Daughter left for New York in '06, and we decided to store her '03 Mazda6, with 5,000 miles, in our garage. We put stabilizer in once at the beginning. Attached battery to trickle-cell charger that stopped working after year 2. So now it sits, probably for another 3-5 years. Suggestions besides selling it? Thanks
IMHO, it has to be run or sold. If someone isn’t ready now to start running it, and there will be some start up costs even now, it should never sit for that long unless you have the storage facilities and depreciation acceptance of Jay Leno. Stabil is not good for more than a year or so. The value will be very little in 10 years of neglect.
There is no good option besides selling it.
The damage from letting it sit with gas in the tank is probably already done in the injectors and fuel pump. The gas tank will get rusty inside eventually, if it hasn’t already, and it should be completely drained and dried out. Just remove the battery and recycle it, and do not replace it. But the truth is there is no way to guarantee the car would not deteriorate just sitting there (mice would love to move in and chew things up and make it stink like mouse pee forever!) unless you are willing to pay a LOT of money for preservation efforts, climate control, etc.
Sentiment for a car is very nice, but this is a 7 year old sedan, not a collectible, and never was anything unique. Sell it or donate it.
Well, by now the gas has become varnish and the gas tank is probably going to need replaced. $511 to replace just the tank(according to www.onlinemazdaparts.com, and not counting labor involved)
Battery is dead, wait until she returns to replace it. about $100 to replace
Tires will probably have flat spots and need replaced due to age regardless of miles on them. expect about $400 to replace them all, depending on brand and such
Timing belt and water pump will also need replaced due to age $500 or more depending on mechanic
Will probably need to tow the car to a mechanic to work on all this rates vary from company to company
Oil change, transmission fluid changed, brakes serviced or replaced, hoses and other belts replaced as they will probably show signs of dry-rot, spark plugs and wires replaced
Depending on labor involved, you’re probably going to spend more money than the car is worth just getting everything up and running. Right now, even with every available option on a showroom quality V6 powered Mazda6, you’re looking about $9k private sale $7500 trade-in. Add 3~5 more years in depreciation, and you’re not gonna come out ahead by much, if at all. Take money off if it’s a 4cyl model
SELL THE CAR!! Why wait until it’s worth NOTHING??? It’s been 3-4 years, right?? Will it still start?? If not, replace the battery, fill it with fresh fuel, start it up and SELL IT…Storing a Mazda6 for anything over a year is insane. It’s still a 10 year old car and the 5000 miles mean very little…