Winter -- Assuming you have this issues - Step inside.

[jb666]

So I'm trying to settle a discussion with a buddy of mine.  IF you live in a climate that requires "Winter storage" for a number of months, which do you do?

[tan top]

 start it up  once a month or every couple of weeks , depends , no set pattern !! let it run for an hour or two sometimes more  , move it in & out of the garage depending on weather,  load the motor up against the converter & do a few hops     when it wont creat too much attention    ,    or if i'm going to be changing plugs , oil  etc  just leave it on jack stands & let it run ! always more than an hour though , get every thing throughly warmed  up
only thing then is keep having to go to the gas station with a can  

[elacruze]

I voted start it, but either way is ok. I could never go all winter without tinkering or just wanting to hear it run, and I wouldn't start it without allowing full operating temperatures after sitting for a long while.

[Cooter]

Start it...Saves problems when Spring comes if the car is used to being started up. Sitting all that time and then throwing the coals to it isn't good...

[Ghoste]

I start it up from time to time and roll it up and down the driveway a few times.  Let it get to operating temp and all of that.  I do add stabilizer to the fuel and I keep the tank topped up as well.

[Stretch]

I use Stabilizer and start it up. I also have a battery tender on it. I start it and back it out pretty much every time I'm doing somthing in my garage. The last thing I want is to have sparks hitting it or the car cover on it or have something bang into it depending on what I'm doing. When I start it and back it out, I let it run untill shes throughly warmed up.

[BananaDan]

Last winter was my first winter having my car back from resto.  I started her up and ran her every 4-6 weeks for 20-30 minutes and I also had the battery on a tender the entire winter.  I did the interior restoration from about Feb. through May, during which time she didn't run at all and the battery was still on a tender.  She fired right up in May and everything checked out.  I didn't use stabilizer but I will be doing that going forward.  I also know people that do the tender and stabilizer only and don't run them until the winter breaks, so I haven't decided if I'm going to stop that practice.

[Stretch]

Just a quick note. If your using stabilizer and there is ethanol in the gas in your area, make sure the stabilizer you use is ethanol compatible. The Red stuff sold under the name Sta-bil  (for example) is not effective with ethanol blend fuels. The ethonal safe stuff usually has a greenish blue color to it and says that its made for ethonal blend fuels on the lable.

[bakerhillpins]

Talked about this a bit here and there was an ensuing discussion.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,85982.msg967856.html#msg967856

but basically:

- put stabilizer in the tank and fill it
- put a bunch of bounce sheets in the cabin and trunk (I don't have any evidence to support that this isn't any thing more than snake oil but ill give it a shot)
- pull down the visors
- crack the windows to let it vent and put a bed sheet over the gaps. (I think I will get a car cover for next year)
- pull the battery and take it home to put on a tender.

Ill let you know how the experiment turns out.

[bill440rt]

I pull all the batteries out. I bought one of those 5-gang battery tenders, so it charges the car batteries, lawn tractor, trailer, etc all at once.
Sta-Bil goes in every tank. They get covered with car covers, and in some cases, a Car Jacket. I have bags of dessicant that I'll put in the interior, trunk, etc. Sometimes I'll change the oil beforehand, so in the spring it starts with clean oil.
Oh, and rags in the tailpipes! Keeps the critters out.

[BrianShaughnessy]

Start it when I feel like it when there's a halfazz warm spell and run it awhile.   There's a battery tender on it.

[chargerjy9]

my car is in a heated storage facility. just put in Stabilizer and disconnect the battery, and cover it up. been doing it this way for as long as i have owned it, come spring it starts up as if it were parked yesterday.

[GPULLER]

I voted for leave it alone. 
Harder on it to try and start it when its 10-15 below zero, unless you put light oil in the motor before you store it.  I dump some fuel stabilizer in the tank and spray the engine down with some light oil like WD40 to stop rust from the warm/cold cycles towards spring, when everything starts to sweat.
Once it gets to March or so I'll fire it up, and let it get up to operating temp to burn out the moisture out of the crankcase.

