hibernation for sl

[damien13]

hiafter cleaning my 420sl i have decieded tostore it untill thesummer apart from batterry disconnecting is there any thing else i need to do ihave heard that br akes can seize,clliapers. all advice would be helpful :?: reagards damien

 

[landover]

If it is manual the clutch plate can stick to the flywheel. you would be better giving the car a small run every couple of weeks.Even start it and drive it back and forward. The exhaust will corrode as well if left lying.

hope this helps.

 

[Mikesmerc]

Hi Damien, my 72 350sl has been stored now for over a month but I always try and take it for a spin once a month just to keep everything free as Landrover said. My calipers were locked solid when I bought it. She was parked up for over a year. Idleness is a bad thing. Give it a good waxing and a good quality cover. I presume its auto.
Regards
Mike

 

[Mikesmerc]

Hi Damien, my 72 350sl has been stored now for over a month but I always try and take it for a spin once a month just to keep everything free as Landrover said. My calipers were locked solid when I bought it. She was parked up for over a year. Idleness is a bad thing. Give it a good waxing and a good quality cover. I presume its auto.
Regards
Mike

 

[damien13]

thankyou gentleman i will try to take it for a spin once amonth if it;s not raining :!: regards damien

 

[dieselman]

To winterise a car wash and wax the body, grease the alloy wheels, over inflate the tyres, change the engine oil and antifreeze, run the engine and then remove the air untake ducting and pour some oil in.

When the car produces lots of blue smoke switch off the engine straight away, even better if you can stall it with oil. This leaves the internals coated with oil.

Bung the air intake and exhaust with rag to stop air getting in.

Remove and/or trickle charge the battery.

Park the car with the handbrake off either in gear or park to stop the brakes binding on.

If it's a manual you can chock the clutch pedal down to stop binding also.

When you restart it will smoke for a short whilt but this is good because it means the oil is still there.

 

[mlc]

Hi,

I dont always agree with Landover, but I think he's spot on with this. I have a 72 250SL manual which stood for 7 years before I bought it. All the problems I had were associated with standing. For the last two winters I have tried to use it at least once a week, only going out in the dry if possible. The car lives in the garage and had the roof down for most of last winter, although the hard top is now on. When I first got the car back on the road it took at least 500 miles of use for everything to settle down, the last thing I want is to go throught that process again. including lots of things you might not expect - for instance the gear shift took forever to ease up, the heater controls were stuck, the wiper motor was siezed.

Bottom line, use it and enjoy - wrap up and get the roof down!

Mark.

 

[Arnie]

I found that it's best to use the car as often as possible... and to run it so that the engine and exhaust get really hot (otherwise condensation will rot a cold exhaust).

Unless a garage is heated or, at least, well ventilated, the car will suffer from damp and humidity more than you might think. Not so bad for the body exterior and bits that you can see, but rust and corrosion will develop. Keeping the car ouside, can sometimes be better from that point of view, but of course other problems will arise.

There are cocoon things and special covers (about £300) that you can zip up your car in with a bucket of silica gel to keep things dry, but the best thing I think is to use it as often as possible.

BTW: pouring oil in to air intake is not such a good idea if your car has a catalyst, as the burnt deposits can shorten its life as well as mess up the Llambda sensor. Otherwise, good idea.