Hello guys, as you've seen in the title bar already, I haven't started my 350 in 4 months due to a dead battery and winter (I live in Canada). I'm going to buy a battery in the next 2 weeks, weather is starting to look good, going to be 16 degrees this Thursday, so I'm looking forward to that. My question is, do you think this is harmful to the car because i feel bad, if so in what way and if it is I will install a new battery asap. Thank you

 

I dont think it is harmful, especially if you follow a winterizing protocol for parking it long term.
If your saying you didnt, you left gas in it, left it parked in the space for 4 months and never started, well theres a lot of things wrong with that.

The furl breaks down after 30 days, you need to either add some additive and then get out and get a full tank of good gas, or drain your fuel, I wouldn't go to the extreme, just get some stabilizer and then a full tank or 93 ought a be ok, but you can cause issues with clogging injectors and other issues with old fuel, your wheels can get flat spaces from sitting to long in one place, they need to be rotated or rolled if not driven once in a while, grease and lubricants can dry up without usage, so you need to check any fill able grease points, etc.. I am sure I am missing things, but you can winterize your car and put it away for a few months at a time with no problem, but letting just sit can be bad.
I am sure others who actually store their cars for winter can help better but if you search I remember seeing a sticky.
Lump

 

Nothing to worry about. Many people on here, myself included, store their car over winter for that long.

 

alright thanks

 

I'll bet it sat at the dealer longer than that when it was new.

Check the air filter box for any rodent activity, then fire it up. You can hold the accelerator all the way down (clear flood mode) for 20 seconds to get the oil pressure flowing, it won't start with it to the floor.

 

Nice little trick. Dident know that!

 

Started my car last week since December...I put a cheap battery trickle charger on it all through that period. Car fired right up.

 

You'll be fine. I over inflated my tires, took the battery out, had a full tank of gas and put I so heet in it a month before I started driving it. I'm in the process of burning off the old fuel from November but the only problem I had is the KAM. It's when you leave the battery disconnected for too long and the car idle drops when you just start it after its warmed up then shuts off. The problem goes away after about 50 miles of driving when the computer relearns everything. You'll be fine. I'll pay close attention to your tires if anything.

 

The first four years I owned my Z I didn’t drive it in the winter. It sat idle four months. The only thing I did was fill the tank and add some HEET. Never had a problem. --Spike

 

Same exact thing I did. The truth has been spoken. Did you take out the battery too?

 

Nope… never disconnected the battery. I know you are supposed to do this, but I did not want to reset all my Sirius radio preferences and GPS settings. I’m in a very cold climate where -20 F is not unusual. --Spike

 

So you didn't have the KAM problem like I had. Your battery takes a beating in the cold temperatures though, especially when inactive. How many years did you get out of your battery?

 

4 years... But I didn't deserve... we had some mild winters.

 

Four months are nothing. Four years are a different story.

Some of my cars "hibernate" in winters. Most of the times, they are out about 6 months out of a year. Three things I always do: top off the fuel tanks, park in gear (parking brake disengaged), and connect each car to a float charger. None would be started during the hibernation period. I've done this for the last 10 years and I can disspell the myths.

- Fuel doesn't break down in 30 days
- I don't use any fuel additive such as Heet or Sta-bil; never a problem, not even with the lawn mower
- Don't start the engine and let it idle during the hibernation period; oil will never come up to operating temperature to let water evaporate
- A dead battery doesn't mean it's damaged beyond repair. I have revived batteries considered dead before. All of my float chargers can recondition a battery and, likely, revive a "dead" one.

 

How about a year?

 

Add some star tron to your fuel if it's gonna sit more than 6 months.....Snowmobile guys swear by it.

 

Some degradation may have occured in a year's time, but, still, nothing catastrophic. I'd be more concerned about condensate accumulation than degradation of the fuel itself. If you have to put a car into a one-year hibernation, do what I mention earlier and add a few other things to lessen the effect of standing still to the tires.

A few years ago I helped a friend drained fuel from his Miata. This car is very rarely driven, it's a '96 M-edition with mileage in the teens and it's one of his two pride-and-joy; the other is an '85 Civic. So, he realized at one point that the fuel in the Miata tank was more than three years old and he decided to drain it.

The car ran just fine on the old fuel, nothing different from after replacement with fresh gasoline. He could have just run on the old gasoline until it had been depleted or mixed in fresh. It didn't hurt to replace it anyway, at least condensate and accumulated debris were removed.

So, I used that as a yard stick, the quality of fuel nowadays and the fact that the composite material used to create fuel tanks contribute to a longer shelf life of gasoline nowadays. I store my cars for months at a time and never had any problem reviving any; each one started right up at the first crank after a 6-month slumber.

In the OP's case, four months are nothing; I couldn't even be bothered to put any fuel additive to "rejuvenate" a tiny batch of 4-month old fuel.

 

This happened to mine to after our Polar Vortex temps ended. Took it on a quick trip to the post office and when I came out it wouldn't turn over. Happened several times afterwards too.

 

Mine started right up but the rpms dropped and then shut off.

 

Hey fellow Canadian!

I always fill the fuel to the rim and add a bottle of stabilizer before putting it away, and disconnect the battery. I also over inflate my tires to 45 PSI to help with flat spots, just make sure you deflate them back down before driving around.

I started it up last weekend after installing my Nismo exhaust, fired right up, no problem whatsoever. I let it warm up for to regular temperatures and shut it back down.

The only thing I do notice every year is either a louder-than-usual clicking from the injectors or from the valve train on the first start-up, but it goes away after it has run a while. I

I can't wait to take it out in a week or two! Just waiting for the roads to be cleaned up from the leftover rocks and dirt.