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Diesel that will be parked for 9 months a year

Hello:

We recently bought brand new Dodge Ram '05. We used it tow our travel trailer during the summer and now it will be parked for the next 8 or 9 months. We live near the sea, so the air is constantly humid and their is a significant amount of airborne "salt mist". The truck is parked in a garage, but the garage to big windows that have nothing but metal bars on the, so that the outside air circulates freely through the garage.

So my question is what should I do to ensure that our Dodge Ram CTD remains in top notch condition and is not harmed by the 8 to 9 months of being parked in a humid and saline environment?

  1. How often should I start-it up?
  2. When I start-up should I run it n the highway for a some time?
  3. Is there anything I need to do to the fuel (like put a stabilizer in it)?
  4. What about the engine oil?Do need to change it before we embark on our annual summer trip?
  5. Should I disconnet the batteties?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Reply to
thepakman
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Sell it and rent a truck when you need to move your trailer or pay somebody to tow it.

Reply to
Roy

"Roy" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

Oh really? I just traded in my 1979 4WD Dodge. It only began falling apart this past year. It's never been garaged. As far as renting....where the heck would that happen! No where. And you would trust some jerk to do the towing...LOL.

Reply to
Yenc-Post 2002

YENC-POST 2002 scribbled in the wall;

And you live where, exactly?

I'm in the deserts of UT and I see solid, old iron everyday, like a 64 Belvedere 318 polyhead with still shiny original paint, or a 46 PowerWagon that just needs a little TLC for it's paint.

Btw, look in the yellow pages for a place to rent a truck from, under "auto rentals" or possibly "tool rentals" either one works here in this little burg of 4000 population.

Budd.

Reply to
Budd Cochran

i'd call cummins and check with them as to storage for the diesel powerplant. or check with a tractor dealer (look in a owners manual for a farm tractor) they have storage instructions for their engines. (but again probably want to verify they would be recommended on your application)

Reply to
Christopher Thompson

That is my point. The truck in question, a fairly expensive truck, will be sitting in a shelter by the sea shore for 8-9 months. That is probably the worst storage situation. Even following the factory storage procedure and putting it in a envelope will help some but...

Hot shot or equipment rental,

Reply to
Roy

If you do nothing else, you must preserve the brake rotors. They will rust like crazy. I would put the truck up on jack stands, remove the wheels and oil the rotors about once a month. Keep them covered with drop cloths, not plastic. Clean with solvent before replacing the wheels. Steve

Reply to
Steve Lusardi

I own & drive 5 Corvettes and a Chevelle for 7-8 months of the yrar and store them for the other 4-5 months....

I do NOT start them... PERIOD !

IF you start it up I definately wourd drive it about 15 to 20 miles

I gave up using stabilizser etc long ago...now store the cars with 1/4 tank of gas (there is another group of guys who insist on storeing with full gas tanks. however) so I really do not have an answer...

I change the oil when I store the vehicles...(not the filter) .and change it again (and the filter) when I pull them out in the spring... Maybe I put 10 miles on each car before I change the oil..most of the time I do not put any mles on them

Honestly I used to have to replace 2 or 4 batteries every year until I started hooking up a float charger (Battery Tender) to each car...been at least 5 years since I had a battery die on me ...

No problem...BUT you are storing your truck for twice as long as I store my "toys".. really should not be a problem however... I would think about taking the weight ff the suspension (with jack stands) if I were storing for 9 months... never needed to to that just for my short time winter storage...

Oh I read this newsgroup because my daily Driver is a Dodge Truck...

Bob G,

Reply to
Bob G.

I have an old Dodge truck that gets taken out of storeage once a year for about 15 miles of driving. I add about a gallon of gas every year . I haven't changed oil in years. I live in a dry climate so maybe that helps.

Bob G. wrote:

Reply to
Ron

Someone mentioned the disc rotors rusting during storage but no one mentioned the cylinder liners rusting over that long storage period???

I thought the rule of thumb was to start a standby engine at least once a week and run them till up to temperature???

Fred

Reply to
Fred

What's the point of dumping in fresh oil that you're just going to drain out again before ever firing the engine? I know oil's cheap, but... ?

Reply to
Tom Lawrence

I read the answers to your post and they mostly seem like work. Who needs it? How about just loaning the truck to someone like Mac Davis? He would start it regular, keep it clean, tow with it monthly, keep the oil changed and the tank full. What more can you ask for?

FMB (only one B in FMB)

Reply to
FMB

The cost for doing all 6 vehicles is only a few bucks...and since I enjoy "messing" with them it really is cheap "entertainment" for me in the spring.. Lube the chassis etc...

I also change the oil every 500 (Five Hundred Miles) on the ones with solid lifters and every 1000 miles on the others.... and honestly this practice is pretty common with owners of vintage cars...I doubt that it is really needed but the cars are my toys

Heck its only money....

Bob G.

Reply to
Bob G.

And oil that we're running out of.

Reply to
Mort

That's more like the rule of "dumb". Totally a waste.

Reply to
Mort

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