[at-l] Car Talk

[thornel@attglobal.net (W F Thorneloe)]

Putting your car on blocks and turning in your tags is not all that 
difficult. The idea of blocks (in the old days concrete blocks to hold the 
axle off the ground, but now car supports) is to avoid your tires dry 
rotting. This also assures that your car is out of service and not using 
the roads. You can re-tag the car on return, and would still be liable for 
ad valorem or property taxes while you own it.

There are several parts of your car that do not like to be unused. The most 
important is the brake system. Your brake fluid tries to get humidity and 
moisture into it. If a substantial amount gets in, you create steam instead 
of hydraulic pressure. Result: your brakes fail as you drive down the hill 
to get your first pizza after returning from your hike. Solution, plan to 
have the brakes serviced before you drive it again by replacing the brake 
fluid. Other solution is to keep the car driven.

The gas can go "bad" sitting unused in your tank, and can deposit shellac 
in your fuel injectors or carburetor as well as coat the spark plugs with 
non-sparking gunk. The solution is to run the car at idle until fuel is 
empty, run it with a fuel stabilizer in the last tank before you leave or 
just arrange to have the car driven.

Then you have the additional concerns of the battery (either disconnect the 
ground or drive the car), critters taking residence in the exhaust or 
passenger compartments, air pollution and bird droppings eating the paint 
and other hazards. Your choices are to have the car driven, arrange for 
some hassles of storage and maintenance or sell the car and buy another one 
on your return. I think you might find similar advice on www.cartalk.com 
with Click and Clack the tappet brothers, often heard on NPR.

Us VW drivers and collector wannabes have to deal with these issues from 
time to time.

OrangeBug

At 01:17 PM 3/21/2002 -0500, Jan Leitschuh wrote:
>If I park my car for six months of hiking, what considerations do I need to
>look at?
>
>  Do I put it  blocks (whatever THAT means...)? Should I leave the keys with
>someone? Have them start it monthly? Weekly?
>I have a cover for it. I'll park it where a tree won't fall on it, probably
>on a friend's farm.
>
>I just learned that to stop my car insurance, I have to turn in my tags.
>Makes sense, but just one more thing I hadn't though of...