Pandemic storage

So unfortunately with the whole plague end of the world thing going on, my si is “stuck” in the garage in front of the more useful hatchback. I’ve been turning it on and off for 2 mins every 3-5 days for now but I don’t pretend to keep doing this everyday. Any storage tips? Should I unplug the battery? Should I lower the tire pressure?

I'm curious about this myself. I'm not exactly planning to put my car into long-term storage, but I find myself using it so rarely these days, I'm wondering if there's anything in particular I should do to keep it in good running condition. I've had it a few weeks and I've only got around 200 total miles. Yesterday I took it out for a 15-minute drive around town (though more out of cabin fever than anything else). Maybe I should plan on doing that more frequently.

I guess the upshot is that when the quarantine is finally over, I'll still have a brand new car (more or less).

As an aside - your thread tags are great. First horseman, indeed

It's funny, I just bought summer tires for my HFP wheels. And an exhaust. And lowering springs.

But honestly, I'd say you could up the PSI in your tires to help prevent flat spotting and hook up a battery tender if you feel the need.

Brief running is not recommended. The engine won't get hot enough to evaporate the water products of combustion when starting up. Recall the water dripping out of exhaust pipes from cold engines. Some water is getting into the oil.

Unless you can take a long drive, leave the car. I've stored my 18 from Dec to April. No flat spots. No problems returning to service.

DRuby said:

Brief running is not recommended. The engine won't get hot enough to evaporate the water products of combustion when starting up. Recall the water dripping out of exhaust pipes from cold engines. Some water is getting into the oil.

Unless you can take a long drive, leave the car. I've stored my 18 from Dec to April. No flat spots. No problems returning to service.

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Thanks! Did you leave the battery plugged in? I’ve already had mine die before (more my fault thanks to ktuner issues) but I know that these batteries are known to be weak.

Boni said:

Thanks! Did you leave the battery plugged in? I’ve already had mine die before (more my fault thanks to ktuner issues) but I know that these batteries are known to be weak.

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Yes, I left it attached. Perhaps a trickle charger would be good if the car is stored in an outside garage. If the battery does discharge, freezing probably isn't a good idea.
I'm under the house where it gets cold but not below freezing. I didn't want to perhaps lose the pre-sets, etc.

To put the car in storage, you are supposed to inflate the tires to higher pressure.
Honda ships new car with tire pressure of 40psi. They expect the cars to be immobile for a long period of time.

Time to catch up on The Walking Dead...oh yeah and Fear the Walking Dead

It likely not good for the direct injection engine to run for a short time frame. Every 3-5 days I take mine for a very long drive. Allows me to get a sanity break from the family. Stay healthy everyone.

ManitobaSI said:

It likely not good for the direct injection engine to run for a short time frame. Every 3-5 days I take mine for a very long drive. Allows me to get a sanity break from the family. Stay healthy everyone.

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Yes, if you don't live in a place that has a lockdown on any non-essential leaving the house, do this. It's easy to maintain social distancing when you're driving your car.

Boni said:

So unfortunately with the whole plague end of the world thing going on, my si is “stuck” in the garage in front of the more useful hatchback. I’ve been turning it on and off for 2 mins every 3-5 days for now but I don’t pretend to keep doing this everyday. Any storage tips? Should I unplug the battery? Should I lower the tire pressure?

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order yourself one of these, mine has sat since last November until last week on this and it fired right up with zero issues.

storing your car for a couple of weeks?

amirza786 said:

Time to catch up on The Walking Dead...oh yeah and Fear the Walking Dead

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The way things are going , the walking dead will be catching up to us.

Don't start your car just to run it for a couple of minutes. It's not good for the engine and definitely not good for the battery.

REBELXSi said:

The way things are going , the walking dead will be catching up to us.

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Jeez tell me about it. Remember, aim for the head...