My car sits for months at a time. How do I maintain it?

KingstonU

Golden Member
Dec 26, 2006
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My car sits for 3 to 6 weeks at a time regularly. I find that each time I go to drive it again my brakes seems very stiff (they also rattle when I first use it) and it just overall seems to not run as well as when I left it.

What should I be doing to maintain it? Things I should be doing before? After? I fill up the gas tank before leaving it.

Thanks.
 

boomerang

Lifer
Jun 19, 2000
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There isn't anything you can do as far as the brakes go. The rotors rust while the car sits. You can't prevent that from happening. What also is probably contributing to the general feeling of not running as well is that the tires are probably flat spotting sitting that long. If you wanted to address that issue, you'd have to put it up on jack stands to take the weight off the tires.

Filling up the gas tank before parking it is a great thing to do. I'm actually surprised it starts after sitting as long as six weeks as I'd think the battery would run down. There is a lot of electrical draw in modern cars.
 

KingstonU

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Dec 26, 2006
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Typically my cars sits for 5-6 weeks, then I drive it for 2 weeks, sits for 5-6 weeks, drive it for 2 weeks, rinse and repeat for most of the year.
 

DougoMan

Senior member
May 23, 2009
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Is it garaged? My dad has an old car that he drives every month or two and he just runs a cord to the battery to keep it charged.
 

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
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Typically my cars sits for 5-6 weeks, then I drive it for 2 weeks, sits for 5-6 weeks, drive it for 2 weeks, rinse and repeat for most of the year.

Trip length? If they are short, you will want to work a long one in each time to be sure you are getting the fluids hot enough, for long enough, to take care of condensation.
 

JCH13

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2010
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There isn't anything you can do as far as the brakes go. The rotors rust while the car sits. You can't prevent that from happening. What also is probably contributing to the general feeling of not running as well is that the tires are probably flat spotting sitting that long. If you wanted to address that issue, you'd have to put it up on jack stands to take the weight off the tires.

Filling up the gas tank before parking it is a great thing to do. I'm actually surprised it starts after sitting as long as six weeks as I'd think the battery would run down. There is a lot of electrical draw in modern cars.

That sounds good at first, but it can screw up suspension bushings leaving the suspension in full droop under the springs' preload. The best thing to do is to get crappy wheels/tires to store the car with. The next best thing is to roll the car a little bit every few weeks.

Also, there is no draw on the battery just sitting there... the battery self-discharges. Older cars are just as susceptible to this as new cars. I would, however, still get a battery tender.
 

boomerang

Lifer
Jun 19, 2000
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That sounds good at first, but it can screw up suspension bushings leaving the suspension in full droop under the springs' preload. The best thing to do is to get crappy wheels/tires to store the car with. The next best thing is to roll the car a little bit every few weeks.

Also, there is no draw on the battery just sitting there... the battery self-discharges. Older cars are just as susceptible to this as new cars. I would, however, still get a battery tender.
I'll concede your point about suspension bushings (although I think it's worth worrying about at the same level as the tires) but will take issue with the bolded statement.

Modern cars have numerous computers that are discharging the battery with every passing minute it's not running. If nothing else, the clock is keeping time.

I took the battery out of my garden tractor last November and in late April it was still fully charged. Sitting on the bench with nothing connected to it. No self-discharging found.
 

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
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Yes, there is a large draw on the battery just sitting there in a modern vehicle.

That's why my Jeep has IOD fuses. Ignition Off Draw. These fuses are typically removed when the vehicle is sitting on the lot, and are installed by the dealer for delivery. My dash will even give a warning if the IOD fuses are missing.
 

JCH13

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Sep 14, 2010
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I'll concede your point about suspension bushings (although I think it's worth worrying about at the same level as the tires) but will take issue with the bolded statement.

Modern cars have numerous computers that are discharging the battery with every passing minute it's not running. If nothing else, the clock is keeping time.

I took the battery out of my garden tractor last November and in late April it was still fully charged. Sitting on the bench with nothing connected to it. No self-discharging found.

I suppose that's true. Those silly luxury cars with auto-leveling systems will trash the battery after sitting for not too long. Also possible if you have an alarm system that takes some juice. But the clock? Really? A watch battery will run a clock for years :p but I see your point.

Your garden tractor battery probably did self-discharge a bit, but clearly not enough to make it unusable. There are only two battery chemistries that I know of that will not self-discharge during storage: thermal and oxy-halide, but they are not rechargeable. You're also more apt to find them in a ballistic missile guidance system than a lawn mower :awe:
 

KingstonU

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Dec 26, 2006
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When I get back I usually do a quick 15 minute trip and then somewhere in those two weeks I will do a couple 3 hour trips. It's a very very basic 2004 Kia Rio.
 

