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2100 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by bk3104, Apr 30, 2002

bk3104

Discussion Starter · Apr 28, 2002

Hi folks...just discovered this board. Seems like a great place. My Z3 has been in storage since December. I"ll be "waking" it up next weekend. Anything special I need to do? It's been hooked up to the BMW battery maintainer since it went to sleep back then. Should I immediately change the oil? Is that necessary? Anything else I should do?

Thanks for the help.

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JeffC

· #2 · Apr 28, 2002

I've stored my car 4 winters now...

My research said most indicated it is best to change your oil before you store the car for the winter, but if you didn't do that, it might not be a bad idea to change it now. Not sure how many miles you have on it since your car is new, but still not a bad idea. The theory most gave was that while the car sits all winter the junk in the oil tends to settle to the bottom, which over time could be problematic.

Besides that, be sure to check your tire pressures, and also battery water, something that always needs alot of maintenance on these cars.

I really have never done much beyond these things and the car has been trouble free.

JeffC

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bk3104

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 29, 2002

Thanks JeffC!

My car has just a little over 5,000 miles on it, so it's still relatively new. What I should probably do is just do the oil change right after I wake it up. Thanks for the great tips. I did inflate my tires up to 50psi when I stored it, so I'll be sure to bring them back down to my operating levels before I go driving off. Good point about the battery water as well. To be honest, I haven't even looked at the battery since I bought the car. We don't have the maintenance free batteries? Good to know you've been doing this for 4 years now with no problems.

QUOTE]Originally posted by JeffC
I've stored my car 4 winters now...

My research said most indicated it is best to change your oil before you store the car for the winter, but if you didn't do that, it might not be a bad idea to change it now. Not sure how many miles you have on it since your car is new, but still not a bad idea. The theory most gave was that while the car sits all winter the junk in the oil tends to settle to the bottom, which over time could be problematic.

Besides that, be sure to check your tire pressures, and also battery water, something that always needs alot of maintenance on these cars.

I really have never done much beyond these things and the car has been trouble free.

JeffC [/QUOTE]

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JeffC

· #4 · Apr 29, 2002

I'm not sure, but I think you may have a sticker over your battery caps. They changed the batteries a couple years ago, but I don't think any of the z3s have a truly maintenance free battery. You might have to pull the sticker off and unscrew the caps to check for water. I would talk to someone with the same car as you to verify this.

JeffC

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hdd3md

· #5 · Apr 29, 2002

yep- gotta pull stickers off!

it was the same for my 2001 M roadster and 2001 x5 4.4i sport --

you gotta remove the stickers to get to the cells, 4 each per side!

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