Storing with gas in tank, for a year or more?
Hi folks, I'd like your advice! I probably won't be driving my van in the next 12 months. It has a full gas tank, regular gas. It's up on leveling blocks and I would like to keep it that way, ...
Forum Discussion
Naio,
I see lots of room to prevent problems here.
The first is that your plan is for a year shutdown. When I put boats (not mine, these are clients that pay my)up for storage, I always do it for indefinite storage not matter what the owner says. You should do the same. There have been more than a few times that the vessel was stored longer than was expected.
You give no hint what model year the van is. If it is less than ancient, it does not have a carburetor, but has electrically opened fuel injectors. These turn out to be very foul proof. Adding a fuel stabilizer won't hurt and when done, you can top off the tank(s) from a can. This will limit the amount of breathing in air and moisture that the tanks can do.
Next - Fog the engine(s). This is done in the marine trades all the time. Years later a well fogged engine can be re-started with no issue but a few minutes of smoke. With the right fogging oil, the O2 sensor and catalyst will even survive.
Last - Either get power to the batteries or get them to where they can be kept on an service charger. If there is now power available, there are small solar panels available to do this.
There is no way to keep the tires and other rubber from aging out. I keep looking of a calendar retarder, but the technology just has not gotten there yet.
Matt
I see lots of room to prevent problems here.
The first is that your plan is for a year shutdown. When I put boats (not mine, these are clients that pay my)up for storage, I always do it for indefinite storage not matter what the owner says. You should do the same. There have been more than a few times that the vessel was stored longer than was expected.
You give no hint what model year the van is. If it is less than ancient, it does not have a carburetor, but has electrically opened fuel injectors. These turn out to be very foul proof. Adding a fuel stabilizer won't hurt and when done, you can top off the tank(s) from a can. This will limit the amount of breathing in air and moisture that the tanks can do.
Next - Fog the engine(s). This is done in the marine trades all the time. Years later a well fogged engine can be re-started with no issue but a few minutes of smoke. With the right fogging oil, the O2 sensor and catalyst will even survive.
Last - Either get power to the batteries or get them to where they can be kept on an service charger. If there is now power available, there are small solar panels available to do this.
There is no way to keep the tires and other rubber from aging out. I keep looking of a calendar retarder, but the technology just has not gotten there yet.
Matt
