B serious

For 6 months storage, I would use a battery tender instead of just unplugging the battery.

mrbadwrench

its in a storage shed and i dont have anybody i can really trust to go start it up or keep the battery anything like that.

Chuck S

Google for your owners manual. Storage instructions are there. I downloaded several different years just to see what changes were made and because there's no maintenance schedule in my '06 manual as the car has the Maintenance Minder that tells ya when to change stuff. If you get stuck let me know I have many of them in PDF form that I got off the web.

Fully charge the battery before you unit leaves. Record the radio code (!) and disconnect the negative terminal on the battery. If you're in some cold place like Fort Drum I'd find someone to store the battery indoors 'cuz even the mild self discharge of the disconnected battery may drop the voltage level enough for the battery to freeze and crack the case spilling acid over the car. I'm advising my probable son-in-law to get his pickup truck out of the North Country before his unit heads to Korea next month for 9 months.

-- Chuck

bgoetz

You do not want to leave it empty. You will get a 50/50 response on the other 2. I actually talked with the oil experts at Blackstone and they said it makes no difference. Here is what I did though:

I use 5w-30 in my Subaru, so I tossed new Castrol Edge in before storage. Toss in Stabil and top off the fuel. Run it until it is warmed to burn out any moisture and then turn it off and never start it again (periodic starting is actually bad IMO). Remove the battery and place on a tender. Unlatch the top and crack the windows. Stuff socks in the tail pipe and intake if you have OEM to keep critters out. Put carpet under the tires and over inflate. Cover and be sad for 6 months .

Come spring I remove the fuel pump fuse and crank it over a few times to circulate the oil. Start the car and warm it, then drain the Castrol into a bottle to be put into my Subaru. Change my oil with my current oil of choice (this time it was Amsoil). Drive and have fun!!

cleenyc99

^those are all really good suggestions. I agree periodic starting does do more harm then good if your only storing it for 6mo. make shore the place your keeping the car is dry and the cover allows for circulation.

to stay on topic I don't think you can say your engine is "healthy" if it burns oil. don't get me rough it can still run very well and have full power but I wouldn't say burning oil healthy

B serious

There's engines that are otherwise healthy that burn oil. Perfect compression, etc.

My ITR was at 240psi per cylinder without variation. Burned 1qt every 1k or less. Just had stuck oil control rings. I never did anything about it. I told the new owner about it when he picked it up. He shrugged and handed me the cash anyway.

windhund116

Anyone know whta Honda did to reduce oil consumption between the engines in the AP1 and AP2?

B serious

They changed the breather system and lowered the rev limit.

bgoetz

I thought a lot had to do with the way the block was machined and assembled. I think 2002 and older were all hand assembled by one individual, which theory is allowed for greater variability in tolerance hence some engines that consume oil right off the show room floor, some that never consume a drop.

Also the PCV valve location and valve cover design is different. I can tell you with certainty this makes a huge difference as I was filling a catch can every session at a race track with high g-load, AP2s were not even close to that and they had R-comps!!

bgoetz

I don't think "burning" is really an accurate way to think of it, consumption is a better term. As pointed out above this is literally maybe just a film on a cylinder wall, or a vapor leaving a PCV valve, which is why different oils are consumed at different rates.

I don't think consumption is all that uncommon for some high performance engines with similar manufacturing as the early AP1 engine. Add to this that that engine was beyond anything that had previously been built, I think even 1qt+/1k is quite remarkable. Mine has been documented by the previous owner to consume at this rate since 60k when he bought it. It now has 140k, runs strong and is tracked regularly. I just make keeping the oil at the high mark a priority. I do monitor the rate and if it changed drastically I might be concerned a bit, but these engines are not made of gold, it can be rebuilt or another can be put in for relatively cheap when you think about some of the maintenance on other real high performance cars