Victoria Martin

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Car Battery Maintenance – Long Term Storage

“Dead Batteries Available Here – Free of Charge”

One of the questions our customers often ask when they come here to Carsafe is how we go about maintaining their vehicle’s battery charge. We use a few different techniques to keep that battery charged, including the use of trickle chargers and regular start-up of the vehicle. We also do the little things that help extend the life of the battery, which in turn (hopefully) leads to a happy customer.

Automotive Batteries act both as a power supply for starting your car, and as a power reservoir while your car is running to soak up the excess electricity created by your alternator. Generally speaking, your car’s charging system keeps your battery fully charged all the time. Our first line of defense is starting your car on a regular basis. We start your car at least twice a month, and let it run for 20 minutes. For the vast majority of cars this is sufficient to maintain battery charge.

Sometimes our customers ask us to simply disconnect the battery while the car is in storage. This is also an effective technique, but it has a few drawbacks. Aside from the annoyance of having to reprogram all your radio stations once you reconnect the battery, the main issue is that even when disconnected, the chemicals within the battery are still reacting with one another which over time will also kill the battery.

The trickle charger is the best way to guarantee a strong battery for the duration of the storage period. It maintains the battery charge at full capacity and, if you have the right charger, automatically shuts off when the battery reaches full charge.

Here are a few tips and tricks to help keep your battery in top form:

-         Disconnect all accessories – Cell phone adapters, radar detectors, stereo equipment, GPS devices – anything that plugs into the car’s power ports

-         Clean the terminals – Loose or corroded battery terminals can cause a power drain that will kill your battery

For a neat video on how a car battery works, you can click this link – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IgHj2Uim_0

For the Consumer Reports Battery Ratings Guide, you can click this link – http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/tires-auto-parts/car-batteries/car-battery-buying-advice/index.htm?loginMethod=auto

 

 

 

 

How to prepare your car for long term car storage

1. Make sure your gas tank is full. This will reduce the amount of water that can be absorbed by the gasoline and it also slows the rate at which it turns to varnish. Use an additive like “Sta-Bil”, “Dry Gas” or similar. Make sure it’s well mixed and run the car for a while to make sure it’s in the entire fuel system.

2. Change the engine oil. Dirty oil is contaminated with acids and water that can cause premature bearing failure and rust inside the engine. If the car is likely to be left for a long period of time unattended, remove the sparkplugs and liberally squirt some form of upper-cylinder lubricant into the cylinders before replacing the plugs. This will help stop the piston rings from rusting to the cylinder walls. Introduce into the cylinders about six squirts from a normal oilcan. Turn the engine over slowly before replacing the plugs. This will move throughout the head.

3. Make sure the brake and clutch master cylinders are full of brake fluid. Brake fluid can absorb water very quickly. By reducing the exposed surface area of the fluid, the water absorption can be reduced. If you can, bleed the brake and clutch systems. It is recommended that you do this on an annual basis anyway, to purge the system of old and possibly contaminated brake fluid.

4. To inhibit rust in the engine area, use a lubricant spray such as WD40 to coat all exposed metal surfaces. The volatile carrier in the WD40 will soon evaporate leaving a protective film on the hose clamps, coils, carb bodies, etc. ‘Wax-oyl’ is also good, but you’ll want to hose it off with car wash in the Spring.

5. Wash the entire car and apply a good wax. Don’t forget to clean the inside. Do this early in the day to give it plenty of time to thoroughly dry before putting it in storage.

6. If you have a convertible top, leave it up and close the windows and vents. A convertible top can develop nasty creases when folded for long periods, especially in cold climates. Treat vinyl tops with silicone or similar. Keeping the windows and vents closed keeps small creatures from entering.

7. Ensure that the trunk is clean and dry, The trunk seal is not always positive and some moisture can collect and condense in the inner fenders and floor. Air it out well for a day or so, then place a desiccant sac in before closing it up.

8. Take the car on a good 30-minute run. This will evaporate all the moisture in the exhaust and in the engine. Then park the car with the hand brake off and either ‘chock’ the wheels or leave it in gear if necessary. Over-inflating the tires can help guard against flat spots. Disconnect the battery.

9. We suggest you use a cover. It should be a proper cloth car cover, not a plastic one.  We provide a car cover for all of the vehicles in our care.

10. Desiccant bags (the size of a sock) should be placed inside your car which will effectively soak up atmospheric moisture to prevent mildew damage.

11. Cover the tail pipe with duct tape to prevent moisture or rodents from getting in.

12. Ensure that the cooling system is clean 50/50.

13. Lubricate the hose as if the car is going to be stored for an extend period of time.

14. Storage of the vehicle for a long period of time can have an adverse effect on the clutch. Exercising the pedal on a regular basis can avoid these types of problems.

