Corpo

right now my jackstands are in the same place the spare tire jack is suppost to go... is that bad?

and the weight is pretty much off the suspension, the rubber is barely touching the ground... is that bad too?

i'm really worried my concern for my car may have cause more problems then benifiet

i parked it in a heated garage and did not put gas line antifreeze in it, now it work start it just stalls... condinsation in the tank got into the filter?

at one point it started to run but rev limted to 3000 and it sounded rough.

could my car be damaged?

its a 2005 with just less then 15k on it. thats less then 10k miles.

mustangman02232

using jack stands are bad, tirerack.com i belive has faom pads to park on dont use jack stands unless you want it to look like an exploder in the spring

Newbreedgt05

I agree. I don't think it's a good idea to leave the car on jackstands for an extended period of time. Leaving the car on the ground will not hurt the suspension. I just leave mine on the ground. You should always use the gas line antifreeze because even if it's in a heated garage, small variations in temperature can make condenstion form in the tank. The gas may become slushy and that might be causing you car to not start. You said that you had a heated garage though, so that might not be the case. How long has it been sitting?

Corpo

2 months
i'll be taking it off the stands tomorrow morning now, thanks for the advice

callahan

Why jack stands? If you drove the car year round it would never be on jack stands. What makes you think it needs to be on jack stands when parked? Jack stands are only for working on the car.

Corpo

in hopes of not having to move the car back and forth, because its parked in a tight space. and i thought that because the suspension was just sitting there not being used it might find a new and lowernormal height. in the end, i didn't think it would have any negitive effect.

GT2006am

I'm going to have to disagree with the responses you've gotten so far about winter storage on jack stands. I would take most of weight off of the tires by using properly adjusted jack stands that were placed where the manufacturer recommended placing them - usually behind the rocker panels on a reinforced part of the unibody front and rear. The stiffened unibody of your new Mustang should suffer no ill effects from being properly supported by the correct 4 points of the chasis. I would check with your dealership or look in the Ford Mustang tear-down manual regarding supporting it correctly.

Taking the weight off of your springs for the few months of the year that you're not driving it can add years of life to them as springs (even really good ones) will sag over time from the weight of supporting the car 24x7x365. You will also save your tires from sitting with the car on them in the same position for months - which can cause a permanent mis-shape of the sidewall belts and give you a 'flat-spot'.

Don't forget the fuel stabilizer.

Corpo

will it stretch the springs though?

GT2006am

It can't stretch the springs. The rear springs are compressed between the axle housing and the chasis, and the front springs are compressed onto the struts. They are only capable of un-springing to themaximum limitof travel built into the suspension.

ford4v429

I agree jackstands might help prevent flat spotting the tires- but I'd prefer to start it up and move it a little bit every so often...and Ive heard the best way to keep the fuel tank from getting screwed up is to keep it near full- if near empty theres a lot more airspace inside that will 'breathe' as temperature swings day/night...as long as its full it basically dont need to breathe very much and wont draw in moist air or 'sweat' on the inside- look at the car after a big temp swing...Ive seen cars in my garage 'dripping like a cold can of pop in the summer' after big temperature swings we occasionally get here in Ohio. Adding a little shot offuel stabilizer is good idea to keep that full tank from turning to varnish...
Back to the jackstands: while keeping weight off the tires will prevent flatspots, unloading suspension and letting it sit fixed at extreme of its travel could very likely deform the rubber bushings... I had a car (camaro) up in the air for a couple months and afterwards, had a noisy frontend- luckily it was just the swaybar bushings were so badly deformed the bar ends had a rattle...and my mark vii air suspension 'went flat' one winter and come springtime the lower control arm bushings were almost eccentric looking- those were a bit of a PITA...on a lincoln the rubber is 'fat' probably for cushy ride, but man can they deform...the other thing about factory jacking points- they are not stress free to the car... was getting my tires rebalanced on my mark vii one time, left something in the car, opened the door to get it out(2 post/4point lift at factory points) and the door dropped far enoughit wouldnt close- yikes! the S197 is infinitely stronger than the fox chassis from what ive read, but still...I'd opt to support it with suspension loaded rather than unloaded...just my 2 cents. I'd also still prefer to start/move it every couple weeks- letting a engine sit months on end with zero oil being slung around has got to leave a lot of dry internal surfacescome springtime-just be sure it gets to full operating temperature so any moisture in the engine or exhaust will boil off...like an empty gas tank, the engine might breathe a bit too- i'd prefer to make sure it dont go too long between 'oilbaths' inside there...I would think belts and stuff like waterpump bearings/seals would probably last longer too if not left stationary for extended periods- again just my 2 cents...this can get like a oil debate I imagine