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click and clack

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tahoe healey

tahoe healey

Yoda
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I just read Click and Clack's column in the paper about a guy's driving 300 yards to work each day causing a bit of damage to the engine and exhaust. During winter I "turn-over" the car every two weeks and drive about a foot in the garage. I do this not just for the battery charge but to keep oil flowing, the tires from getting flat spots and the fuel flowing in the carbs. I have a stainless steel exhaust. Am I doing more damage than good?
 
Hey TH,

Just to be on the safe side, I'd advise you drive the car out of the snow area now while you can. No snow down here. Leave your car with me, and I'll make sure I "turn-over" your car every two weeks. Being I've meet you and your a nice guy, I'll even take it out for a spin around the neighbor hood vs. a foot in the garage. Heck, I'll take it around the block and drive it like I stole it!

So in answer to your question, are you doing more damage than good? Let me have it over the winter, then ask yourself the same question. Roger + TH Healey's = more damage than good?

Seriously though, good question. I'd like to know too.
I have a trickle charger hard wired to my battery. (The small charger is hidden under the battery. The chargers female plug extends out under the turn off switch). I simply run an extension cord into the trunk and connect it. Maybe this will solve your battery situation?
Roger
 
I'm of the belief that if you can't drive it long or far enough to get all the fluids up to operating temperature (thus drying out any moisture inside the components) you should just leave it alone.

I realize that there are as many good answers as there are people giving them on this subject, but that's been my s.o.p. as concerns little or seldom driven vehicles.

I also don't "winterize" them, as such. Oh yeah sure, they've got anti-freeze and all that. What I mean is that I don't pull the insurance or jump through a bunch of hoops that would prevent me from driving one of them tomorrow if the roads were clean and dry.

I used the Healey to run up to PetCo last week; a couple days before we got several inches of the white fluffy stuff.
 
I would guess that just idling may do more damage than good. Also guessing that you would need to run the motor at 2000 or so rpm for 15 minutes or more to get the moisture out and heat things up good. Running a motor like that in a garage can be a pain because of all the exhaust fumes (even with the door open of course) but perhaps use a big fan to keep some fresh air moving?

Wonder if you can over-inflate the tires to help with reducing flat spots? Just remember to re-adjust when it's time to drive.

I'm no expert with 'winterizing cars' since I live in So Cal. Will be interesting to hear the other replies.

Cheers,
John
 
Click and Clack are right. If you start it, drive it for at least a couple of miles, or run at a fast idle until thoroughly warmed through, especially the oil. Otherwise you'll fill it with contaminants for no good purpose.
 
I think idling a short time with cold oil would be a serious threat to cam lubrication and probably build moisture and acids in the oil. Water in the exhaust pipes probably won't evaporate off because the pipe may not get hot enough. The over-rich cold engine gas mixture may wash oil from cylinder walls and accelerate wear. Engine starts are generally believed to be a significant wear exposure. For these reasons I think it better to not do short periodic starts under cold conditions.
 
Hi TH, I think short running as you mentioned would do more harm than good for many of the reasons already stated. contaminates from combustion, oil, etc. and condensation constantly being reintroduced, all bad stuff. I don't winterize my collector cars per se either. But I do put in fuel stabilizer into the gas tank just before I stop running them, This to keep the carbs from gumming up and the gas in the tank fresh. About two or three times through out the winter I just push the cars a foot or two to change the weight on the tires. I put the batteries on an auto charger once a month to bring them back to full charge. I usually pull the batteries completely out of the car and have them on the shelf. That way I am sure to do through maintenance to them before the next summer driving season. Clean them and check specific gravity. If they are getting weak, they don't go back in the car. I believe a constant trickly charge will shorten the battery life. Most chargers will keep trying to put a couple amps back into the battery even when they don't need it. The battery in my Vette is 8-years old and still in good shape. As long as the specific gravity is good I have never had to change them. I think the best thing to do with the engine is just let it set there. Maybe if It was setting longer than 3 months I might get alittle nervous. This is the way I have been handling my Vette for 22 years. And the Healey for about 7 years. Buy the way, my Healey sat for about 7 years before I bought it. The engine was rebuilt in the year it was put away, I have never touched the innards of the engine and it is prefect. Well, good luck.
 
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