Waking your Celica up from winter storage.

[REdOX]

Ok... can anyone give me some tips/pointers on what to do or what not to do when taking your car out from storage? Approximate time in storage was 6 months and the oil was changed before it was stored. Gas tank is about 4/5 full. I looked at all fluid levels and they were fine. Battery is on a charger/maintainer.

I guess my main questions are:

1) Do I need to drive it a certain way the first couple of days?
2) Before taking her out for a drive do I need to change the oil?
3) Since battery was out does the ECU need to re-learn? If so, what do I need to do in order for it to re-learn correctly?

Hope someone can help.

[pinoyracer]

I think u just warm ur car up first and then drive it like it's brand new, like it's never break in b4. U don't have to worry anything because u have a new car.

[REdOX]

hmm.. I've heard that I should empty the gas tank and fill it up with brand new fuel and also get an oil change.. what does everyone else think?

[zcs626]

id drain the gas, thats me tho

[Omni]

Draining the gas probably isn't a bad idea, but I dont think its necessary. I'd probably run it through atleat a tank of gas before driving it too hard, but I dont think it'll make that big of a difference.

[marcus_GTS]

The gas has likely degraded during the time it was stored, but not too badly. I recommend you run through the tank until it is almost empty, then put it some fuel injector cleaner in the next tank. If you store your car again, I'd recommend you fill the tank completely and put some fuel stabilizer in before you store it.

One other thing that has likely happened during storage is some mild rusting of the ferrous metals in the car. This includes transmission gears, bearings and engine pistons, rings, bearings. If the car was stored outdoors, this really won't be too bad at all, since humidity levels are very low during the winter. If it was stored in a heated garage with no humidity control, the rusting will be a little worse but still not too bad. The only concern I would have with this is that this stuff will wear off quite quickly once you get the car going again, so you'll have rust particles floating around in your oil. I would recommend you drive it like during break-in for 300-500 miles, just to make sure you're not doing much damage while the particle count in your oil is higher than average. After 500 miles, change your oil and filter to get rid of the particles (most of which will be trapped in the oil filter, which may reduce the flow of oil and cause the bypass valve to open.)

The rusting will also have occured with your brakes, so take it easy with them for the first little while also.

Finally, when you start driving, you may notice some bumpiness due to flat spots in the tires. This usually goes away with time, especially when it's hot outside. To avoid this next year, you can either over-inflate the tires or put the car on blocks.

[ghostface]

put gas stabilizer in it before u start it .then u dotn have to worry about draining the gas

Ghost

[BRAK]

I say just give it a good KICK:thumbup: That will wake it ass up.
.... it would be funny if the car said " GIVE ME 5 MORE MINUTES DAMMIT!:gap:

[REdOX]

No, my car doesn't come with a snooze button :P

thanks for the tips.. keep em coming if you have any.

[chameleon]

Gostface, the stabalizer needs to be put into the car before storage. Adding stablizer to fuel that has already degraded will do nothing.

I always do one thing, but it is kind of silly. I have always taken the spark plugs out of my car so it can't start up and cranked the engine for a while. After months and months of storage, all the oil will have settled down in the oil pan, so when you start the car up, it will run really dry for a second. Doing this will allow you to crank the engine with the starter(which will turn it a really low rpms) so the oil will lubricate every thing again before you actually start the engine up.

Like I said, it's silly, but it's my quirky ritual that I do every spring. I doubt that the amount of wear that the engine would encounter from the initial startup would cause any measurable shortaned life span of the engine, but I always do it anyway, lol.:rofl:

[REdOX]

Hmm. that makes sense. So you take all the spark plugs off? Then try and crank the engine? How many times? Will it still start? Sorry, I want to understand how to do it too. :P