Winter storage

[Solberg]

My S3 is getting stored for the winter, will be in a garage with concrete floor, no heating will probably be -25 Celsius at the coldest.

Never stored a car before is there something I should be aware off doing before storing as well as when Im getting it out(start up) again next year?

 

[superkarl]

My S3 is getting stored for the winter, will be in a garage with concrete floor, no heating will probably be -25 Celsius at the coldest.

Never stored a car before is there something I should be aware off doing before storing as well as when Im getting it out(start up) again next year?

Put the battery on a trickle charger to keep it healthy.
Make sure the garage isn't damp

 

[RAF_S7]

As above, also I inflated the tires (to recommended full load pressure) to prevent any flat spots on the tires.

I used this trickle charger, though l guess any decent one recommended for long term trickle charging/conditioning should be fine. Not cheap, but lm leaving plugged in for months, so not using some cheap Chinese rubbish.

It's been in storage for 3 months now, and it will be out for Christmas

 

[Stuart B]

Blimey solberg, your s3 isn't a koi carp or bear. When you wake it up in the summer it will still be poorly. See you on other side.

 

[Solberg]

Haha you got me
Nah its going for a nice half year rest, long way from salty roads, rust and 5 hours of redline drifting on snow all week during winter times...
Heck if I can keep it healthy I might sell it and buy a R32 godzilla with 800hp one day

 

[Stuart B]

best of luck, I thought only the UK were mad with the corrosive salt.

 

[snowy]

Make sure there's plenty of anti-freeze in the system

Sustained cold does kill batteries, ideally take it out and put it somewhere warm for winter

Failing being able to do that, I'd disconnect the positive battery terminal before putting on the trickle charger

Whatever charger you use needs to have a auto-cutoff (conditioning) mode (as does the CTEK mentioned above) - There are some cheaper chargers which have this function - eg ones sold by Lidl £15ish (has a cold charging function too)

Used one of these for 5 yrs (replaced a little CTEK) on a car which gets 5wks use/year (jan/feb at -30)

 

[ayfreetee]

I used to do this with my old Escort RS Turbo, start the car at least once a week and run it up to full operating temperature, I also used to move the car around, just to rotate the bearings and brakes, make sure you don't leave the hand brake on.