Sad Saturday ...

Don M

Don M

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Today is a sad day...the weather has gone from awesome Thursday, to rain all day Friday, to 37* with suspicions of $n@w this afternoon.

For the first time EVER, the Camaro has been put away in the garage to sit out the winter months (I haven't "Put a car away," for over 30 years, and I've forgotten how to act). And the final downer, was gathering all my detailing chemicals from the garage, boxing them up and putting them in the basement to keep them from freezing and being ruined. Even the garden hose has been disconnected, rolled up and put away.

Here is a picture of my sorrow (and before anyone asks, there IS a thick, fluffy microfiber towel between the box and the hood). :)

tn_Sad_Sturday.jpg
 
But just think how fun it will be to haul it all out next spring and "discover it" all over again, it will feel like Christmas
 
To a small degree...I know how you feel. We've had a very mild November....but that is all subject to change this week. Temps dropping to the 40's, with overnight lows in the 20's. Just finished getting the truck coated before the bottom falls out.
 
Man! Don’t do that. I was thinking the worst. But I know what you mean, we had mid 70s until Friday and today it is rainy and cold and I need to disconnect the hose today due to freezing the next few days. And my car needed washing but I was slammed with work so didn’t even get to wash it.

Is it too early to be thinking about spring knowing we still have winter to come? :)
 
And so it begins...I was in a t shirt outside 20 hours ago

FfRK3YB.jpg

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Don M said:
Today is a sad day...the weather has gone from awesome Thursday, to rain all day Friday, to 37* with suspicions of $n@w this afternoon.

For the first time EVER, the Camaro has been put away in the garage to sit out the winter months (I haven't "Put a car away," for over 30 years, and I've forgotten how to act). And the final downer, was gathering all my detailing chemicals from the garage, boxing them up and putting them in the basement to keep them from freezing and being ruined. Even the garden hose has been disconnected, rolled up and put away.

Here is a picture of my sorrow (and before anyone asks, there IS a thick, fluffy microfiber towel between the box and the hood). :)

tn_Sad_Sturday.jpg
Click to expand...
Have any way for any type of heat source even if temperary in that garage? Could do some cold weather detailing lol

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
 
Rain here too from hurricane Nichol. Sadly, moved all my stuff to the heated portion of the basement today.
 
Get some cotton balls and peppermint oil and put them in and around your car. Supposed to keep the mice away.
 
dgage said:
Man! Don’t do that. I was thinking the worst. But I know what you mean, we had mid 70s until Friday and today it is rainy and cold and I need to disconnect the hose today due to freezing the next few days. And my car needed washing but I was slammed with work so didn’t even get to wash it.

Is it too early to be thinking about spring knowing we still have winter to come? :)
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Sorry about that, didn't mean to freak anyone out
 
Yep. It's over for us who live in such climates. The good thing is that every spring it is like getting a new car!
 
Hey, funny enough this is my first winter putting a car away in 31 years, too. I just turned 31 lololol.

The 2003 Honda Discord is my first dedicated winter beater and so far proving that it should make the winter. Rockers are rotted, so gonna take it year by year with this one. Only 116k on it and 20 years old, I figured anyone can get another 100k out of this. As long as the trans shutter into 3rd doesn't get any worse.....

GLI got put away with overinflated tires and a half tank of Shell 93 with some seafoam in it to "stabilize" it and prevent storage problems pertaining to ethanol in fuel. I figured I would start the car and move it back and forth throughout the winter to keep the tires in a different spot. Discovering flat spots in the spring at 80 would be not cool man.
 
PouncingPanzer said:
Hey, funny enough this is my first winter putting a car away in 31 years, too. I just turned 31 lololol.

The 2003 Honda Discord is my first dedicated winter beater and so far proving that it should make the winter. Rockers are rotted, so gonna take it year by year with this one. Only 116k on it and 20 years old, I figured anyone can get another 100k out of this. As long as the trans shutter into 3rd doesn't get any worse.....

GLI got put away with overinflated tires and a half tank of Shell 93 with some seafoam in it to "stabilize" it and prevent storage problems pertaining to ethanol in fuel. I figured I would start the car and move it back and forth throughout the winter to keep the tires in a different spot. Discovering flat spots in the spring at 80 would be not cool man.
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My only comment is if you start it, make sure it gets fully up to temp.
Worst thing is to start engine and run it for a few minutes then shut off.
2nd is getting coolant up to temp, but not oil.
Coolant may hit operating temp, but oil takes a bit longer.

My Golf R had a oil temp readout and in winter months, it took a good 10 miles for oil to reach operating temp. Coolant was hot about half that.
If you just let it idle, I bet it would take a good half hour (or more) of idling to get oil up to temp.

If I were you, and what I do, if you're not going to drive it, just put it in neutral and roll it back and forth a few feet to put tire on a different spot.

I'll also state that I've parked my Mustang in same spot for 6 months with over inflated summer tires and any flat spotting was gone within a few miles in the spring.
I may have topped off the tire pressures once over the winter.
 
Odrapnew said:
My only comment is if you start it, make sure it gets fully up to temp.
Worst thing is to start engine and run it for a few minutes then shut off.
2nd is getting coolant up to temp, but not oil.
Coolant may hit operating temp, but oil takes a bit longer.

My Golf R had a oil temp readout and in winter months, it took a good 10 miles for oil to reach operating temp. Coolant was hot about half that.
If you just let it idle, I bet it would take a good half hour (or more) of idling to get oil up to temp.

If I were you, and what I do, if you're not going to drive it, just put it in neutral and roll it back and forth a few feet to put tire on a different spot.

