Winter maintenance

[toopy]

I would suggest connecting a battery maintenance charger on the battery as battery cells degrade reducing the capacity of the battery over time if the state of charge is too low.

I did in the past, but the battery still died. The current one is about five years old, most of that time the car has been stationary and the battery uncharged bar one or two top ups, it's never dropped below 12.2v even after 12 months at one point.
Since fitting, and always using the battery isolator switch when the engine is off, I've not had any battery problems.

 

[MCBladeRun]

So, sounds like from experience:

Car covers are never 100% bulletproof and shouldn't be relied upon (I think mine says to take it off every month for condensation build up).

Batteries can sometimes pull a sickie on you at the wrong time. Even if you've got a battery charger / smart charger / trickle charger. I always keep mine disconnected and monitor it on a weekly basis (it has an indicator on it)

The 'handbrake off and left in gear' is a good one to remember

I always take @Huw 's advice on most of these things - his motor is shiny for a reason.

@Farmer42 will always be my go to for everything carburettor related. Speaking of, I'm sure the SU and Hitachi's don't go out of tune much over winter?

 

[AliK]

I would suggest connecting a battery maintenance charger on the battery as battery cells degrade reducing the capacity of the battery over time if the state of charge is too low.

I agree with this. Having said that, when I left the car unloved for 3-4 months (in my heated a garage) with the battery isolated, the next time I reconnected it, it was sitting at 12.4. I bought the battery back in 2015, so it’s done really well. But I suspect stable non subzero temps help a lot in that regard.

I also read that no charge going through Lead Acid batteries can be a bad thing over long periods. In spite of a decent SoC. but so far so good on the Bosch battery.

Being a spring like day here, I did a last proper run in the car yesterday before the roads get too messy here and boy does she go well. Our cars love those slightly cool days and pull a lot of eyes / necks in the process

 

[Huw]

Aaaaand off to bed, having followed my own advice. If I do get a nice winters day, it’s just on with the battery (that has been connected to a battery conditioner), in with the plugs and wipers And off we go.



BTW, and this is a contentious subject. I’m not in the camp of starting it up and running it for 20mins. Worst thing you can do. Either lay up an engine properly or continue running it as normal. The build up of combustion by products in the oil won’t be burnt off with just bringing it up to op temp for say 20mins. Thats the stuff you don’t want sitting in an engine over time. It will need a good run to properly heat the block and oil and coolant systems to start burning that stuff off. Thats not my opinion, that’s what I was taught many years ago on an engine recon course ( ok shipboard diesel and petrol generators, but same principal) But hey things change

 

[Rob Gaskin]

Aaaaand off to bed, having followed my own advice. If I do get a nice winters day, it’s just on with the battery (that has been connected to a battery conditioner), in with the plugs and wipers And off we go.

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BTW, and this is a contentious subject. I’m not in the camp of starting it up and running it for 20mins. Worst thing you can do. Either lay up an engine properly or continue running it as normal. The build up of combustion by products in the oil won’t be burnt off with just bringing it up to op temp for say 20mins. Thats the stuff you don’t want sitting in an engine over time. It will need a good run to properly heat the block and oil and coolant systems to start burning that stuff off. Thats not my opinion, that’s what I was taught many years ago on an engine recon course ( ok shipboard diesel and petrol generators, but same principal) But hey things change

I fully understand what you are saying Huw and I have heard similar from a motorbike video hence my questions. I do think sometimes though that theory can get in the way of experiences. My youngest (36) still lives here and works about 2 miles away. He has driven that journey twice a day thousands of times in his Pug 106 GTi, 306 and Clio 200 Cup. Never had any problems (to my amazement). Hey Huw I saw the London to Brighton Run again last weekend - fantastic.

 

[Huw]

Hey Huw I saw the London to Brighton Run again last weekend - fantastic.

Missed this year Rob. Always fun watching those things chuff along.