My fiance has a honda civic that has been sitting in an indoor garage for around a year. I move the car about 6 months ago with no issues. Recently we needed to move it again and of course the battery was dead so I decided to push it. With the key on, I released the shifter lock and put the car in neutral but the car wouldn’t budge an inch.
Is it possible this is more than just rusted brakes? If it is just rusted brakes do I need to take off the wheels to free them?
Thanks,
WAB
Was the parking brake on? If so, then that probably seized up.
By the way, there’s a good chance that your battery is permanently dead now. A battery tender for around $20.00 would have prevented that, for future reference.
Also, did you use a fuel stabilizer? If not, you may be heading for some fuel system issues pretty soon. Gas turns into a gummy varnish over time.
It’s probably rusted brakes. You don’t need to take the wheels off. Just get a new battery, start the car, and drive it forward. The engine will break the rust bond. Brake a few times while holding the throttle for 15mph or so to scrape the rest of the rust off. And if you’re going to store it again, disconnect the battery.
Your Brakes are probably stuck… You can jack the car up and try to brake the wheel free by hand or socket on the lugs… OR Jump it and put it in geat and let the car do the work…
Yeah just rusted brakes. Got to give it a good shove to break them loose. Our several year old Acura did that after just sitting a couple weeks. Seems to be a Honda thing.
The parking brake wasn’t on. When we replace the battery I’ll look into the battery tender. I wasn’t around when the car was originally stored, so I don’t think they put stabilizer in the gas.
I have a friend coming to jump me on Monday so I will see if it brakes free with some power.
Thanks for the responses, I will post again with an update on Monday.