"Winterizing" - to-do list?

Fill up and use a gas stabilizer like Stabil

Change, then again when you get it back out

I've heard many theories and I just leave them on without any ill effects

Go to Harbor Freight and get a battery tender, it keeps your battery charge up. Also park over something that will prevent condensation from the cement floor. I tend to use blue tarps for this purpose but I suppose other things will work. A cheap car cover is good too so that you can prevent minor damage from something rubbing against the car.

GO to the Tech Section at

You can plastic tarp the vehicle if you place the tarp material on top of something like an old bed sheet. This has worked for me in the past.

Run the engine after Sta-bil has been added to the gas.

I drain the oil and fill it with cheap 5w/30. Which gets drained before the bug is again in use. Every other weekend I also hand crank the engine a few times. And leave crank (degree wheel) at a different location. Helps to move some oil around and prevents a set of valve springs from being compressed for the entire unused period.

Fill up, with preservative added in it

Change, drive a bit

Jack up from the bottom of the shock absorber. Tires will be off the ground, but suspension will be "loaded" normally.

Do NOT leave the handbrake on :)

Jan

Disconnect the battery - put moth balls or an electronic insect and mouse repeller around the interior - stuff steel wool into tail pipes and duct tape across top of carb.

Vermin protection.

Fweem.

Dave T.

Sometimes over the years i get bogged down in work & life & cannot drive my vws for months at a time. I sometimes just start them & let them run a few minutes every month or so. Im not sure this helps much with the original question but i got it off my chest.

...........I just leave my bug in the garage here in NY for 3 to 4 months. I might take it out a couple of times when the roads are bare and dry........didn't even do that last year. The cold temps actually keep the battery from losing its charge as fast as when the weather is warm. About the end of March I do an oil change & valve adjustment and clean it up.

timmy

Why? Less stress on bushiung and dumpers?

Joao

The only thing different from just parking it, would be that the tires are not touching the ground, and wheel bearings would not have the weight of the car on them. You don't want the tires to sit in one position for months. They develop a flat spot that may not go away completely when you start driving again.

If you supported the car from any other place, it would mean the suspension would drop down, as if the car was jumping in the air. Many of the moving components of the suspension would be "resting" in the extreme end of their movement range. heck, the springs would have minimum load so you might have a higher ride in the spring. :)

Most people want to lower the suspension ... not raise

jan