Supra sitting for > one year

Normally I only drive my supra April - September and let it sit over the winter.

This year I have a small liquidity problem and therefore I'm leaning towards let the Supra sit this season. What kind issues should I prepare for if I let it sit for this long? Is there something I can do to prevent i.e. wheel bearings etc from going bad?

Car dont like to be sat for a long time, but if you are leaving it for a while Id change the oil for fresh stuff, inflate the tyres higher than the normal pressures and most importantly dont leave the hand brake on!

I wouldn't worry too much, if you new how long some new cars sit for;) but tyre pressure and hand brake are a good idea, if its inside it should be fine.

tena lady is supposed to be good for your first problem:d

I'd change the oil when you're putting it back on the road (and the coolant) myself

Why the over inflation of tyres?

Agree with the hand brake

Would be worth getting an optimate or similar for the battery or removing it completely

If you can periodically move it then it'll help, even better if you can get it to temperature. Switch gear and electrical stuff tends to die so if you are able to regularly fire it up then put the fans, lights etc on to keep stuff doing what it should

Generally though it'll be fine If you leave it for a very long time then turn it over a few times with the fuel pump (or plugs / whatever you like) removed so it doesn't fire up pumps a little oil around

tena lady is supposed to be good for your first problem:d

LMAO

This might be total pub mechanic talk but I was once told a little drop of oil down each plug hole and and turn it over with out the fuel pump on is good to stop internal surface corrosion on the plug tips and valves etc

Why over inflate the tyres? It avoids flat spots, its far better to move it once in a while, even jack it up and spin the wheels 90 degrees. I could never leave a car alone for a year lol

 

If you can periodically move it then it'll help, even better if you can get it to temperature. Switch gear and electrical stuff tends to die so if you are able to regularly fire it up then put the fans, lights etc on to keep stuff doing what it should

 

I'm dubious about that. Electrics and switchgear are fine not being used, as long as it's in a dry place. Turning stuff on and off is what kills it in the end.

The rest is sound advice though

-Ian

How do you figure turning it on and off causes problems? Any corossion on contacts and motors, connectors etc suffer from lack of use - this is the same on electrical systems in and out of the automotive environment.

Not sure what you mean by flat spots for the tyres and why over inflation helps, could you clarify for me?

if the tyres are left for ages sat in one place the weight of the car can deform the tyre. damaging the tyre wall etc

How do you figure turning it on and off causes problems? Any corossion on contacts and motors, connectors etc suffer from lack of use - this is the same on electrical systems in and out of the automotive environment.

In the world of computers n stuff, it's risky turning stuff off that's been on for a long time and old, because the thermal shock of components cooling and shrinking can mean it never works again. Usually hard drives. Car electricals aren't, admittedly, caned anything like servers and so forth but still, there lies some similarities there.

Corrosion on connectors is caused by two things. One is moisture, and you avoid this by having a dry atmosphere (as I said in my post), or by regularly using the car so the interior and engine bay heats up and evaporates off any moisture buildup. The act of heating the cabin up does this, not that act of using the electrics for a minute or two.

The other sort of "corrosion" isn't really corrosion but is a carbon buildup from sparking/arcing, which is caused by turning the switch on and off. This usually is a problem on more heavy duty switches though, generally not found in car dashboards. I had to clean and rebuild a switch on my portable tyre inflator recently due to this very problem.

So really it comes down to keeping the car dry when it's being stored

Not sure what you mean by flat spots for the tyres and why over inflation helps, could you clarify for me?

If you let a car stand for a long time on the same patch of tyre, the sidewall deforms permanently and that patch flattens out. I'm unconvinced personally about overinflation helping here as it'd probably just deform a slightly smaller contact patch, but then I could be wrong. I'd try and roll the car a bit every now and again to change the patch of tyre that it's resting on.

-Ian

Thermal shock etc for products that are 'aways on' has, as far as I can see, no relevance here??

In all likelihood you won't have a dry atmosphere, you will reach dew point and you will see condensation. It happens in almost every vehicle stored for a long time without use

Two sorts of corrosion are simple oxidation of metals and fungal growth (you've seen green steering wheels in vehicles that are left for 6 months etc). Carbon buildup etc isn't what you are worried about on a fan switch etc

I assumed the deformation was the cause but just checking, that being the case I agree over inflating probably won't do much to stop it but up to you on this one