Winter storage exercise?

[PaulC]

Probably lots of opinions on this but... Spider is put away for the winter in the other garage. Should it be started periodically, say once a month, let run up to operating temp or not? Battery is on a maintainer so that's taken care of. But the car itself?

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Good question. My experience (perhaps not everyone's) is that Fiats can "age" just sitting unused. In other words, they don't like to be ignored.

My suggestion would be a short (20 miles?) drive every month or so. You've taken care of the battery question, but it's also not a bad idea to get the oil (engine, transmission, and rear axle) and coolant circulating, as well as moving the tires around so they don't develop flat spots. Along with keeping the suspension and steering and such from getting stiff.

That being said, I lived abroad for a year back in the mid 1980s, and I put my spider up on blocks (outside as I had no garage), with the battery moved inside, during that time. I didn't take any special precautions other than what I just noted, and the car didn't seem any worse for the wear. Admittedly, I didn't do a forensic investigation after that year, but I did change the engine oil and coolant shortly after getting it back on the road. All seemed fine.

-Bryan

[SteinOnkel]

Probably lots of opinions on this but... Spider is put away for the winter in the other garage. Should it be started periodically, say once a month, let run up to operating temp or not? Battery is on a maintainer so that's taken care of. But the car itself?

Absolutely not.

Take out your spark plugs, put in a shot of WD40 in each bore and put the plugs back in. Take a rag and douse it in WD40, stuff it into the intake on the air filter. Exhaust side intake too. And Stuff one into the way back of the tailpipe. Put the car on jack stands. Put a nice breathable cover over it, leave the windows 2-3 inches cracked. Put some fuel stabilizer into the tank. Put battery on trickle charger. Spray some Fluid-Film onto all suspension and steering joints. Put the car in gear and rotate one of the rear wheels a bit once a month.

That's it. Car will be good to sit like that for years.

[RRoller123]

Like everything else, there are a dozen answers to this question.

If there is no salt on the road, like after a mid Winter rain storm (we get maybe one rainstorm a month, works out well from a timing standpoint), we take them out and drive them around enough to get a few fan cycles to run. Oil is hydroscopic and you need to get it up to temp to drive the moisture out. If the roads have too much salt (any), we open the garage doors and windows and run them in place. Just get a few fan cycles going. And don't just let it idle, give it some revs, If it is up on stands, you can run through the gears and circulate the trans oil.

We put three dishes of classic mothballs in the trunk, passenger compartment and engine compartment to keep the mice away. Works extremely well, and the smell is gone very quickly in the Spring. Just put the mothballs in a paper or other disposable bowl, never directly on the fabric or floor, or they will stain and permanently stink it up.

[aj81spider]

There are lots of opinions because I don't think there is one right answer. In the fall I change the oil on mine, put Stabil in the gas tank and fill it up. Then I put it on casters and push it into the back of the garage. I put a cover on it, more to keep it from getting banged in the back of the garage than anything else, and I put the battery on a tender. Then I surround it with snap style mouse traps.

In the spring it gets pushed to the front of the garage, cover off and started (it's probably good to pick up all the snap traps first).

Knock on wood - that's worked for me for the last 10 years or so.

[DieselSpider]

You either prep it for long term storage putting it up in blocks changing the fluids before that and don't start it again until spring or without the prep you start it monthly bringing it to full operating temperature.

Here winter is the best driving season with a convertible with only a smattering of days when you may not want to ride with the top down.

Up in the Frozen North where you would not be driving the car for half the year or more then long term storage however for only 2 or 3 months of storage then leave it driveable and start it up getting it nice and warm once a month but do not drive it on salted roads.