Sometimes you will not be driving your car for a long time. This may happen as you may be going abroad on vacation. At such times, some precautions can help you keep your car in prime condition.
Park your car inside the garage in your home. Ensure that its fuel tank is filled with gas otherwise there may occur condensation in the fuel tank. It can corrode the material of the fuel tank. Also, put some mothballs inside the car to save the upholstery from being eaten by mold or moth larva.
Also ,before your car goes into hibernation mode add a stabilizer to the fuel and drive around a bit before consigning your car into storage. This helps distribute the additive uniformly in the fuel.
Just because you are going on vacation does not mean that you keep your car unwashed and unwaxed. Do these chores beforehand as when you come back from vacation, you will not need to perform the tasks of car washing and waxing before driving your car to office.
Keeping the garage floor dry is a priority. A wet garage floor increases the chances of rusting and corrosion of the relatively unprotected underbelly of your car due to water vapor. Dry the garage floor as much as possible and then you can spread a 4-mil thick polythene sheet over it and subsequently park your car over it.
Also keeping the car exhaust pipe dry helps prevent corrosion. You can prevent humidity from entering the car exhaust by inserting a dry rag into its tailpipe. Disconnecting the car battery from the car also prevents its charge from draining away. Also, if you will be away for a pretty long time, it helps to keep the battery connected to a trickle type charger.
Keeping the car parking brake in disengaged condition during long term storage helps a great deal to keep it free from the possibility of rust and corrosion. Also, keeping your car chassis supported on jack stands rather than with its weight bearing down on wheels and tires and increases the life of car tires and wheel bearings.
Of course when you come back from vacation, you will need to wake up your car from sleep. That translates into undoing the storage preparatory tasks. These include removing the car from jacked up supports and placing its weight back on wheels and tires.
You will also need to reconnect the battery inside the car and check its condition. In case it requires deep charging, do that and then reconnect it inside the car. Also remember to remove the rag from the exhaust pipe or else it will accumulate soot inside and cause improper engine functioning.
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