Immediately before the vehicle goes into its 11-month hibernation:
1. Fill the fuel tank.
2. Change the oil and filter.
3. Put the battery on a trickle charger and put the charger on a timer (an hour or two a day is more than enough to keep the battery alive). Options: (a) disconnect the battery negative cable or (b) remove the battery. This requires resetting the clock and the radio memory when the car is restored to service. If the battery is removed, do not set it directly on concrete -- use a wooden board. The trickle charger advice still applies.
4. Do not start the car once a month. Does more harm than good.
5. Consider rodent traps at strategic locations. Remember where you put them.
6. Air the tires up to 35-40 psi.
7. Cover the car.

When the car emerges from storage, reverse all of the above changes and drive it normally but change the fuel filters after about 100 miles, to remove anything that might have settled out of the fuel.

Jeremy

__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970