Hello! New owner and question

Hey guys, on my phone so I'll introduce and post pics later.. But got my 2003 911 couple of days ago and I'm actually leaving town for a couple months. Question is this: my car will be tucked away under a cover in my gated garage - should I tell my pops to turn the car on and idle it a couple times a week? Should I have a friend take it around the block once every 2 weeks? Help please!

also - should i wash/wax the car before i put the cover on and store it? also- it has an aero kit with the GT-2/3 wing, and it has the air intake under it - i'm sure water will go in there. how do i avoid it? or is there a water drainage system?

Subzero: Welcome, no pix, means she's a hologram. I would recommend that you give her a fresh opil change, put her on a trickle charger, and add some fuel stabilizer, overinflate your tires...if you have the time, a through wash and wax before the cover can't hurt at all. IMHO, firing it up then shutting it off will not allow the engine and exhaust to heat up enough to get rid of moisture build up, as the engine/systems won't come up to operating temperature. Plug her in and leave her until you get back. P.S. you might want to join, there are a lot of guys in here who will gladly help you with any questions. Remember pix please or it's a hologram!

As far as your friend taking your car around the block every 2 weeks, a good idea but around the block is not far enough or often enough IMHP. He/She needs to get the car up to working temps over 180F. It's a good idea if you can trust your friend to first warm the engine to at least 100F then drive it as you would drive it. Tell him/She to fully lock the car when back in the garage as I believe that less battery power is used when the car is locked. No need for a trickle charge if you do this. BTW I wouldn't let anyone drive my 'doodlebug' anywhere. No way, no how, Are you a crazy mad man haha

No. See above. You would need to get your car up to proper operating temperature (above 180 F) for at least 20 minutes to really get the car working, and idling just won't do that. No. See above. Same thing, unless you want your friend to drive it the obligatory 20-30 minutes at operating temperatures. True. After about 5-7 days, the key fob shuts down and the "conserve" function kicks in however unsure a trickle charger isn't required. My limited experience suggests that most of us (me included) would trickle charge if the car was sitting more than a week or two. If you dry it completely, sure. I wash/wax before I put it away as well (although I never really put it away) but if the water on your car drips onto your garage, and you then cover the car, you've got an active vapor barrier now under your car, or ice. If you're really not using it, full tank + stabilizer if you want, trickle charger and overinflation as above is the minimum and probably just fine for a month or so. Just my 0.02.

Welcome. my short answer: follow the same drill you would have done when storing a car (I highly doubt this is your first car ever but if it is, please see all of above for details)

First car that I've had to store. I'll have my bud drive it around for 20 min when above 180. Also, what's the fewest amount of times he should drive it? Once a week? Once every 2 weeks? Pics to come today after work

If you trust him, let him use the car the same way you would. If you drive it every day, he can too. If you drive it at a minimum weekly, he can too. But that's entirely up to you.

It should be driven everyday...until pics are posted. Once a week would be good.

here are the pics of my hologram :P AND, i'm an awesome cook. Yes, that's shrimp chipotle tacos with homemade guac.

Dude, are you nuts? The fastest way to lose a friend is to let him take care of your car... what if someone crashes into him? Also, any little mark on the car, you will automatically blame him. 2 months is not a long time... a battery tender costs like $49 bucks if you are worried about the battery going dead.

its not the battery i'm worried about... it's the engine. seals, oil, etc etc etc. I'm not a mechanic... well, kinda, but on humans lol i know **** about cars. prior to this i had an S2000 as my daily driver. and when i return, this too will be my daily driver. It has about 85000 miles on it though.. with a new rebuilt engine at 40k replaced by P-warranty (back in 2007 as prior engine had 2 cracked cylinders? the previous owner said), and he took really good care of it. very clean car. I had a PPI done at some guy people recommended in pasadena, Peter, he took 1.5 hours, compression checks, drove it, etc, said that the RMS isnt leaking, and he also took apart some oil cap from under the car and said "look in here, if the IMS was giving probs, it'd have metal pieces in it" and it was clean. I definitely want to get the LN retrofit kit and have him install it when i get back. so should i just have my buddy fill it up full with the engine protectant (after it's had a chance to run through for like 30 min of driving) and just store it away with a trickle charger? it'll be fine like that for 2 months not being turned on? seals wont leak? oil wont harden?

Now that I see pics, I volunteer to make sure your car is driven at least once a week.

Subzero: Hey doc, if you want your buddy to drive the car, be prepared for whatever might happen. Scratches, door dings, inadvertent stuff....not that he/she deliberately did anything, but since it wasn't parked, and it wasn't there when you left.......it's yours to deal with when you return. If that is okay, then throw him the keys! Now, should you wish to let her hibernate for a coupe of weeks, or more, the seals won't harden, oil, especially, if fresh, won't go bad, a bit of gas stabilzer and a trickle charger and she'll be good to go. Sounds like you have a good car doc, so, regular maintanence, some tlc and you and she should be good to go. You don't need to be an expert on 996's and anyone in here will gladly help you with any questions. BTW: if you are interested, for the past 8 years, mine has been covered and hibernating each winter, in the Spring she has her own groundhog day, pokes her head out, once the salt is gone and the roads are clean......so far, every Spring she is ready, no issues, once she gets a bath and polish...........

