Letting it sit

[Mr Wiggl3s]

So its been parked for like... 4 weeks now, I'm saving up to buy that EGR, and I'm just wondering, what are the rules/regulations for letting our cars sit for periods of time like this?

[91Towncar4.6L]

Probably depends on the city you live in or else your neighborhood rules. My neighborhood requires that anything parked in the driveway has to be moved at least once every week or else you get mailed a fine.

[v8_dave]

Depends if it has plates on it or not.

[Mr Wiggl3s]

i mean mechanically, anything mechanically i should care about?

[Dereck]

My neighborhood requires that anything parked in the driveway has to be moved at least once every week or else you get mailed a fine.

Hi

Land of the free........my arse!

Regards

Dereck

[ekooke]

i mean mechanically, anything mechanically i should care about?

4 weeks is NOTHING! I let one of my cars sit outside in the winter for 3-4 months (with a trickle charger on the battery) at a time. At spring startup it cranks & starts in 2-3 seconds, runs fine. After startup & run for a few minutes, I then do an oil & filter change, along with a new fuel filter.

[Elemino]

Probably depends on the city you live in or else your neighborhood rules. My neighborhood requires that anything parked in the driveway has to be moved at least once every week or else you get mailed a fine.You must live in a pretty nice neighborhood for them to do that... is it one of those neighborhood committees?

I know around here you only get fined if you let a car sit around parked on the street with expired registration. Otherwise they think you're running a junk yard or something.

[joedogg]

For starters, lets just stay that I will NEVER live with a neighborhood association. The unmitigated gall of those oppressive schmucks!

Also I just wanted to chime in with an on topic post, my '87 sat without being really driven for about a year and a half when I bought it. It needed a new battery and the transmission fluid needed a refill but other than that it was ready to rock. Just make sure that the battery gets hit with a charger once a week or two or just plug in a maintainer. Also check all fluids before starting her up. You'll be okay for quite some time.

[nailfoot]

If it sits in the same spot for 6 months or more, you may have a tire-rot issue. Park it on four concrete cap stones (the 2" thick, 8"x14" blocks) and you should be fine. Or if it is in a paved driveway it will be okay.

[74 Laguna]

I had my 1974 Chevelle parked for just over 16 years.I just started it about three weeks ago. I put a new battery in it, cranked off and on for a few minutes to get the oil flowing and then poured some gas in the vent of the carb which filled the res. of the carb and then started it up. there was very little valve clatter for a few seconds and then it ran fine. I changed the oil and filter put a little air in the tires and it is ready to go.

The tires were brand new when I parked it and they have been sitting in the dirt outside so I do not know how far I would want to go on them but so far so good

[DB]

Hi

Land of the free........my arse!

Regards

Dereck

Dereck:

You totally missed it! The song is about to immigrants:

Orlando DeFrie and Homer D. Brave.

[v8_dave]

I had my 1974 Chevelle parked for just over 16 years.I just started it about three weeks ago. I put a new battery in it, cranked off and on for a few minutes to get the oil flowing and then poured some gas in the vent of the carb which filled the res. of the carb and then started it up. there was very little valve clatter for a few seconds and then it ran fine. I changed the oil and filter put a little air in the tires and it is ready to go.

The tires were brand new when I parked it and they have been sitting in the dirt outside so I do not know how far I would want to go on them but so far so good

Wow, you ran the car until it was out of fuel or used an additive I assume back in '90? I had a car parked for a year and the distributor needed to be cleaned of corrosion and the battery jumped (but that was a Pontiac 350, not a Chevy 350 :rolleyes: )

[87 town]

i mean mechanically, anything mechanically i should care about?

Mine has been sitting in the same spot now over a month with a car cover over it and will stay this way probably for the most part of this winter. I'm using another car for daily driving. Every 3-4 days I start her up and turn the heat/defrost on, use the windows, make sure my oil level is good and drive her back and forth at least a few feet to keep a change in the tire positions on the ground to avoid any rot. Last winter she sat most of the time too. No bigga deal. Keep your oil level up and start her as often as you can, even if just let it run for 10-20 minutes to keep the moisture out and run her through your trans gears at the same time. We have been having a lot of rain lately and when I started her the other day I let her run long enough for all the condensation to come out of the exhaust.
If you can, drive her around the block now and then too.

[Elemino]

I'm using another car for daily driving.That's funny. Park the car that can actually take a hit in the snow and be better off and drive something else.

[87 town]

That's funny. Park the car that can actually take a hit in the snow and be better off and drive something else.

