What do I need to do to prepare a Dakota to be parked for about 18 months?

 

give the interior a good scrubbing to make sure that nothing stains over time. I've restored a few old cars and some of them the original owner cleaned them before stuffing them in a barn and boy does that make a huge difference not having to try and get years old grime out of an interior!

 

I think I would almost think about putting her up on jack stands... unless you are occassionally gonna move it

 

Alright. Well the truck was just detailed. I'll run it over to the dealership and get the oil change done, that way it's on record. Do I need a certain amount of gas for the sta-bil? As it sits it's treading the E on 8 month old gas.

As far as wash it was all washed before I drove it home on Sunday. It's just got some bugs on the front which I'll take care of.

The truck probably will be driven every so often to charge the battery or if I need to haul something. Other than that I plan on just leaving it sit till the lease runs out.

I should have also added it's a 2006 4x4 with the V8. Truck has 91000ish kms on it. Is there anything I need to do for the transmission? Anything else at all? Putting in sta-bil and an oil change just seems really simple. According to the condo bylaws I can't actually cover it with a tarp and leave it outside. The truck is too big to fit in my garage too. Plus I'd rather keep my car and my bike in there rather than a leased truck. I think I'll just have to wash it every so often with the hose.

 

if your not starting it for 3 weeks or more at a time, I would also disconnect the battery

 

Well, truck is parked. Got the oil change done today, didn't bother with sta-bil since the truck is treading the E. Now it awaits December 2010 when it goes back to the dealership.

 

18 months is kinda long for a jail sentence, what did you do? as for storage, everything you did is correct, only thing i would do, is get a cheap set of rims and tires that fit the dak from a junk yard, that way the factory ones dont get flat spots

 

Start it up and go for a 20-30 minute drive (long enough for it to warm up and run a bit) every few weeks.

 

That sucks that you have to park it, what happened did you use up too many miles (kms)? Trying to avoid additional charges? I would almost attempt to buy it out so I could at least drive it or sell it rather than pay for it to be parked.