15. Tire maintenance – Tires should be pumped up and moved twice each month to prevent flat spots form forming.

16. Suspension grease: Should be done if it has not been done recently.

17. Carburetor: Run it dry with stabilizer.

18. Lubrication of points such as: crease fittings, connections, hinges, latches, cables, etc.

19. Disconnect the batteries.

20. Empty the car. Check the trunk, glove compartment, side pockets, etc.

21. Don’t set the parking brake.

The best thing to do is to run the car twice a month. A service we can provide!  Be sure to select the platform that best suits your car’s needs!

 

 

THE THRILL OF HOT RODS AND FOOD

I’ve always loved fairs. I think it’s the aroma. Shish-kebabs, funnel cakes, corn dogs and cheese steaks. It doesn’t really matter to me what the fair is all about, as long as there is “fair food”! My earliest memories were of the Dade County Fair where my folks would take me as a little kid. Then there was the art show every year along Arthur Godfrey Road, and the annual Dania Marine Flea Market. I would get a few bucks to roam around and shop with, but I invariably spent my allowance on tasty goodies. Soon I was hooked. I would go to all sorts of outdoor fairs and festivals knowing that not only would it be great fun, but I would definitely fulfill my appetite for treats.

Perhaps the pinnacle of my ascent into the wonderful world of fairs came at an early age, when at 15 my father took me to the annual Turkey Rod Run in Daytona Beach. This event proved to be transformative, or at least transferrent, for it shifted my fixation from the food to the CARS! These days the aroma that turns my head is not meat on the grille (well, OK, it still turns my head a little) but the sweet smell of the internal combustion engine. That mix of exhaust with unburned gasoline that comes from cars with enormous, inefficient engines gets my (figurative) motor running. I loved that car show. If you’ve never heard of it, the Turkey Rod Run is held every year over Thanksgiving weekend at the Daytona Motor Speedway. Last time I checked it attracts several thousand show cars, and hundreds of thousands more spectators and shoppers. This is where my appreciation for the automotive art form began in earnest.

This particular show focuses mainly on American muscle cars, but there are more than enough specialty cars, antiques, and other unusual or exotic vehicles that run the gamut of history and value. From the men and women I’ve met there and elsewhere I have found that those who work on or fix up these beauties are true (and greatly underappreciated) artists. A single car restoration can consume thousands of work hours and dollars, a hobby that transcends reason. The meticulous detail that these artists employ really makes my head spin, like when they describe how it took 6 months of searching to find the perfect replacement side view mirror, or how the radio antenna had to be turned on a lathe to restore its straightness (100 man hours!).

One of the many pleasures of working with car collectors is sharing their stories and appreciating their work of art with them. These days I don’t get to go to many fairs, but I still get the thrill from that aroma whenever a new customer rolls into the garage.

 

 

 

The SECRET Discount – Car Storage Insurance

When placing your car into long term storage, you might wonder what you need your auto insurance for since you won’t be driving your car. The answer is, you don’t need it, or at least you don’t need most of it. Anybody who has shopped for car insurance knows that there are several different parts to your auto insurance policy (http://www.geico.com/getaquote/auto/coverages-explained/) and that each part covers a specific risk. While your car is resting comfortably at its favorite car storage garage, the only coverage you really need is Comprehensive Physical Damage coverage, also known as “Car Storage Insurance”. This coverage is the one that covers losses due to theft, fire, flood, rampaging wild animals, or other situations beyond your direct control.

So if you put your car in storage for part of the year, your auto insurance company may be able to suspend most coverages on your auto policy. For instance, you may live in Arizona during the winter, but you leave a car back in Minnesota. Make sure you call to request suspension of coverage for the Minnesota car. Some insurers will grant the request – if they don’t, you may consider shopping around for one that does.

Fifteen minutes could save you 15% or more on… what, exactly? This semi-famous catchphrase has been used by a national auto insurance company for years now, and it’s an easy claim to make because of the myriad options and coverages that make up the average driver’s car insurance policy. There is PIP, Comprehensive, Collision, Bodily Injury, Uninsured Motorist (Stacked or Unstacked? Are we talking insurance or pancakes?), Property Damage, and several other types of coverage to sift through. Then once you are finished deciphering all the coverages available you get to start worrying about deductibles for each different type of coverage. All in all, the average consumer must be well informed on these coverages to ensure that they are appropriately managing their risks on the road.

The key phrase above is “on the road”. Once you’ve taken your car off the road then theoretically you aren’t at risk of getting into an accident, which means you aren’t likely to damage your car (Collision), anybody else (Bodily Injury), anybody else’s car (Property Damage), anybody else’s car without insurance (UM). All that is really left is anything that might happen to your car while it’s sitting wherever it’s sitting.

Look Into Comprehensive Storage Coverage: If you are planning to store your car for any period of time, you can save on your car insurance by only keeping comprehensive coverage during the storage time. Since the car would be stored, it is very unlikely it will get in a collision or need the liability coverage.

Source: http://personalinsure.about.com/cs/vehicleratings/a/blautosavings.htm

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