Storage

[David T]

Spray fogging won't help with long term storage. In the cylinders where the piston is near the top you can't lubricate the cylinder below the piston. I have seen some cars (not many) with a device you put in place of the spark plugs that is supposed to release lubrication to keep the cylinder lubricated. That doesn't work either. The best thing you can do is once in a while rotate the motor so the rings and the valves don't get stuck. Like once a year. Also turn the A/C compressor over a few times by hand but figure on losing the refrigerant. No one does this. The clutch also can get stuck but that can be broken loose but you wind up having to go in to it anyway because the throwout bearing will start making noise. For really long term storage the best you can do is remove the battery, anti-freeze, fuel and brake fluid. Keep the car in a dry place out of the weather on a hard surface.

[Citizen]

I think post #1 by David T. is a great and comprehensive post. Nevertheless, not living in the north, I wonder why so many DeLorean owners put their cars in long-term storage. For some it’s a must, I suppose, but for many where your car is in your own garage, why not put in a block heater, and once per week open the big door and run the car for about 30 minutes or so, and maybe move the car a little bit each time within the garage? While the engine is running, run both the A/C and heater some. Depress the brake and clutch pedals and run it through all the gears. If you ran the gas down before storage, you then could add a half gallon or so each week you start the car, thus keeping it fresh. All this while keeping your cars off the road and out of the rain, snow and salt.

I’ll probably get flamed for such a simplistic suggestion, but it seems doing the above would prevent all the fluid, tire and battery issues, engine lube/lock and A/C lock issues, and eliminate the storage gimmicks and “wake-up” procedure in the spring.

Ok, I got my flame suit on, proceed….

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[David T]

Doesn't work that way. One week the car doesn't start or the battery is dead or some other problem and the routine is disrupted. Or the weather is bad. Point is, if the car is not prepared for long term storage it becomes a big job to get it going again because in too many cases short term storage becomes long term storage. No one expected to put their car away last winter and not use it all season long this past year. And now we have another winter. A lot of us don't have the luxury of inside storage or at least inside storage in their house where they can get to it easily. The main point of my first post was that short term storage has a way of becoming long term storage. Under ideal conditions your way of handling short term storage can work but if things age out like the brake fluid gets old, it has to get changed during short term storage.

[Bill6298]

Nevertheless, not living in the north, I wonder why so many DeLorean owners put their cars in long-term storage.

One week the car doesn't start or the battery is dead or some other problem and the routine is disrupted.

This was exactly my experience. Something goes wrong and you don't expect to end up with long term storage problems because you were not planning on long term storage in the first place.

In Florida, the winter is the best time for me to do work because it's cooler. When I bought mine in 2000, I only had a small garage at an apartment complex and it became miserable to do work in such a cramped space with no windows. For those not familiar with the weather, it could be 100% humidity and 100F+ interior temps in what amounts to a cheaply constructed storage shed with no electricity. It was actually easier to do work outside although that wasn't allowed and risked getting towed.

When something broke in the summer, I would usually just procrastinate for cooler weather. I'm the first to admit I had lots of excuses and could have managed it better. Over a 20 year time span, you learn a lot the hard way.