The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk How long is too long for a parked truck?

Hey guys,
If you have a perfectly tuned v-8 engine in your pickup and you store it in a pay storage place that is inside, but not heated, how long can you leave it before you gotta go back and start it up. I mean is it safe to leave it for 18 months and then just jump start it or should you look for problems before jumping it off.What causes engines to sieze up? How about the transmission?

Gas would be my biggest concern. Others will add more, but seals may dry up a little. Condensation etc may cause you some probs if your truck is in Ohio.

But..my truck sat in a barn for 20-30 years. I changed the carb and fuel pump, plugs, points and it ran like a top for the year since I got it back on the road.

Check the tech tips for winter storage to see if there is anything more in there.

Tranny would not be a worry to me.

To be sure, you could pull the plugs and put a bit of motor oil in it after you change the oil hot. You want the engine hot to make sure the contaiminats and water go out with the old oil. The new oil will then be clean. I'd also put it on jack stands so you won't have flat spots on the tires. In fact you could change all the goo - brake goo, tranny goo, diff goo, and that would be the best thing for it.

Stabil seems to work pretty good for the fuel, and I have heard fill it up completely to avoid condensation in the fuel tank. On a bike though, I would drain the fuel, and run it until it stalled so everything was completely dry. I'd like to hear some other opinions on that. Many a time I have had to clean a bike carb that gunked up because fuel was left in it, however, when run dry, it was nothing to prime it and drive it away.

Also remove the battery.

On the other hand, if you are going to have someone run it, it'd be best to drive it about for 30 minutes every 2 weeks or so and then you wouldn't have to do anything.

We went to my buddys farm to work on the barn and we decided to try and start his 68 chevy that been sitting in the field for 11 years.We put a can of gas under the hood and a battery in it and drove it around the farm until it ran out of gas.It was long walk back. Oh and by the way there were no brakes.Best time ever

There have been several posts about starting engines after a long nap. We had a 350 die on us after being started once every three months for a year.

Arnswine's advice is good. I'd also recommend that you pick up some "Fogging Oil" from the auto store before you try to turn it over. Pull the plugs and spray each cylinder as per the instructions on the can before you turn it over.

You shouldn't have any significant problems, but read through this thread for some good information: http://www.stovebolt.com/bboard/cgi-bin//ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=22;t=002585#000003

It will all depend on the storage, moisture, and preperation. In Carlsbad, California my 1969 Corvette sat in the previous owner's garage for 18 years. It had been driven in and put on blocks with no preperation. I had to replace the gas tank and brakes, tunup and fluid replacements and drove it home to South Dakota.

In a place like South Dakota where the weather changes every day, a unheated cement floor will be full of moisture. If the vehicle is not started every so often and driven, you are better off on leaving it in a dirt floor shed where moisture doesn't build up quite so much.

I like to go to a boat shop and get some marine engine fogging oil. The oil is sprayed into the carburetor when the engine is running and until the engine is smoking like crazy. Spray into the carb until the motor is shut off and stopps turning. We always ran Stabilizer in the gas and make sure it runs long enough to get into the carburetor. Grease the car and change the oils so they are fresh before you store it. This gets the impurities out of the engine, wwhich can be acidic to your engine.

one day

My dad and I have a few old cars that just sit inside. All we do is start them and let them run at least once a month. Drive them at least once a year. We don't keep much gas in the cars that don't get driven- so it doesn't go bad. Stabil is a good thing to have also. I've been thinking lately of how nice it would be to have a "battery tender" hooked up to every vehicle... would probably be more effective than buying new batteries every two years! Of course there are minor repairs that need to be made from time to time, but then again, the cars/trucks are anywhere from 40-60 years old!