I'd say a few months of storage on trickle charge is no big deal, engine will not suffer, esp if you change the oil prior or relatively recently. overinflating tires a bit won't hurt nor fuel stabiliser. I wouldn't give keys to my closest friend, simply because I wouldn't want to lose them over something unnecessary in the first place.

forgot to say: very nice car

Very nice, Welcome!

...mmmmmm tacos..

Quotes source post: 9233567

Two months is not that long. Many new cars sit on a dealer lot for that long and as near as I can tell all they suffer from a low battery. Just be sure the oil's fresh, use a gas additive (Stabil) according to directions, and be sure the car's parked where it is not going to get bird mess, tree trash, sap, etc on it. I'd worry about mice getting in the car. Not sure how you can prevent this. You'll probably have to trickle charge the battery or whatever in order to keep it charged up but beyond that the car won't be any worse for the experience. I wouldn't let anyone drive the car. Sincerely, Macster.

Yeh mice can climb up the tires and eat away at the electrical wires in the car so put a cheese baited mouse trap next to each tire lol. Or a little sign next to each tire saying "all mice keep away".. Listen a better idea would be for you to send me your keys. I promise to look after it for you. Not promising you would get it back though lol. You have a gorgeous looking car there my friend. I wouldn't let anyone drive my car either.

Subzero, congrats on the new ride. Beautiful car. I would recommend you put your home town on your location, as it allows people who are in your area to offer to give you a hand with something if the need arises (like keep your car well exercised while out of town ). I will throw my 2 cents in here. Our PCA chapter hosted an event where an indy repair shop pulled an engine out of a 2003 and showed us the IMS and RMS and explained how they fail. AWESOME event. The one thing I took away from that was the shop owner's recommendation that the best preventive to IMS and RMS failures is to DRIVE THE CAR! Oh, you gotta love that kind of advice! He said that most cars that experience the IMS failure have low miles and are driven infrequently. That you should drive your car 3 times a week at a minimum. In your particular circumstance, I cannot see the car sitting for 2 months as a threat to either the IMS or RMS. And since you are going to be using the car as a daily driver and obviously the PO did as well, the likelihood of these failures occurring decreases significantly. The one other thing he recommended was getting an oil plug with a magnet on the tip. IMS failures are not immediate, and will (as your mech pointed out) start leaving small metal flakes in the oil prior to failing that will attach to the magnet on the oil plug. Thats it! Have fun wherever you are going!

okay here's my story. I'm in sunny socal, Los Angeles, and i'll be starting my residency in OBGYN july 1st. Thing is, that i dont know where I'll be going yet. Anywhere from los angeles to NJ, PA, basically north east. I find out mid march. My plan was to buy a carrera sometime in april and drive it out to wherever i get placed for residency. So a couple weekends ago when I came home to visit for the weekend (from SF to LA) i randomly saw this car at the used car lot, at 2am. Took a look around, was nice, super clean ext, 6-speed, clean kept, so i went back in the afternoon the next day. I learned it had all the options i wanted: aerokit (most important), not the usual silver (i fell in love with this blue.. i dont even know which 1 it is.. midnight? lapis?) heated seats, 3spoke steering wheel, the 2003 head lights with the sharp angles, black int, was super clean inside, well maintained, everything except the 85k miles. So i had a PPI done, mechanic said it was okay, i talked to PO who said a new rebuilt engine was put in by porsche dealer in 2007 at 40k miles (so basically the engine has 45k now) and that it never leaked a drop of oil. Guy was older, took good care of the car, so i trusted him. I ended up getting a great deal on it, so i bought it. I figured, it's highly unlikely i'd see another porsche with all of the exact options i wanted, so just buy it now and store it, since i was going back up to SF for 2 months. I'll be back in april so it's sitting under a cover in my garage. I ordered the ctek charger and the sta-bil, as soon as that gets here my friend will go hook it up, drive it for 20-30 min to get the sta-bil through the system and store it till april. Then in june, wherever i start my residency i'll be driving it out there and it'll be used as my daily driver (cold, hot, rain, snow, etc). but hopefully i can stay in LA. we'll see. when i get back in april i'm planning to get the LNE IMS retrofit, oil change with synthetic, get some super white HID headlights, and drive the hell out of it for 4 years till i finish residency and get a new car I'll prob pass down the car to my niece. anyhow, i really like this forum (compared to the s2000/vtec forums) people are SO much more mature here. i'll try to set up a meet soemtime when i get back so we can meet other socal owners, maybe even go up to angeles crest for a lightly spirited drive take care all,

+1 on the battery tender. It would be a nice gesture to the community to post your recipe for the shrimp tacos and guacamole.

Subzero, forget NE!! you'll freeze your *** off up there! Too late now I suppose, but you should have come to UNC or Duke. My wife is from Palo Alto, and the thinks Chapel Hill/Carrboro is like Palo Alto of the east. Plus year around driving! I was ont he road 4 hours yesterday with the top down and the sun on my, uh, bald spot. BTW, love the blue. I ended up with silver. Would have rather had blue but couldn't find the right car in blue. Lucky you!