Here’s one for the old car experts. I’m not mechanical at all and don’t really know anything.
I have a 1996 Toyota Camry (with very low mileage) that I park in my garage each November, not driving again until Spring. I don’t like driving in the icy north-eastern (North America) winters, so I simply don’t.
I don’t do anything special to the car. I wash it and park it. It just sits in an unheated (but insulated) garage for four or five months.
The first year I did this, the car started up easily in Spring and I happily drove it until November. The second year, same thing.
The third year, the car wouldn’t start in the Spring — dead battery. So I had the battery replaced, carried on and parked it again the following November.
The fourth year, again, I had a dead battery. Got a new battery (under warranty — yay!).
Now it’s been sitting in the garage for three weeks. I’ve been told that I need to start the car every month, in order to keep the battery going.
I’m just wondering how long I need to run the car. Can I likely get away with starting it, running it for a few minutes and then shutting it off, or should I drive it down the street? Or can I merely let it idle in the driveway for a bit? If so, for how long?
I’d really appreciate advice from those in the know.
Unless you’re planning to let that car get up to normal operating temperature, don’t start it every month. That’s a great way to start rusting out engine and exhaust components.
If you’re sure the only reason your batter is losing is charge is from sitting around all winter, get a battery tender. All you have to do is put the two clamps on your battery posts and plug it into the wall outlet. It’ll keep your battery perfectly charged all winter long.
The other option is to disconnect the battery and bring it into your house for the winter.
If you are parking for a long time, disconnect the ground cable on the battery.
When a vehicle is not running, the battery is still supplying current to certain circuits such as the radio, clock, alarm, and computer. These parasitic drains will reduce the battery capacity in as little as two weeks to the point of not stating. Severe drains can ruin a new battery. So disconnecting the battery is a must.
The worst place to park a car is over grass or dirt because moisture comes up and rusts everything. You are in a dry garage, which is a better place unless you are also parking a wet vehicle next to it. As long as you or nobody else does that, your storage situation is adequate.
Yes, keeping the battery charged with a trickle charger would also work. Perhaps that would be easier for you because if you disconnected the battery you would still want to charge it every two months or so.
it also means the car is ready to go if the situation should arise where you absolutely need to go somewhere and have no alternative transport available.
If you are going to park the car for an extended period of time, you should jack it up on blocks so you don’t end up with flat spots on the tires. The flat spots will usually work themselves out after a week or two of normal driving so it’s not that big of a deal, but it is kinder to your tires to get the car’s weight off of them.
You should also probably add some fuel stabilizer to the gas tank, and make sure you leave it with a full tank so there isn’t any air in there to make the gas go bad. When you start it again in the spring, make sure you use up most of that old tank of gas before refilling the tank. I’ve been able (with some difficulty) to start cars that have sat for more than a year using the gas that was left in the tank, so gas sitting for 5 or 6 months probably won’t go that bad no matter what you do, but I have heard that some types go bad faster than others, especially certain brands of blended fuels.
As was previously mentioned, either disconnect the battery or use a charger to keep it topped off. Note that some car security/alarm systems and some radios don’t like having the battery disconnected. If you have one of these systems consult your user’s manual for the proper procedure for battery removal (I’m guessing the OP doesn’t have one of these types of systems since there is no mention of having trouble with them after the battery died each time).
As the car sits, water is going to condense out of the air and will get into your engine block and such. Some people say you should change the oil before starting it, but realistically all you usually need to do is just make sure you get the car all the way up to its full operating temperature the first time you start it in the spring. The water will get flashed into water vapor and will be expelled from the engine. Some folks say you should let the car idle for 20 minutes the first time you start it, but my personal opinion is that there’s not that much water in there and it’s probably not worth worrying about.
If you run the car just long enough to charge the battery, not only will it not expel the water, but the combustion from the engine will create water vapor that will sit in your exhaust and cause it some major rust problems. Either run the car for at least 15 to 20 minutes or don’t run it at all.
Wow, I never knew there WAS such a thing as a Battery Tender / battery charger / trickle charger. Like I said, I’m not mechanical and really don’t know anything. This sounds perfect for me.
As for the other suggestions, the garage is dry, there are no other cars parked nearby, and the gas tank is full. I’m a middle-aged widow who only learned to pump my own gas a few years ago — like I said, I’m not mechanical or “car-ish” at all. I have no way of “jacking it up on blocks”, so it may be a good idea, but it’s just not going to happen.
I’ll have to think about the fuel stabilizer — would I simply open the gas-tank door and pour it in? Do you have to do anything in the spring or does it just stay in the gas tank? Can it hurt anything?
You’ll need permission from the parking garage to plug in a battery tender full time. There may not even be a plug next to the car.
I would second the suggestion to remove the ground cable from the battery. That removes any drain on the battery. A fairly new battery will hold it’s charge for a few months.
The other option is to buy a charger that can also start the car. Bring it with you the first time to jump start the car for Spring. Your battery life will be shortened. But it should still be ok for a couple years.
