hey all! brand new to the site and fairly new to my 2004 c5. never owned a corvette before. i purchased it in may of this past spring. please keep in mind, i'm a mechanical simp and have no car skills whatsoever. with that in mind, is there a laundry list for storing this thing. i'm going to bring it in from late october till early may.istorage facility is climate and pest controlled.
know about disconnecting the battery and inflating the tires to around 40psi.what about fluids? oil change, coolant, brake fluid? is there a "before" and "after" list? any suggestions would be much appreciated. thanks in advance!

 

This topic, like "what wax to use", and "which tires are best", will bring you DOZENS of replies. I've been storing cars during the winter, since the mid-late 70s, and here's what I do.

Take the car for a good ride, so it's fully warmed up, and the condensation is out of the exhaust system and the crankcase. Inflate the tires to 40 lbs. then drive the car on to 2-3 "squares" of old carpeting, so the tires aren't on cold concrete for 4 months. (actually, I have the OE wheels, with the worn-out OE tires, that I use for storage).

Changing the oil either before or after storage, is a point of MAJOR discussion. I prefer changing it in the spring. part of the decision depends on how many miles you've driven during the summer leading up to the storage. A number of people will leave a "trickle charger" on the battery all winter long. I don't think that's practice is safe. While charger malfunctions are rare, it CAN happen. My car is in my home garage, so I simply throw the charger on the car once a week, usually when I'm out in the driveway, muscling the snowblower around.

Changing brake fluid is always a good thing. I do it in the spring, when I bring the car out for the season. Coolant should be changed every 4-5 years, and transmission/differential fluids at roughly the same intervals. You also want to add some fuel stabilizer to the gas tank, too.


If you're not aware as to when the coolant has been last changed on your car, I'd suggest doing it now, so you know it will be both fresh, as well as at the proper concentration level. You don't want any "surprises", like a cracked engine block, come next spring.


Good luck!

 

Sounds like you have it. You might want to cover it also with a nice soft breathable cover as far as fluids just do normal maintenance. Anyway that is what has worked for me.

 

I'm in the camp of doing things before putting the car away. I drive my Vette up to 20,000 miles annually which means it is driven in all weather conditions. Dirt and water makes their way into the brake and clutch systems via the pistons. I want those systems as clean as possible while in storage. I also change the oil to remove the acids and grime. I usually have 10k miles on the oil anyways so it is due. Here is the rest of my list...

1) Fill the gas tank full. If you add stabilizer, remember to add it to a partial tank then fill up with gas.
2) Clean the interior and exterior
3) park on carpet squares
4) Add a few PSI to tires
5) Attach battery tender (my car is in the garage where I can monitor otherwise I would remove and store the battery in the basement off the cement floor)
6) Chock the wheels (leave parking brake off)
7) Place transmission in Neutral (manual transmission)
8) Put note on dash to remind myself that the tender is attached and wheels are chocked

 

The posts above cover it very well. The only thing I would add is place some Bounce dryer sheets in the engine bay and the interior to help keep any mice that may find their way into the storage space. You may not have that problem, but better safe than sorry.

 

When I had to put mine to sleep for the winter I did pretty much what was said below but I never disconnected the battery. I just hooked it up to a Battery Tender Plus and forgot about it.

 

thank you everyone! you've been very helpful.