Topic: Oil change intervals / Winter Storage

[mar1990]

I'm not a big fan of starting the car when it's stored.  I like to leave it until spring. 

I can't see how leaving it for six months in cold storage will cause *all* the oil to be removed from the engine internals.  Worst wear is during startup, and if you don't leave it running long enough so everything gets hot, may cause issue due to moisture problems. ...Similar to using a car for only really short trips....

With the fuel pump fuse disconnected, give each cylinder a shot of oil, and turn the engine over.  Then Disconnect the battery and remove it, and maybe once or twice during the winter give it a trickle charge.   Shove a piece of steel wool into the exhaust pipe to deter rodents.  In the spring check your air filter for nesting.  (you may want to shove a piece of steel wool in the air intake, but I myself would be concerned about forgetting it).

[mar1990]

I've had really good luck with this for the mice in outbuildings, Barry.



One caught over 60 mice over a winter in an unheated workshop I was looking after.

Okay, what do the mice carcasses look like in the spring. In a normal trap, if left they look like a fuzzy mound, then eventually bones. 
I image with the below zero temps, they'll be bloated, but still intact.   

I may try in our garden shed. I just want to know what to be prepared for in the spring 

[safristi]

..ta QUOTE ELVIS....."Mousy den ..Mousy DEN...Staten Island house.......".....tank yew tank U velly muuchhh

[PJungnitsch]

Okay, what do the mice carcasses look like in the spring. In a normal trap, if left they look like a fuzzy mound, then eventually bones. 
I image with the below zero temps, they'll be bloated, but still intact.   

I may try in our garden shed. I just want to know what to be prepared for in the spring 

Just a pail full of wet mice, they stay intact. I actually set the trap in early Sept (when I left for university) and checked it again in May when I started work there again. It works the best in the winter as (with some antifreeze, windshield washer fluid, etc in the water) they stay 'refrigerated' so they can stay there as long as you want. In the summer I'd check the pail every morning, fish them out with a long pair of pliers.

It's a very old trap idea, in India they have used clay pots buried in the ground and a corncob for a roller to protect the fields for a long time.

I see a farmer in Montana is selling an even simpler water trap with the bait suspended from the ramp on a string, probably works even better as they can't get at the bait.

http://www.4dotranch.com/MT/index.html

[citydude]

Funny how an oil change question became mouse trap discussion. 

[barrie1]

I will be changing my oil before I put the truck away but will also add a bottle of EOS in the oil which does leave a film or coating on all of the moving parts in the engine. I will have NO problem in spring when I start it up as it will have lube on all of the internal parts when starting again.  I do have a high output oil pump in the engine so it will have pressure fully up by the time it starts which only takes about 30 secs every year it seems.   

[safristi]

..Mouseli fer Me at Breakfast..................