ATS

I have an E500 with AMG wheels and I am storing my car for the winter in my garage.. I don't want to bother with winter tires and I only really drive to work in the winter.

So, is there anything that I should be doing? Should I be starting the car every once in a while or should I just leave it alone.

Thanks guys. Any tips you guys have would be great.


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DWP

The debate over proper winter storage techniques is more theological than mechanical. I'm agnostic on the subject because it never snows here. FWIW, here's what the Car Talk guys (from Boston) have to say on the subject:

http://www.cartalk.com/content/colum.../March/03.html

SAguirre

I did not read up on the car talk advice, but here are my two cents worth:

I would get a good quality "battery maintainer" I have a charger that is also a battery maintainer. Do not confuse a 2 amp trickle charge with a maintainer. After a winter, if you leave the 2 amp charger on all the time you will overcharge the battery. Anyway, hook up the maintainer straight to the battery and it should make sure that the battery does not get either drained or overcharged. All of my batteries on my MBs have always lasted at least 5 years since I always hooked them up when the car sits for more than 2 weeks.

I would not remove the battery since there are TOO MANY electrical systems that might not like it! Also, since my E turns off the trunk lights after a few minutes, I would at least leave the trunk ajar since you don’t want any Hydrogen fumes getting stuck in the trunk (This is my opinion, but I doubt it is a real problem).

Also, you might want to think about raising the car off the ground if you think that your tires will develop flat spots. I am on the fence on this one. I have only raised my car when I stored it for 2 years while I lived in Europe. Two years might ruin tires, but one winter might not do anything.

As per starting it, DO NOT START IT! If you do, then it should run for a long time and not at idle. If you start the car and then stop it, you will cause condensation in the oil and in the exhaust. My Porsche mechanic always is rebuilding engines on Porsches that are started for a few minutes and then stopped for a few weeks. He showed me proof about the damage this does.

O, I would see if it would be OK to put fuel stabilizer in the tank, and then run the engine for a while to make sure it is in the engine and then turn the car off for good. On my old MB, I also took the plug out and put motor oil in each cylinder. After two years, when I first started the car, there was no oil cloud! But, with all the plugs in these engines, I would probably skip that part, especially if it is just for one winter.

I hope this helps,

Steve A.

jago1244

i think you can follow a few basics
as mentioned above ,
battery maintainer is important.
i would also over-inflate the tires somewhat to prevent the flat spots instead of raising the car.
if car is on concrete, put some kind of barrier to block moisture from seeping up from concrete. i am told leaving the car on concrete thru a cold damp winter can be very corrosive. i think one of those plastic or rubbery parking mats sold in catalogs will do.
and i agree that car has to be run well into normal operating temps or else you are doing a lot of harm.

good luck . j.

pfphipps

20 years ago or so, I had to store a Mercedes for about two years. At the time, Mercedes had a publication that gave their recommendations on storing, both for relatively short periods and for longer periods. I do not know if such a publication exists for the newer models but it might be worth calling the toll free number and asking.

I cannot remember everything but it is along the same lines as people have suggested and a few more things. A couple of recommendations that I thought were interesting involved covering the exhaust pipe opening and the air intake opening. That was to keep the mice and other things like that from making a new home there.

ATS

Thanks for all the advice and links!

SAguirre, thanks for the tips re: not starting the car.. I had no idea.

So, this battery maintainer - Do I just need to hook this up the the battery in the trunck and not the one in the engine?

SAguirre

You should hook it up to the battery in the trunk. The battery under the hood should get maintained at the same time since they are linked.

The battery under the hood is strictly to ensure that the SBC system will have enough voltage and amperage to work even under the most extreme loads. My understanding is that the SBC battery will receive voltage from the car, but can only be drained by the SBC system. This way, if the alternator fails, it will only drain your main battery (in the trunk). The engine will stall due to running the battery low, but the little battery under the hood should still have juice to bring you to a stop a few times even if everything else died.

This is the only car that I know of that has power boost on its brakes even when the engine is off and not turning. The SBC is quite redundant.

Hope this helps

Steve A.

marcos

All good tips above that make sense but one other thing is not to leave the parking brake on, I did once whilst storing a car and it ruined the rotors and pads.

SAguirre

I don't know if that is a factor on MBs since the parking brake is the little drum brake. My Audi sure does not like to have the parking brake on for long periods of time if it was wet outside when I engaged it. The pads leave a big rust mark on the rear rotors.

Steve