Posted By : John Davies, 30-May-2006,
01:20pm
Kevin,
What a sad story! To have such a nice car and to only be able to use it for six hours a year. I'm sorry for you.
And it's even worse than just the waste of a car. Even in the best conditions - dry, warm garage, car covered, on blocks, mothballed (really!) and
vermin proofed, a car deteriorates almost faster than it does with regular careful use. The brake fluid gets hydrated, unless you have siliconed it,
the rubber goods perish, the fuel loses volatiles, the anticorrsion agents in the coolant get used up and the oil settles into the sump so that
starting wears the engine more than a Triumph normally does. Combustion chambers and bores corrode. Paint oxidises. Even tyres deteriorate and should
be changed after about six years, as the rubber will have stiffened and weakened, even if you covered them up and kept them in the dark (light is a
tyres worst enemy, but we usually wear them out before they weaken).
A lead acid battery is the one item that won't deteriorate, IF you keep it charged up. A trickle charger, kept connected all the time will do this, but
you need one that senses the state of charge and adjusts its voltage accordingly. Once an LA battery is allowed to discharge and to stay that way for
any length of time, it will not recover fully. I suggest you buy a new one asap, and a trickle charger. And attend to all the other things above.
Good luck!
John