[jb666]

I voted for leave it alone. 
Harder on it to try and start it when its 10-15 below zero, unless you put light oil in the motor before you store it.  I dump some fuel stabilizer in the tank and spray the engine down with some light oil like WD40 to stop rust from the warm/cold cycles towards spring, when everything starts to sweat.
Once it gets to March or so I'll fire it up, and let it get up to operating temp to burn out the moisture out of the crankcase.

Ok, let me toss another variable into the equation. My garage never goes below 45 degrees, AT IT'S COLDEST.  I agree with the 10-15 below.. But, if it's stored in a heated garage?

[GPULLER]

I voted for leave it alone.  
Harder on it to try and start it when its 10-15 below zero, unless you put light oil in the motor before you store it.  I dump some fuel stabilizer in the tank and spray the engine down with some light oil like WD40 to stop rust from the warm/cold cycles towards spring, when everything starts to sweat.
Once it gets to March or so I'll fire it up, and let it get up to operating temp to burn out the moisture out of the crankcase.

Ok, let me toss another variable into the equation. My garage never goes below 45 degrees, AT IT'S COLDEST.  I agree with the 10-15 below.. But, if it's stored in a heated garage?

If your garage never gets below 45 might as well start once and a while.  Gotta get your fix somehow.   

[jb666]

Gotcha 

[Todd Wilson]

I start it up from time to time and roll it up and down the driveway a few times.  Let it get to operating temp and all of that.  I do add stabilizer to the fuel and I keep the tank topped up as well.

I do this and also pump the brakes  to keep the wheel cylinders moving and grooving.


Todd

[twodko]

These old cars of ours are like airplanes in that they don't do well sitting for long periods of time. I think what folks do is dependent on their specific climates. Also, what works for one may not work for others.

[bordin34]

I drive mine whenever I feel like it unless there is a ton of salt. I've even taken it out in the snow.
In the picture I couldn't make it back up the driveway so I went for a little drive. I've taken it out in sleet, rain, snow. But I do always hose it off thoroughly afterwards.

[jb666]

I understand what you're saying, but once the salt flies, the car dies... (Plus I'm running drag radials, not very good in anything but dry). Salt not only gets ON everything, but it gets INSIDE areas that you can't possibly reach... And eventually eats everything from the inside out...

So in this area, once the roads get that White haze (caused by salt) the car is 100% officially off the road....

[41husk]

I start it up from time to time and roll it up and down the driveway a few times.  Let it get to operating temp and all of that.  I do add stabilizer to the fuel and I keep the tank topped up as well.

I do the same!

[4cruzin]

I usually leave it alone until spring . . . never touch it.  I will also fog out the engine with a good fogging oil, add some moth ball to the interior and trunk area, top off the gas tank and as already mentioned . . sta-bil.  This year since my stroker motor is new and only has a couple hundred miles on it . . I will unlash the valves so the springs are relaxed.   

[Troy]

There are some people who never take their car out of the garage.

I'll drive mine pretty much any time it's above 60 degrees so I never officially "winterize" them. I have driven as late as Thanksgiving and as early as February. This year I ran 4 tanks of gas through the Challenger before April. I will usually top off the tanks and add fuel stabilizer. I have been reconsidering topping off the tanks because the winter before last my Mach 1 split a fuel line and dumped about a gallon of premium on the floor before I found it (my garage is not at my house). The garage is heated so I'm thankful that it didn't explode. It did take several days to get all the fumes out. I always disconnect the batteries.

Troy

[TK73]

I drive mine whenever I feel like it unless there is a ton of salt. I've even taken it out in the snow.
In the picture I couldn't make it back up the driveway so I went for a little drive. I've taken it out in sleet, rain, snow. But I do always hose it off thoroughly afterwards.

Gotta respect that 

I drove mine in the winter on weekends when I didn't have to wait to warm the thing up to get to work...

[bordin34]

When I owned my Valiant it was my winter beater too. Took it out in the snow all the time.

I also took my Charger out in the snowstorm that occurred a couple days before this picture. Traction was a bit of a problem. Even raced a VW Passat at a traffic light. I won only because I think I scared the girls in it from bouncing off my rev limiter spinning the tires in first.