i have a good friend who is leaving for korea and wants to put his Audi S3 into long term storage - thinking for about 3 years. what are good practices and guidelines to follow if no one will be able to move/start it for that duration?

his concerns are fuel, tire, battery, and paint. he is planning to store it indoors in a garage or storage space. there are other considerations like non-op registration and insurance too but i understand that's dependent on our state (CA) and final storage location choice.

thanks in advance everyone!

 

Not what he'll want to hear, but honestly for 3 years I'd sell it and save/invest the money to buy something when he returns. That's a lot of expense to absorb just to get no use out of a car that will further depreciate and then require some additional expense to get back on the road. If it was a bona-fide classic or icon like a 911 S/C that couldn't easily be replaced, then it would be worth it. But while a S3 is fun, it's still basically a Golf R. There will always be another one, or a similar way to scratch the same itch.

 

That’s a long time. Not sure of budget but when it’s that long he wants full service storage. Climate Controlled, Battery tender, start the car periodically etc Long term is cheaper then short term.

he’s still responsible for tag and registration he just has to mail to the facility.

 

Leave it with you not option?

 

Fuel will rot in 3 years there is no good way around this. If the car is really going to sit for 3 years and never driven then remove the battery and get someone to charge it once in a while, or get rid of it completely and buy a new one later. Don't know why paint would be a concern. 3 years of tires sitting in the same spot may damage them but not always (personal experience).

 

Just put it in one of my garages, the other Audis will keep it company lol!

On serious note if you are storing that long I would/do this....

1. Drive it till fuel is crazy low, like showing 1 mile remaining on a German car low. If it's DI then I would proceed to run it until the first stumble/car throws low side fuel pressure error. If it were my car I would watch the data stream and when you see low pressure fuel sensor drop below requested turn it off right there.

This is to run the tank out, 3 years is long enough that you would have to fill with 100% pure gas and to the literal brim and it's still a risk to keep it that long. I've done it/seen it happen that long with normal gas but it's just not a risk I would want to take with a car you really care about.

The reason I advise to just run it till LPFP is dropping out and not till it turns off entirely into avoid damage to the HPFPs and injectors, fuel that is inside the high pressure system will not go bad. I've opened pump to injector lines I know have been sitting for 6 years and they were still at full PSI and fuel looked perfect.

Three years is short enough you can roll dice with pure gas and an extremely full tank but that's his choice to risk, 5 years I would say you have to drain it. As insane as it sounds I have a car in my lot that a customer abandoned 4 years also with a half tank that I fact will run because I moved it last week (finally getting rid of it) so fuel is more resistant than you would expect but it's not worth the risk.

2. Jack the car up and set it on stands then remove the wheels and set them under the car, set tires to sidewall label max psi to help keep them happy. This is to keep the tires from dying etc, make sure the stands are highly stable especially if people will be walking near the car. Wheels will catch the car in a worst case scenario but always best to not rely on that.

3. Remove the battery entirely and move it away from the car, you don't want hydrogen gas corroding anything etc. Throw it on a tender, will be totally fine when he gets back

4. Use an indoor car cover and distribute mothballs around the engine bay, suspension, etc. Will discourage critters and protect the paint from dust/incidents

5. Reg and insurance I'm not sure for Cali, here we just don't renew tags and it automatically goes inop and we don't have to pay for the gap. Insurance I switch to storage regularly for winter so I would do the same there.

 

^in other words:

1) Leave it with the good friend and hopefully they see after it
2) Get rid of it

 

thanks a bunch guys! i considered taking it on myself but my wife will not like that taking up space at the house, plus insurance will be a bother - CA has pretty steep rates even for weekend vehicles. selling it is certainly on the table so i'll let him know what you all have said!

interestingly he is debating this same issue on his house: sell, keep, or rent/lease out - but that's a whole different ball of wax.