I'll also state that I've parked my Mustang in same spot for 6 months with over inflated summer tires and any flat spotting was gone within a few miles in the spring.
I may have topped off the tire pressures once over the winter.
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Oil op temp is 140F in the Vdubs if I remember correctly, the GLI doesn't have the digital gauge cluster the Golf and GTI got. The nice thing about the Gen 3 TSI is the coolant running through the turbo manifold makes the engine warm up VERY fast. Love that change from the Gen 2s. And "starting it up" would probably happen on nicer days where the roads are dry so I could actually take it around the block or something. I am aware that idling for a few minutes and then shutting down is the quickest way to rot the exhaust off a car there is.
 
PouncingPanzer said:
Oil op temp is 140F in the Vdubs if I remember correctly, the GLI doesn't have the digital gauge cluster the Golf and GTI got. The nice thing about the Gen 3 TSI is the coolant running through the turbo manifold makes the engine warm up VERY fast. Love that change from the Gen 2s. And "starting it up" would probably happen on nicer days where the roads are dry so I could actually take it around the block or something. I am aware that idling for a few minutes and then shutting down is the quickest way to rot the exhaust off a car there is.
Click to expand...

It's not only the rotting of the exhaust system that you should be concerned with... It's getting the oil warm enough, and for a long enough period of time, to eliminate any moisture (condensation) from the crankcase.

My rule of thumb is that I like to drive at least 15 miles any time I start my vehicles. If I need to make a short trip to the corner store or something like that, I'll usually (not always) do a long-about detour to give at least 15 minutes of run time.
 
2black1s said:
It's not only the rotting of the exhaust system that you should be concerned with... It's getting the oil warm enough, and for a long enough period of time, to eliminate any moisture (condensation) from the crankcase.

My rule of thumb is that I like to drive at least 15 miles any time I start my vehicles. If I need to make a short trip to the corner store or something like that, I'll usually (not always) do a long-about detour to give at least 15 minutes of run time.
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So very true. That moisture makes stuff sludge up if you don't burn it off. Depending on the temps speeds and such, it might take more than 15 minutes to get the oil up to temp. My last two cars have both had oil temp displays and I've been really surprised to see how long it takes for the oil to reach operating temps after the coolant is normal.

As for putting the car away for the winter, I'm sure there will be some nice dry days when the sun is shining and the temps move into the 40's (or better). On a day like that, pull that baby out and enjoy a nice long drive! It funny around here to see all the nice cars that come out on a abnormally nice winter day.
 
PouncingPanzer said:
Oil op temp is 140F in the Vdubs if I remember correctly, the GLI doesn't have the digital gauge cluster the Golf and GTI got. The nice thing about the Gen 3 TSI is the coolant running through the turbo manifold makes the engine warm up VERY fast. Love that change from the Gen 2s. And "starting it up" would probably happen on nicer days where the roads are dry so I could actually take it around the block or something. I am aware that idling for a few minutes and then shutting down is the quickest way to rot the exhaust off a car there is.
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Operating oil temp of my Golf R, after fully stabilizing was in the 210-225F range depending on ambient temps.
The gauge (digital readout) didn't register until it hit I think 135F.

You really want to get it as close to water boiling point (212F) as possible to burn off condensation as others have stated.

But, I like your plan of actually driving the car when you can.
 
Odrapnew said:
Operating oil temp of my Golf R, after fully stabilizing was in the 210-225F range depending on ambient temps.
The gauge (digital readout) didn't register until it hit I think 135F.

You really want to get it as close to water boiling point (212F) as possible to burn off condensation as others have stated.

But, I like your plan of actually driving the car when you can.
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We're getting a bit off topic, but I think the "normal" operating temp varies from car to car, engine to engine. My BRZ sits at 190~210 as normal. The BMW 6-cyclinder I had before that would sit anywhere between 180~200 based on the drive mode selected. Of course all of those readings are based on dash gauges, and not an OBDII scan of the actual sensors.

The important thing really is to get it up to normal and then leave it there for a while to get everything properly heated and the moisture burned off.
 
2black1s said:
It's not only the rotting of the exhaust system that you should be concerned with... It's getting the oil warm enough, and for a long enough period of time, to eliminate any moisture (condensation) from the crankcase.

My rule of thumb is that I like to drive at least 15 miles any time I start my vehicles. If I need to make a short trip to the corner store or something like that, I'll usually (not always) do a long-about detour to give at least 15 minutes of run time.
Click to expand...

My daily commute to work is 22 minutes on the highway. I am ok with short trips over the weekend, 5AM Monday arrives soon enoguh I won't lose sleep over it. Oil can also get acidic from frequently short trips, which is why it should be changed at least annually even if the car only moved 400 miles all year long. I changed the oil in my dad's '91 12V Cummins(so 13 quarts) and there was only 51 miles since the last change. It's a garage queen at this point but he understands that time means as much or more to oil degradation than actual milage.

And I doublechecked op temp for engien oil in Vdubs is 210F not 140F. Not sure where I got such a low number from haha.
 
Desertnate said:
So very true. That moisture makes stuff sludge up if you don't burn it off. Depending on the temps speeds and such, it might take more than 15 minutes to get the oil up to temp. My last two cars have both had oil temp displays and I've been really surprised to see how long it takes for the oil to reach operating temps after the coolant is normal.

As for putting the car away for the winter, I'm sure there will be some nice dry days when the sun is shining and the temps move into the 40's (or better). On a day like that, pull that baby out and enjoy a nice long drive! It funny around here to see all the nice cars that come out on a abnormally nice winter day.
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I plan on those random 40 degree days without precipitation for just that! Bound to get a few over the winter.
 
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