya.

 

I've stored my summer car (now my Z) for many years. Best advice is to leave the gas tank very full- I always top it off 2-3 miles before parking it.
A fresh oil change is in order, regardless of how many miles are on the current fill.
Don't jack it up- but I would make sure the tire pressure is topped off.
Better than removing the battery is to buy one of the battery maintainers, if you have electricity available. The best ones out there cost about $50 although you can get them for $20.
I own 4 of them, one for the Z, one for my boat (deep cycle) batteries, one for my Harley and one to keep my tractor battery topped off for winter starts. Nothing beats them. If anyone is insterested, I'll post a link where you can buy them.

 

Can you post the link for the battery maintainer?

 

Cheapest place I can find...

Battery Tenders

Or maybe you prefer to shop on EBAY...

EBAY Battery Tender

 

Thanks

 

doo925 - Is it safe to put 50psi on the tires when they're rated for max 35psi?

 

What if you put it on blocks and take the Rims off? would that be ok?

 

This is another reason why California > All

 

Ths Archman,

Did what you suggested 2 days ago inside my garage. It worked. The car is clean now, ready to hybernate for the winter.

Ths again.

 

Here is the maintainer I use- best one I have ever tried:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...categoryId=422

There are others available from this supplier also.

 

I'm going to use this stuff under my tires... DriCore
Check it out - It's like wood glued to hard plastic/rubber studs. Apparently it can hold 5000lbs per square foot.
http://www.dricore.com/What.htm

 

For those of you that are removing your battery: you guys aren't planning on running the engine every so often? or is it just not necessary?

I was planning on running the engine for a couple of minutes every other weekend or so, but I guess I can see that it might cause a problem with the gas line running below full. This will be the first time ever that I will be storing a car during the winter season so I really don't have any experience with this. Any other suggestions?

ahhh, I still can't believe I won't get to drive her for 4 months....

 

MOMENTUM, glad the car wash worked out for you! (DOO, I'm sorry about the confusion...I was tired and not paying total attention) Like I said, I've used this method sucessfully a few times.

I think these tires will handle 50PSI...it's stamped on the tire somewhere. The 35PSI is what Nissan recommends for maximum tire performance, you can go up to the tire manufacturer's spec, though I wouldn't drive on 50 PSI however). If you use lumber, I'd use pine since it's real soft...but I'm not sure if it will be soft enough still.

PAUL, that DriCore stuff might work. I'd be curious to see how soft it is...maybe park your Z on a small piece and check if there is any flex of the material. This would be ideal to maximize the contact patch.

PHANEOM, you could put it up on blocks as long as they're under the suspension components...you don't want to support the car by its body. It should be no problem getting blocks under the rears since the spring cups are there. The front may be a problem since there isn't a lot of meat up there. I definitely wouldn't recommend supporting it by the brake rotors.

Oh, if you're storing it outside make sure you keep the tires covered from the sun. It will promote "dry-rot" since the extra ultraviolet light during the winter months will break down the rubber. It seems that the more expensive the tire, the more prone they are to this.

Finally: the engine should be just fine if you don't run it. The only thing that you may want to be careful of is condensation building up in the crankcase if you don't run it periodically. That's why it's a good idea to change the oil after storage as well. Yeah, it will be interesting to see if I can remain strong-willed and not take her out on the first warm day in February.