Long Term Storage Questions

J

JKDream

Guest
Hey all,

I'm going to be putting the Jeep into storage for the next foreseeable future.
I'm on the fence about selling it but figured it didn't make sense to keep paying for insurance if I'm not driving it anymore.
Gas here is above $6.25/g so it's just gotten too ridiculous for me personally.
Is there anything I need to do to store it without starting for 3-6 months besides filling the tank and disconnecting the battery?
Should I put some fuel stabilizer in? I just changed all fluids about 500km ago.
Want to make sure it starts/runs when I take it back out.
 
JKDream said:
Hey all,

I'm going to be putting the Jeep into storage for the next foreseeable future.
I'm on the fence about selling it but figured it didn't make sense to keep paying for insurance if I'm not driving it anymore.
Gas here is above $6.25/g so it's just gotten too ridiculous for me personally.
Is there anything I need to do to store it without starting for 3-6 months besides filling the tank and disconnecting the battery?
Should I put some fuel stabilizer in? I just changed all fluids about 500km ago.
Want to make sure it starts/runs when I take it back out.
Click to expand...

When you put fuel stabilizer in it let the Jeep run a little so it goes through the fuel lines and in the injectors.


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rogerk93 said:
When you put fuel stabilizer in it let the Jeep run a little so it goes through the fuel lines and in the injectors.


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Click to expand...

Agreed. Run the stabilized gas through so all small passages don't gel up.

We have a generator that we put gas in years ago and rarely use. It's started every Spring on that same gas with the stabilizer. Same with the lawn mower as well.
 
I've worked out of the country for several years, only coming home for 6 weeks or so each year.

My Jeep last sat for 18 months, drove for a month, then back in the garage for 11 months. No problems at all.

Fuel stabilizer is a good idea, I choose not to use it because we don't have harsh climates (other than heat) in Arizona. 3/4 tank or so is what I learned growing up when we'd leave our winter toys and boats for the season.

I would definitely get it up off the ground so you don't need to worry about the tires flat spotting. And remove the battery and put it on a good battery tender that you can just set and forget.
 
I've done many 6 month deployments (yaaaay Navy). That's not "long term" storage. You don't have to do anything except fill the tank. If it was a year or more, then I'd put it on jack stands and stabilize the fuel. When you're ready to use her again, change the oil, fill the tires and good to go. Maybe trickle charge the battery if it doesn't start.
 
Also, attempt to park where there is lower chance of rodents or spread out poison or traps. They can fuck some shit up on vehicles.
 
I stored a 2003 Liberty in my Garage for 2 1/2 years from March 2016 until this last July when my daughter got her temps. I put stabilizer in a full tank of gas, washed it, made sure the tires were fully inflated and hooked the battery to a trickle charger. I did start the Jeep up maybe every other month, but didn’t drive it. Once we decided to start driving it again I found that the brake rotors had rusted and pitted to the point of needing to be replaced (all 4) along with the pads and parking brake shoes. Other than that everything was fine.

Good point WJCO makes about rodents. Always a good idea to have those controls in place!
 
Your overthinking it. Especially for just 3-6 months. Park it and forget about it. At least that’s what I do with my junk and everything seems to be fine.

The rodent thing. What works for me is removing the engine cover and leaving the hood open. Whenever I don’t do this I’m guaranteed to find mice sign in the engine bay.
 
Mine sits for 3 to 4 month at a time. OEM battery lasted 6 years. I just make sure I remove phone charger and the thumb drive from the center console ports. Most of the time starts right up. I don't disconnect battery. But I bought one of those little portable jump starters for the occasional jump. Works great.
 
WJCO said:
Also, attempt to park where there is lower chance of rodents or spread out poison or traps. They can fuck some shit up on vehicles.
Click to expand...

This^
I’ve lost a few cars to field mice, ridiculous the amount of damage they can do over 4 months. The other thing is if you have it flip it over to air conditioning and recirculate. To close the vent off. I leave a tub of oxy clean with the lid off on the floor, good smell, pests hate it, probably absorbs moisture too?


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Thanks for the feedback guys. I'll be pulling it off the road today unfortunately.
Luckily I have a garage to store it in permanently so the rodents aren't too much of a worry at this point.
Do you guys figure parking it up on some wood would cause a similar effect as leaving it on jackstands? (need to keep them available for my TDI).
I thought flat spots are normally caused by cold concrete over time, but not entirely sure.
 
Don’t think it’ll make a difference. Don’t worry about it. The best thing you do for it is to start it up every 2-4 weeks to circulate fluids and top off the battery.
 
Any time you let a vehicle sit a long period of time, the weight will imprint a flat spot on the tires. Not saying they won't go round again after driving it for awhile, but it won't be a fun ride to find out. If it were me, I'd get some more jack stands if you're gonna leave it sit for an extended (read: months) period of time.

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Build Thread - Adventures of Fiona - https://wayalife.com/showthread.php?t=47407
 
zimm said:
Don’t think it’ll make a difference. Don’t worry about it. The best thing you do for it is to start it up every 2-4 weeks to circulate fluids and top off the battery.
Click to expand...

BaddestCross said:
Any time you let a vehicle sit a long period of time, the weight will imprint a flat spot on the tires. Not saying they won't go round again after driving it for awhile, but it won't be a fun ride to find out. If it were me, I'd get some more jack stands if you're gonna leave it sit for an extended (read: months) period of time.

--
Build Thread - Adventures of Fiona - https://wayalife.com/showthread.php?t=47407
Click to expand...

Sounds good, I'll grab another set of stands on Black Friday.
Hopefully we can get some relief on these ridiculous gas costs soon so I can go back to dailying the JK.
Thanks for the feedback guys.
 
Depending on how long your going to store it. Put the jack stands under the frame, so the weight is off the suspension. Although that's more of a really long term storage thing.


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