Dear Forum Members,

I am currently in the Military and I will be deploying to the desert for six months. I'll be leaving my E60 in the garage for the time and I was wondering what I would need to do to keep my car in it's top condition. Should I disconnect the battery for the time being? Would it be best if I leave the gas tank almost empty? How much should I overinflate the tires to avoid flatspots, or would it be best to put it on bricks? If I left out anything else please feel free to drop an advice. I know it's lots of questions but I will appreciate it if you guys can answer some questions. Thanks!

 

I think I can chime in on the disconnecting battery. You shouldn't have to do that, your car will "sleep" while you're gone, should be fine. As for gas tank and tyres, others will probably have a better advice than me.

 

Pump up the tires and fill up your gas tank !

 

Hi,
check your owners hand book, there are actually a couple of advice inside regarding servicing, fuel etc during longer storage times.

/M

 

...and don't forget to put gas stabilizer in it and run it through the system since gasoline will polymerize (form long chains and thicken up, eventually turns into gum) over time. Leaving the tank dry is not a good idea since the little bit of remaining gas at the bottom of the tank and in the gas lines will still thicken up, plus you are giving a lot of air space in the tank to allow condensation to form.

Change oil will be a good idea as the old oil probably has some moisture and acidic by-products in it.

There are pro's and cons about putting the car on blocks - it saves the tires and the springs but may harm the shock absorbers becasue they will be fully extended for all that time. How about put a set of old tires on, leave the car on the ground, and store your good tires horizontally inside dark covers (to avoid UV damage)? An alternative is take the wheels off and support the suspension on blocks. It also makes it more difficult for someone to try to steal the car.

(P.S. Don't drive with any tires that are more than 4 years old as the rubber will deteriorate over time and traction will greatly suffer. If the length of the storage period means the tires will be older than that by the time you finish, change the tires with fresh ones before using the car again.)

 

Give it to me.

I'll drive your's and keep the miles off mine.

 

I read somewhere a while back to put the car on jackstands.

 

Over the past two years I left my car in the garage for 3 months twice. After talking to the head mechanic I was advised to disconnect the battery and that was it. I followed his advice and all was well except for the car thought it needed the oil changed the day after I reconnected the battery. Nothing was mentioned with the gasoline but I have 2 cars in the States I leave for about 10 months each year (I have been doing this for over 10 years without problems.) with under an 1/8 tank of gasoline, I jack the cars up and place jackstands under them, naturally they are waxed and covered when I leave. I have never had a problem with the shocks. Upon my return I take them down off the jackstands, connect the batteries, start the cars back them out of the garage. I take them to the closest gasoline station fill them up, check the air preasure in the tires and add if needed. Within the first 3 days I get the oil changed. One car has over 170K on it while the other is a bit over 100K no problems.

 

I have an old classic car that I store each winter (or used to), and I always left the gas tank as full as possible. Leaving space allows the moisture in the air to corrode the tank.