What's the longest you've let your car sit unused?

any idea...do these tire shoes that are being sold prevent flat spotting...they have a sort of cupped or rounded section the tire sits in...

 

Have let the 348 sit for about two months last summer. No problems with it yet.
Bt

 

Good advice. If you can't drive then don't start it.

 

I start the 355 once a week and drive out of the garage and back. The oil temp and water get upto operating temps then I idle for 5 mins. This practice does add to condensation in oil and exhaust silencer plus accelerates engine wear (cold starts and slow heat up) but I feel that letting the car stand just allows the oil and grease in everything to collect as low as possible in all bearings etc. Plus all the belts dont like staying in the same place all the time. You are also energizing all the electrical contacts which helps with bad earths etc. I keep the battery charged to help the alternator and when I park back in the garage I make sure that the wheels have rotated by 1/3 of a turn which helps tires, wheel bearings and CV joints.

When its time to get back on the road (after the salt has gone - hideous stuff in the UK) I change the oil as a feel good thing.

 

Longest was about two weeks while on vacation. I drive my car year-round, ~2-3 times/week.

 

Ricard is right. Running the engine in the driveway with a quick spin around the block to get the car up to temp is preferable to not running the engine at all. In the absence of this you'll find all kinds of weird occurrences such as clutch plates frozen to the flywheel, frozen brake calipers, seals that leak due to lack of lubrication and movement, cam belts that develop a memory from being in the same position, etc. Ask me how I know - and I have a heated garage!

 

about 17 years on 64' 330 gt. did simmilar work as kerry above then fired it right up.
so do i win

 

From other threads like this it is obvious that there are two differing opinions regarding this practice. But I agree with the above mentioned method and use it myself. I really believe starting the car once a month and running it to operating temperature will do no harm. I also like to operate all electrical systems and make sure that they are all working.

 

cam belts, we dont have no steeenking cam belts.

 

My little one is sitting in Italy since July 05 while I am assigned oversea. It will be one year when I will drive it again July this year.
Ciao
Eugenio

 

mine sit's for minimum 3 to 6 months at a time do to the fact that i am in asia and it's in north carolina. when i am home i will drive it everyday, so i am still putting at least 3,000 miles a year on the car. wish i had it here in bangkok, so i could roll with the thailand f-club on their weekend jaunts to pattaya. i am counting the days to april when i get head back home.................. cheers, kelly

 

I'll third his second on that point. Do not start a car and let it idle just to get the "fluids going". It will be OK after a few months of winter- as long as the battery tender is on. Good idea to get some good fresh gas in there before storing for the winter and put some extra PSI in the tires. Storage of a year or more might require some more precautions... that old "start it every week or two and let it idle" is probably one of the worst things you can do to a car.

 

I happen to belong to the run-it-once-a-month club, with my 1960 PF coupe. We live at the end of a really ****ty gravel and clay road, so driving in on the public roads is not a good thing in the winter. But, we have a long circular driveway, so when the road is impassable, I run it around the driveway loop to get everthing working and up to temp. The only issue I have had with letting it sit all winter has been with the fuel and the needle valves and seats. I had to replace them for the first time in 30 odd years last year. I found that itt is important and sufficient to push the brake and clutch peddles in a few times each month as well as run the engine enough to bathe the cams in oil.

One more rather unique issue came up when we had the car in an unheated shop in Seattle. Mice invaded the trunk through the wheel wells and established a nest inside the spare Borrani/Pirelli. The ammonia from their urine etched and peeled the paint inside the trunk. It seems that aluminum and ammonia do not agree with each other, so had to repaint the inside of the trunk. Killed the mice.
Ed