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
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There's all sorts of stuff running all the time on even a basic car these days.

Those trips should keep your car in good shape then. I wouldn't worry about it.
 

KingstonU

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Dec 26, 2006
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Fuel system cleaner? Is that some kind of additive? Like a small bottle that I add to my gas tank that I buy at any automotive shop? Which should I get?
 

thescreensavers

Diamond Member
Aug 3, 2005
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Fuel system cleaner? Is that some kind of additive? Like a small bottle that I add to my gas tank that I buy at any automotive shop? Which should I get?

eh, some say all of them are crap.

But there are a few with PEA additive which supposedly works

Redline Si-1 at pepboys is popular at bobistheoil guy
 

brblx

Diamond Member
Mar 23, 2009
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what the hell does the car sitting have to do with seafoam? if he put anything in there, it would be a fuel stabilizer.

3-6 weeks is not long enough for gas to go bad (lose its volatility), especially in a completely sealed system. personally, i wouldn't park the car with a full tank, i'd park it with maybe a quarter and then drive down the block to fill it up with fresh stuff when you start driving it again.

for the tires, fill them to 50psi or so and then set them back to normal before driving. that should be enough to avoid flatspotting. again, around a month is not THAT long. even at 35 (or 30, 32, whatever the doorjamb says), they probably won't get permanent flat spots in that amount of time. should be find after a little driving, just like the brakes.

constantly letting the rotors oxidize and then grinding that off is probably going to shorten the life of the pads and rotors, but there's not much you can do about it other than store the car in a dry, climate controlled garage.

edit- also, i saw you said kio rio. those cars are real bad about the rear drums rusting up. when i worked for hertz, i would get them sent to me with 'bad brakes' because they were grabby and the rear would squat down. of course, if you looked at the history you'd see it'd been sitting for awhile with no rents on it. i'd take it out, floor the gas to 30 or so, and nail the shit out of the brakes. problem fixed.
 
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Zargon

Lifer
Nov 3, 2009
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Redline Si-1 is tons better then seafoam in the gas tank.

I am unfamiliar with that product, I jus tknow that their diff fluid rocks

what the hell does the car sitting have to do with seafoam? if he put anything in there, it would be a fuel stabilizer.

3-6 weeks is not long enough for gas to go bad (lose its volatility), especially in a completely sealed system. personally, i wouldn't park the car with a full tank, i'd park it with maybe a quarter and then drive down the block to fill it up with fresh stuff when you start driving it again.

for the tires, fill them to 50psi or so and then set them back to normal before driving. that should be enough to avoid flatspotting. again, around a month is not THAT long. even at 35 (or 30, 32, whatever the doorjamb says), they probably won't get permanent flat spots in that amount of time. should be find after a little driving, just like the brakes.

constantly letting the rotors oxidize and then grinding that off is probably going to shorten the life of the pads and rotors, but there's not much you can do about it other than store the car in a dry, climate controlled garage.

edit- also, i saw you said kio rio. those cars are real bad about the rear drums rusting up. when i worked for hertz, i would get them sent to me with 'bad brakes' because they were grabby and the rear would squat down. of course, if you looked at the history you'd see it'd been sitting for awhile with no rents on it. i'd take it out, floor the gas to 30 or so, and nail the shit out of the brakes. problem fixed.

seafoam supposedly eats up shit left from gelling gas ETC. so ya know, that would help after its sat.

I agree its not really long enough to worry about it going bad, but I would fill up before I let I sit. but I am used to do that with bikes with metal tanks :biggrin:
 

brblx

Diamond Member
Mar 23, 2009
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i guess so. if i was going to worry about it, i'd just use a bottle of stabil which i've generally had good experiences with, where seafoam might as well just be a bottle of trans fluid (oil with lots of detergents).
 

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
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Sitting for a month or so is not going to bother the fuel at all. I really wouldn't worry about it. You're refreshing the fuel every 6 weeks at most and keeping the tank full. It will be fine.
 

Zargon

Lifer
Nov 3, 2009
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i guess so. if i was going to worry about it, i'd just use a bottle of stabil which i've generally had good experiences with, where seafoam might as well just be a bottle of trans fluid (oil with lots of detergents).

yeah its not really worth worrying about.

I do a seafoam every spring because they add all sorts of random shit to the winter gas here, and its as good a time as any...
 

JCH13

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2010
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what the hell does the car sitting have to do with seafoam? if he put anything in there, it would be a fuel stabilizer.

If you want to clean out deposits in the intake and engine... that's why I suggested doing the intake treatment. Apparently it also helps to stabilize engine oil, so he could add it to that too. Seafoam will also clean out the fuel system in additional to stabilizing the fuel and absorbing moisture, which can't hurt.