I go through the following routine every winter when I put my motorcycle away. I would do the same things for a car.
Bring engine to operating temperature. Change the oil - there will be a little condensation over the winter and you don’t want water mixing with used engine oil, it will be an acidic mix. You don’t have to change the oil again in the spring, but make sure you do get the engine up to full operating temperature to evaporate the condensation.
Don’t start the car before spring.
Check antifreeze strength. Make sure it isn’t too weak so it won’t freeze, expand and crack things.
Add fuel stabilizer, top off the tank with gas. Run engine for 5 minutes to move stabilizer throughout fuel system.
Pull spark plugs, spray fogging spray into cylinders, replace plugs, rotate engine to coat cylinder walls and prevent corrosion.
Adjust tire pressures, put car up on blocks to protect tires.
Remove battery. Place in basement (don’t place battery in direct contact with concrete floor). Run trickle charger every 6 weeks to bring battery to full charge.
Stuff I do for my motorcycle that may be overkill for your car - wash it and apply a coat of wax (I’ve heard WD40 works well too) (don’t remove wax or wash off WD40 until spring - protects the finish), cover exhaust pipes to prevent vermin from making them a home, place dust cover over top of bike.
Bringing it back to life in the spring should be a simple matter of installing battery, checking tire pressures and fluids, checking for leaks and taking it for a drive.
Pretty much all you do is open up the gas tank door and pour it in. You need to measure out how much stabilizer to pour in based on how much fuel is in the tank, but that’s all there is to it. It just stays in the tank. You don’t have to do anything to it in the spring.
Avoiding concrete floors is a bit of an urban legend. Like many urban legends, it does have some basis in fact. It used to be that battery cases were made out of rubber. This rubber would leak small amounts of the battery’s electrolyte, which could pool on a concrete floor and provide a discharge path for the current, which would kill the battery. This hasn’t been an issue for many years now, since battery cases are now made out of plastic.
In large lead acid battery systems (like the big ones you see on nuclear subs or in certain types of industrial use) if you can get a temperature differential between the top and bottom of the battery, this can cause the electrolyte to stratify. When that happens, you get small currents circulating around due to the density differences, which causes the battery plates to sulfate (which ruins the battery). Large lead acid battery systems will sometimes have stirring mechanisms of some sort to counter this. They will either blow air through the electrolyte to stir it up occasionally, or they’ll use mechanical stirring rods to shake things up.
I’ve read conflicting information about whether a car battery is large enough for this sort of thing to have any significant effect. Even if it is true, it’s the temperature differential between the top and bottom of the battery that causes the problem, not the concrete itself. Giving the battery a shake every couple of weeks will stir up the electrolyte and eliminate any possible problem.
You don’t need to take the battery out. It’s pointless unless you’re worried about theft. I left my motorhome parked outdoors over the Alaska winter (minimum 6 months at a shot) at temperatures that swung from 40 above zero to 30 below zero. Every fall - for five years - I disconnected the ground lug on the battery in the fall and dumped a bottle or two of fuel stabilizer in the gas tank. In the spring, I opened the hood, connected the ground lug, and it fired on the first try every single year.
Use fuel stabilizer like Sta-Bil, gas can go bad pretty quickly. I pour it into a full tank of gas and drive the car a bit to get the stabilized fuel into the fuel into the fuel system and engine. Just pouring it into the tank without running the engine a while won’t distribute the stabilizer.
I’ve been parking fuel-injected motorcycles for the winter months every year since 1999. The only thing I ever did to it was keep the battery charged up. I used to use a constant-current charger for this, but I finally got tired of attaching/detaching it periodically, so this fall I bought the holy grail, a Battery Tender. Plug it in, connect it to the battery, forget about it 'til springtime.
Never used fuel stabilizer. Never had a problem with starting in the spring. (this goes for my lawn mower, too.) I would probably use stabilizer if storing a vehicle for a year or more; not only would that be a longer time period, but it would also include warm summer months when the higher temperatures would accelerate fuel degradation. But for just four cold winter months? Save your money and time.
Never used fogging oil. Never had a problem with piston/ring wear/corrosion (first bike was sold in '09 with 135,000 miles on it, engine was in perfect health).
Do not start/run the car unless you’re going to take it out for a drive of at least ten miles. Idling at a standstill (or driving it for <10 miles) will leave moisture in the crankcase oil and exhaust system, accelerating your car’s demise.
My bike gets stored on its centerstand, resulting in minimal tire loads. I don’t have experience with the development of flat spots, but if engineer_comp_geek is correct, then they are just a temporary annoyance after you return your car to service.
stabilizer is mostly useful for stored fuel, or fuel in things like lawnmowers or yard equipment that has a vented tank. modern cars have “sealed” fuel systems to meet evaporative emissions regulations, so as long as the gas cap has a gasket in good condition and it’s tightened properly, degradation of the fuel in your car should be minimal.
It’s especially good for RVs that have an on-board generator. Also, the generator should be run at least once a month, preferably twice, and under load.