I will be going on a six month deployment soon. I was wondering if anyone has ideas, expirence, or knowledge on the proper way to store my truck (F-150 4X4, 5.4). It will be parked in a garage.

Thanks.

RL

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2000 F-150 Larait 4X4 ORP, 5.4L, 3.55 LS, Black

[This message has been edited by helobubba60F (edited 11-19-2000).]

 

Depends.

Some obvious things.

Give the truck a good washing and waxing.

Clean out the interior too. Last thing you want is for some food or sticky stuff to be left inside that will attract bugs or turning brown over time.

Fill the tank with gas and treat with a stabilizer, such as Stabil. Make sure you run the truck enough to get the stabilizer into the whole fuel system.

If the coolant is more than two years old, get it tested. If it's worn out, you'll want to flush it out and put new coolant in.

Dry out the A/C by running it on panel long enough to dry out the evaporator coil and the rest of the system. Leave it in the Panel position so the interior can breath.

Change the oil and filter. You do NOT want old oil contaminated with water in an engine for a long period of time. Water in oil forms acid which will eat up the bearings and other parts.

I would normally say that you should fog the engine, by spraying oil into the intake while the engine is running, but I don't think that's advisable with our engines. If you're really **** about it, you can pull the plugs and spray some oil into each cylinder and crank the engine over a few revolutions to spread the oil around. This will keep the cylinder walls from rusting. Personally, I would just make sure the engine is hot before the final shutdown and not worry about fogging or oiling the cylinders. If you do put oil into the cylinders, don't put so much that you hydrolock the engine. A teaspoon or two is sufficient.

Put the truck on blocks to get the weight off the tires. Check with the dealer about where to place the blocks. I have no idea what's acceptable. BTW, not absolutely sure you really need to do this for 6 months. I'd check with the dealer and tire people to be sure.

Buy yourself a MARINE battery charger designed to be permanently mounted inside a boat. These chargers are designed to maintain batteries that are left for months at a time. They won't over-charge or trickle charge a battery dry. Hook it up to the battery. I'd leave the cables hooked up to keep the computer memory, security, and other systems running. Some boaters who are particularly **** will put the charger on a timer so that it only comes on an hour a day. There are small marine chargers that are not all that expensive. They're designed to be hard wired onto a marine battery terminal. You may have to put your own clips on the leads.

If you can't plug in a charger, make sure the battery is fully charged and remove the cables. Make sure the battery top is clean. If dirty, it could cause the battery to discharge over a long period of time. If the battery is not new, you may have to buy a new battery when you come back. Just be prepared to jump start the truck.

Cover the truck.


I'm sure others will add to this list.

 

The best place to block it would be:
Front; under "A" arms, around where the shocks are.
Rear; under spring pack

This way the truck is still supported the right way so the springs don't sag but the tires are off the ground and won't flatspot.

[This message has been edited by Firezap (edited 11-20-2000).]