Is it ok, not to drive a Ferrari for 6 months?

i do the same during winter time, as long as you drive it correctly the rest of the year, it's no problem. let it stay with a full gas tank and cut off the battery. 6 months later you connect/turn on the battery, and it runs immediately without any problems.

 

On newer cars, its not as much of an issue. Older cars really don't like it.

I may be overseas, but I am making sure my mechanic who is overseeing storage of my cars is exercising them every two weeks.

 

Me, too.

I garage my car from late October to early April every year and follow the same procedure except that I also perform an oil change.

/Peter

 

according to his profile, it might be a 348, which is comparable with my mondial t.

 

Adam,
I'd have to say that this isn't a good idea. My Mondial 3.2 is my daily driver and when it sat for a month at the body shop it had some minor issues when I got it back. Just some electrical connectors had developed just enough corrosion to affect a few things. Cleaning them and treating with Stabilant 22 fixed them right up.
It seems that Ferraris are like women. If ignored for any length of time they act up. But we love them anyway.

 

letting it seat with the full gas tank ? why ???

 

Condensation.

DL

 

If you were closer to me I would be more than pleased to put a few thousand miles on for you while your out of town. OK!!!

Sitting for 6 months won"t hurt the car just use it when your home.

 

Let me know if the position ever opens

 

That will only keep the dust off of the car. It doesn't exercise the fluids nor the running gear in the car. Without exercising the fluids, the tubes crack, seals rot and the problems begin. I think even if you started up the car every few weeks and even jacked it up and ran it through the first two gears, it would be better than nothing at all in the cold winter months. But what do I know? We only have two weeks of winter down here. =)

 

Just don't hire the "Ferris Bueller Ferrari Storage and Exercise Service" to look after your Ferrari!

John

 

I too would guestion letting a full tank of gas sit for 6 months. Gas can and will go stale after a while and a lot of the additives ect. will settle out to the bottom of the tank. When restarted, all that crap will gum up the fuel system, filters, ect. When ever I have let a car sit for an extended period, I have keep less than 1/4 tank of gas with a good gasoline additive. Come restart time, a quick drive to the gas station with a full tank of fresh stuff.

 

Here’s another recommendation: Buy a trickle charger and wire it into your battery directly, they are invaluable. I’ve kept motorbike batteries alive for over ten years by using a trickle charger every winter, and they die a lot quicker than car batteries.
The other trick concerns starting the car up. If the car has been sitting for a long time the oil is all in the bottom of the sump and you run a risk of bad things happening if the engine fires on the first twist of the key, such as high wear on the cam lobes and valve gear, or in the worst of all possible worlds, a run bearing (albeit an unlikely problem). I always disable the high tension system and wind the motor around with the starter (20 second maximum burst) until the oil gauge starts to show signs of life. I’m sure there are those who regard such behavior as a bit extreme, but I sometimes park cars for two or three years before going back to them - and sticking carb floats, bad hoses or the odd frozen clutche aside (!), everything works.

 

Firstly i think its important to remember that a Ferrari is a car. Mechanically much like any other car. I'ts not especially delicate when compared with common cars of its vintage. Having said this would you leave your BMW or your Toyota or your Chrysler for six months at a time ? I would. Of course i would.

Jacking it up and starting it from time to time is a recipe for disaster. Not only from falling off jacks onto your legs or planting the rear wall of the garage when the car jumps off in second gear, or bending and scraping members etc under the car and twisting chassis etc, but I have heard that starting it once in a while in the garage is not a good idea as the first few thousand idle speed swipes of the cold rings on the cylinder walls scrape off more oil than they deposit leaving cylinders prone to corrosion. ( which is why occasionally turning the prop on a stored plane is a no no ), though I have no idea if aluminium liners would corrode in tha same way as steel ones.

I have also heard that excess fuel passes by the cold unexpanded rings during the first few minutes, runs down the liners into the oil.
Usually on a extended drive the oil heats and this fuel is burned away, but on a short start, and idle for a few minutes to run the juices thing, the fuel does not burn off and turns the oil acid. Old oil goes acid anyhow with by products of combustion, which is why i do an oil change every two years regardless of mileage. This acid oil eats up the engine from the inside while standing. ( again i dont know if alloys and aluminium are threatened by this acid oil malady as cast and steel and iron)

For the same acid fuel reasons you should not rev the car a few blips after stopping ( like some attention getters are prone to do ) and then shut off immediately after. Excess fuel will stream down the liners past the rings into the oil making it acid, thinning it, and flushing the protective oil from the inside of the bores and drying them for the next damaging cold start.

Also hot fumes in a cold exhaust cause condensation in the exhaust and this will rust holes in it soonest. The exhaust needs to come up to temperature to vaporise the rust forming condensation.

So if its going to be left alone for a while then leave it alone completely or else drive it hot properly.

At the end of the day, i truely do not believe that six months off will do any harm. She may sulk some but nothing a good spin wont cure when you get back.
Give it new oil if you want to be sure and a full tank and I have heard to pump the wheels to 3 bar ( or put it on blocks ). Make sure your antifreeze mix is optimum as a bad percentage will corrode your cooling system while you are away. Disconnect the battery.

(i have found that a battery tender will tend to keep the battery charged while connected, but it shortens the batteries standby life prematurely, whereby the battery quickly refuses to hold a charge for very long on its own after being disconnected from the attending tender in attendance. ( forgive the puns)

I have kept simultaneously a new tractor, boat and car batteries on tenders and toasted all the batteries where after six months ( winter ) on a tender they would not hold charge for longer than a week without the tender.

If you use a permanent tender, check the water level in the battery frequently as it seems to bubble it away quickly.


Skin.

 

No.

 

zakeen,

I suggest you visit a Ferrari service center and discuss this topic with the service manager or some techs if they're available. They can tell you what kinds of problems commonly occur from non-use and maybe they'll have some tips on the best way to "pickle" a Ferrari.

 

Would be a shame to leave a Ferrari in a garage for 6 months or longer, no matter how well it's set up for hybernation. I'd say forget the Ferrari for now and let someone else enjoy it and keep it on the road. IMHO.

 

Yes, but yours didn't have the battery disconnected.

Ken

 

My Mondial or my women ?