My 9k aero sits in the garage. Is that bad?

[Turboy]

Hi guys,

My daily driver is an 86 SPG, so my 96 9k aero doesn't get driven every day. I know thats fine. A car doesnt have to be driven every day to stay healthy.

What precautions can I take if my 9000 has to sit for a few days- up to a few weeks at a time? It is in a sort of pseudo-storage mode.

It rains a lot herein Seattle. During winter time, it's hard to find a dry day. With my little experience so far, rain water,and dirt getting kicked up from the road and 'sitting' on the paint isnt so good. At least from a detailing point of view. I do medium level detailing on the car, and thats why I dont let it out too much during rain time.

So, how bad is it if my 9k sits a while between starts? What can I do to keep it healthy? Block heater? Is that silly? Can I keep a really low trickle charge on the battery? I want to keep my 9k healthy and happy during its hibernation!

Thanks very much for the answers.

[saabfan9]

just starting her 1-2x a week would be enough to keep the battery up the oil and gas moving right now my 1968 plymouth sits in the garage with nothing done (no jack stands no stabil no batt charger) prior was my 71 alfa gtv and 71 plymouth cuda all of them were/are black and show cars i've been a certified tech for over 20 years at the same dealer and i'm sure alot of people are mislead so long as it doesn't become an extended stay (a year or more) she'll be fine

[Superaero]

Better to not start it than start it and shut it down before it warms up. Motorcycle shops are good places to buy a smart battery minder that keeps the battery cycling a bit with a smart charger.

my 9000 Aero gets driven once every two weeks as I have five cars in my fleet and only two drivers. The battery is fine if you run the car at least every three weeks. Best thing is to make a point of actually driving the car to fully warmed up status every three weeks. There's no sense to just starting the engine and running it at idle for a few minutes, that does not help the battery and can harm the engine by increasing the level of oil contaminants.

Finally, remember the oil must be changed on the normal time schedule whether you actually run the car or not. Just sitting through temperature variations will eventually contaminate the oil. If synthetic oil is used this means once per year. If conventional oil then twice per year.

[rawill]

I never knew that about oil degrading when not being used. goodness some of my cars could be scrap material, they haven't been oil changed or used for ages months and months. 1 of them sat for 3 years before I started it again, with no new fuel in it.

[Turboy]

Originally Posted by Superaero

Better to not start it than start it and shut it down before it warms up. Motorcycle shops are good places to buy a smart battery minder that keeps the battery cycling a bit with a smart charger.

my 9000 Aero gets driven once every two weeks as I have five cars in my fleet and only two drivers. The battery is fine if you run the car at least every three weeks. Best thing is to make a point of actually driving the car to fully warmed up status every three weeks. There's no sense to just starting the engine and running it at idle for a few minutes, that does not help the battery and can harm the engine by increasing the level of oil contaminants.

Finally, remember the oil must be changed on the normal time schedule whether you actually run the car or not. Just sitting through temperature variations will eventually contaminate the oil. If synthetic oil is used this means once per year. If conventional oil then twice per year.

So the last few times, ive started it and let it idle until at normal operating temp. I would never start it and turn off without letting it warm up all the way.

I will find a motorcycle shop for the charger. Is there something in specific I should be looking for?

Originally Posted by rawill

I never knew that about oil degrading when not being used. goodness some of my cars could be scrap material, they haven't been oil changed or used for ages months and months. 1 of them sat for 3 years before I started it again, with no new fuel in it.

I was not aware of the 'oil contaminents' issue either. I've heard of fuel going 'bad' though...

[rawill]

I have heard of fuel going bad, which is why I was surprised my Fiat Uno 1986, started so easily after 3 years of sitting. I only wound the fuel up, on the starter and off it went. Pity they rust so bad!!

[Turboy]

I will look into the motorcycle-charger as the 9k sometimes sits longer than a month.

Thanks for the responses.

[Superaero]

Oil deteriorates with temperature cycling that can cause moisture to end up in the oil. Also, as you start an engine the unburned fuel contaminates the oil.

Also, eventually the lighter components of the oil will evaporate although in a closed crankcase this will take a long time.

It is false economy to attempt to save the oil just because the mileage is low or even non existent. You cannot be sure the aged but unused oil is up to the job unless you have it analyzed. It is cheaper and quicker just to change it.

[Turboy]

Wow. The fuel that gets by in the oil system, is that leftover from, for example, the last time I turn my car off? I thought the DI went BZZZZZZZZT for a few seconds after I turn my car off to burn the leftovers? Just curious...

[woywitka]

A few weeks at a time...no problem.


I own living proof of a Saab 900 that spent lots of time sitting. It has less than 170,000kms and is from 1987. Best running and most reliable Saab I have ever had. Even my 9-5 has had one tow.

The older H-type engine is fantastic, only the B235 that I would worry about.

[Superaero]

The fuel goes into the crankcase ventilation system on a cold start and condenses into the oil if the engine is not warmed up. Newer fuel injected engines are much less susceptible to this due to shorter warm up cycles and lean idle mixtures. If you warm up the engine all the unburned fuel is driven out of the oil by engine heat and drawn into the combustion chambers via the PCV system and burned.

Emission controls have been very kind to oil and to engines in this regard.

Modern fuel injected engines leave no fuel in the combustion chambers when you shut off the engine, unlike carbureted engines. This is because the injectors switch off immediately the ignition goes off.

Incidentally, you should resist the temptation to blip the throttle before shut down as they used to do for old engines, especially high performance engines or racing engines. This was to clean up the plugs before shutdown. Your SAAB cleans up its plugs every time you start the engine. This is when the Trionic system fies the plugs as you suggest, not when the engine is shut off. This means the engine always starts with nice clean plugs.

SAAB engines start cleanly every time as long as they start at all!