Let's just say...Frankenmuth is a different place when you live there.....

Most people that run the place have their heads so far up their @$$...

 

Well, I'm going to put the truck away tonight and get the Lumina out.... Weather shows cold and rainy all week next week, as well as the rest of this week. No sense in keeping it out since I don't drive it in the rain... Sad, but I guess summer is over. Or did it ever start?

 

Ok so I'm having a really tough time deciding what to do as far as gas is concerned... I can't decide to fill it up, or leave it almost empty. My grandpa always leaves his trucks full when he stores them, and that's what I always did. But any new car on a lot (or any car on a dealer lot) is always about empty. That never hurts them.

I'm thinking what is worse. Running the risk of moisture in the tank, or running a FULL tank of bad gas? When I got my lumina out, the entire tank I had trouble starting it...because the gas was bad most likely. Next tank was a little better, and the third it was back to normal.

We're starting to have rain/snow mixes...so I'm about ready to put it away.

 

Crazy, you sure have some crazy questions, but they get me a thinkin.

Say you drain the tank and fill the space with nitrogen(a dry gas). This way you will have the best of both worlds. A fresh tank of gas in the spring and no water accumulation. What little gas is left from this season would be mixed with the new tank of gas in the spring.

This would do what you want and eliminate your fears, however unfounded I believe them to be. The HHR has a sealed fuel system, so it shouldn't allow in constant moisture, only the moisture you had in the air at the time of storage. The nitrogen would displace this moisture.

I can't help you with the nitrogen, perhaps a welding supply store. My only experience with nitrogen is that the telephone company uses it to dry out wet cables. You may have seen tanks chained to telephone poles.

 

Oh wow...thanks for the suggestion, but I am terribly afraid of adding much of anything that isn't somewhat "normal" for the average person... I'm afraid of putting oil additives in the engine...let alone nitrogen. (I'll add fuel treatment)

I do believe you that it would work, but dang...I just don't know if I could do it.

 

Take a look at wikipedia and look under aplications:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen

EDIT
Maybe not normal, but they are now using it at tire stores to fill tires. AND they charge more for this "service" too.

 

Well I'm thinking I'll probably put it away this week... Could be tomorrow or Saturday, or maybe Sunday...not really sure yet because I'm busy... and I'd like to do it a day it isn't raining since my Grandpa lives on a dirt road... I'll probably wash it up and take it over there after class/work.

 

When storing it's the mice and if you don't have mice this year you will. If I can post a picture I have the U.P mouse catcher. I have never had any luck with moth balls the mice seem to get around them.

 

Thankfully we've never seemed to have a problem with mice in my grandpas pole barn. He's stored cars in there since he built it 25 years ago. So I'm going to keep my fingers crossed!

Does anyone know if you can charge the battery from the posts under the hood? That would make it much easier since if you take the battery out, you can't close the hatch if you want to open it again....

 

You can charge from the remote battery connection under the hood. That's what it is ..... a remote battery connection. I would not connect any type of charger from an AC source to the battery without first disconnecing it from the vehicle's electrical system. Past experience.... I have a friend that fried the ECM (Corvette) doing just this. One would think if the ignition was off it would be ok but maybe not and we figure a voltage spike must have gone through the system. His nice dealer replaced the ECM 1200 dollars under warranty. I've been storing cars and motorcycles here in our dreadfull southern Ontario winters for years and have only had mice problems. Plug everything. They don't like clothes drier bounce sheets. Plug the exhaust pipe and store with high octance fuel it is more stable and set tire pressure to spec. Cannot say much more than that because 4 months really isn't that long. You could remove the battery and open the rear hatch through the remote battery connection or crawl in and use the manual release through the rear trim panel. Electrical circuits (HHR) like to remain engergized. Wake up modules scan the system every few hours and cause a parasitic drain. I use a host battery connected up front to the remote while I remove the main battery in the rear cargo area for intermittent charging.