It's mostly about the street salt over here "because" of the snow that I dont drive it. It destroys the metal which I have once already re worked. I'm trying to preserve the ole girl some...lol...
I'm pretty much just driving her on nicer days now. :)

[rainhopper]

Heres a story that should give all of you just cause to lay the pimpslap of the gods down on me.

Had to park my 87 TC with 360k on the clock for about 2 years. I was not nice to this TC from the beginning. was my first townie ^_^ offroading, drifting hard driving. still ran on the original block and trans.

I parked the car at a friends house behind the garage after swearing I was going to get an oil change (it was 10k OVERDUE for an oil change) so there she sat. never got run, never got moved under a tarp. 2 years roll by and I have to bring her home. I dumped a new battery in and cranked her up. no knocks, little studdering at first and a loping idle that went away after 10 minutes. I drove her to my new home 230 miles away STILL no oil change. I then contuned to drive her for the next 6 months (40 miles a day) with the same black sludge.

did I forget to mention that for now 4 years she had NO fliud in the differential? the diff gasket fragged one day and I never got around to fixing it as I was going to do a complete rear end upgrade, wanted to see how long that posi 8.8 could handle life without lube.

Here we are yet another year later, the townie is in my friends posession, she finally got her oil change, still no diff fluid (rolling on 150k I think with no fluid) and shes still running like a champ, just passed emissions testing. Still no major work done.

if thats not a testament to the durability of the towncar I dont know what is. I now own several town cars. only one of which is here in california with me and I learned alot from abusing my first TC. all of my townies are mint flyers including my prized pair named Kanga and Roo both siggy series TC's and my cali TC which is yet to be named which belongs in a museum!

[joedogg]

Good god man! Thats one tough car!

[rainhopper]

I would drive nothing less =) anyone who knows me eventually ends up with a lincoln. if they dont buy one I buy a cheap one for them.

Lincolns are like a drug, get a little taste and your addicted for life.

its gotten to the point that I dont generally engage in the caddy vs linc debates anymore. I'm usually to busy enjoying my TC to care.

[rainhopper]

I should also mention that I began the torment of that poor car at a tender clock reading of only 89k. these cars are durable. as long as you have compression, they will run, neutral slams, reverse slams mine took it all. my repair bills for the abuse never topped 110$ brakes were a big contributer to that high number. when the entire braking system died (someone put PS fluid in my brake fluid drum that I used to top off after a very nice caliper replacement.


the only real problem I had was the TC throwing the pass side front pads off the car constantly. no matter what I did. it would chuck the pads without major provocation. was nice driving 200 miles home one day using nothing but the ebrake (with the auto lock disable when in drive) in the middle of a michigan winter =)

[Red91SiT]

Heres a story that should give all of you just cause to lay the pimpslap of the gods down on me.

Had to park my 87 TC with 360k on the clock for about 2 years. I was not nice to this TC from the beginning. was my first townie ^_^ offroading, drifting hard driving. still ran on the original block and trans.

I parked the car at a friends house behind the garage after swearing I was going to get an oil change (it was 10k OVERDUE for an oil change) so there she sat. never got run, never got moved under a tarp. 2 years roll by and I have to bring her home. I dumped a new battery in and cranked her up. no knocks, little studdering at first and a loping idle that went away after 10 minutes. I drove her to my new home 230 miles away STILL no oil change. I then contuned to drive her for the next 6 months (40 miles a day) with the same black sludge.

did I forget to mention that for now 4 years she had NO fliud in the differential? the diff gasket fragged one day and I never got around to fixing it as I was going to do a complete rear end upgrade, wanted to see how long that posi 8.8 could handle life without lube.

Here we are yet another year later, the townie is in my friends posession, she finally got her oil change, still no diff fluid (rolling on 150k I think with no fluid) and shes still running like a champ, just passed emissions testing. Still no major work done.

if thats not a testament to the durability of the towncar I dont know what is. I now own several town cars. only one of which is here in california with me and I learned alot from abusing my first TC. all of my townies are mint flyers including my prized pair named Kanga and Roo both siggy series TC's and my cali TC which is yet to be named which belongs in a museum!

That's what I call attempted vehicular slaughter!!! Poor old gall, really shocked by your rear end still living though. My old cougars 8.8 rear end pooped out at just over 100,000. It was also subjected to very bad conditions, and i alwasy did wonder why that wierd humming was coming from haha.

[joedogg]

I would drive nothing less =) anyone who knows me eventually ends up with a lincoln. if they dont buy one I buy a cheap one for them.

Lincolns are like a drug, get a little taste and your addicted for life.

its gotten to the point that I dont generally engage in the caddy vs linc debates anymore. I'm usually to busy enjoying my TC to care.
Yeah well look at the reliability of 80's Caddilacs. Its pretty awful. The lincoln is unkillable.