Off the road for a while

timmy_mallet

Have a car that's been off the road for about 12 months now. Not taxed, not insured, requires a new battery, new tyre and a service.

I am looking to start driving it again but don't know how to do any of the labour so will have to get a professional to do it.

Can anyone suggest the best way to go about this while still meeting my obligations to the law (tax/insurance)?

Cheers.

biko

This is the basics:

Go to Gardai and fill out a form of non-use, they have them at the station.
Go to tax office with form and start paying tax. Bring logbook in case they want to see this.
Also get car insured.

Then have someone do a service on the car - oil, filter, maybe also spark plugs.
You can buy a battery in a local motor factors 70-90 euro. Bring the old one in and they'll know what you need. They'll also recycle the old battery free.

Might as well get two new tyres as you should replace them in pairs. Put the new tyres on the back. Check the spare, if it's old and cracking maybe you can use the ok tyre as spare.

cheap flagstones

Biko I have a similar question, and I intend to follow the previous advice which you have given re. tax, insurance etc.. I have a car which has been off the road for two and a half years. I am going to deal with it next week by getting a professional to call and try to restart it. It's a 2006 BMW 318 - I know that the battery ran down because of the alarm during this time - it's just that I am concerned that the time involved will have led to engine parts seizing due to non-use. As I have said I have arranged provisionally for the professional to call early next week but is it a common occurrence that leaving a car for this length of time without turning over the engine is likely to result in permanent engine damage?

aujopimur

This an old hobby horse of mine, if a car that has been laid up has a timing belt it should be replaced as they tend to snap due to degradation from lack of use.

biko

cheap flagstones wrote: »

off the road for two and a half years... but is it a common occurrence that leaving a car for this length of time without turning over the engine is likely to result in permanent engine damage?

It's a long time if the car hasn't been started at all for 2,5 years but I don't think the engine has seized.

First I would change all the fluids - coolant, oil, brake fluid and also petrol.
I would probably drain the old petrol and put fresh in, and change the fuel filter.
New spark plugs and new battery.
All of these should have been changed at least once over the last 2 years anyway.
Start it up and let it run for 10-15 mins on idle, "wake it up slowly". Don't rev it up, it needs to move the fluids around at a slow pace (this is also when you make sure nothing is leaking).
Inspect tyres for cracking, you may need to change them.

Make sure the handbrake hasn't seized when you move off.
Don't take it onto a major road until you're certain it won't fail on you!

Go to a garage, check tyre pressure and give it a good wash, including the engine.

You can find a good how-to for starting old cars here
http://www.kaiserbill.com/Web-PDF/Start-Up.pdf

cheap flagstones

Thanks for the advices and the link. Will do that next week and let you know the results.

Ronnie Beck

Put a car back on the road recently... bear in mind the NCT expires on the anniversary of the first registration of the car and not a year after you put it through the test.

corktina

after a year off the road (or even less) the tyres will ALL need repiacing as they "set" into the shape that the cars weight forces them into. This is very dangerous and they can blow out (I know as it happened to me, at 80 mph on the motorway and it wasnt pleasant)

cheap flagstones

biko wrote: »

It's a long time if the car hasn't been started at all for 2,5 years but I don't think the engine has seized.

First I would change all the fluids - coolant, oil, brake fluid and also petrol.
I would probably drain the old petrol and put fresh in, and change the fuel filter.
New spark plugs and new battery.
All of these should have been changed at least once over the last 2 years anyway.
Start it up and let it run for 10-15 mins on idle, "wake it up slowly". Don't rev it up, it needs to move the fluids around at a slow pace (this is also when you make sure nothing is leaking).
Inspect tyres for cracking, you may need to change them.

Make sure the handbrake hasn't seized when you move off.
Don't take it onto a major road until you're certain it won't fail on you!

Go to a garage, check tyre pressure and give it a good wash, including the engine.

You can find a good how-to for starting old cars here
http://www.kaiserbill.com/Web-PDF/Start-Up.pdf

Well I got the professional to call today. He managed to start it with jump leads on the first attempt. The battery had expired completely and he replaced it with a new one. There was no engine damage according to the car’s computer, which he had refigured. Regarding the petrol, I was advised to top up the tank as the octane had evaporated from the remaining petrol. The tyres all needed to be immediately replaced, and a full service was required. I was advised that if I was to leave the car for any long period of time again, then I should disconnect the battery.
I am relieved because I was expecting worse.

DebDynamite

Sorry to hijack the thread, I didn't want to start another one where we have a similar problem. My car has been off the road for 2 years though.

Details are:

When my mother bought a new car a few years ago she didn’t trade in her old car - an 02 Punto. She kept it at home as a spare car so to speak.

It was sitting up for a while and my brother used it. No issues really, just had to charge the battery to get it going again. He got a new one for himself a short while later and the Punto was left sitting again for a while until I took it over 2 years ago. My dad changed the oil on it, checked the brakes, charged the battery – all it needed to get it driving again. Brought it to the NCT and passed. Unfortunately I never drove it since going to the NCT 2 years ago and it's been sitting outside for those 2 years since. Do you think it’s pretty fecked now? Would all the driving for a bit, resting for months, etc, bad for it?

If there is hope for it, I’ll arrange for a local mechanic to call out and do a service on it. Any idea of what it might cost?