Car Hibernation ... ???

[kotte mafia]

guys ... some one who is close to me is leaving his country for around 6 months and he has to leave his car behind and there's no one capable enough to drive it around here so it will just be sleeping in the garage until he returns. the guy is has no idea what so ever how to prepare his car for a long hibernation and i have no idea what so ever on what to do or where to start, so ..please i need some advice on what to do to a car before you park it and leave for a long period and is there any special precautions you must take if its a petrol or a diesel and what effects does the climate have on long term parking and is this long term parking effect on the overall performance of the car if so how to minimize it

thanks a lot

Edited July 27, 2009 by kotte mafia

[Kim]

Whats d car?

[Kadaffi]

If the car is going to be left for that long, I would recommend disconnecting the battery, and if the garage is level to park with the handbrake released. Just chock the wheels with something.

It also good to wash the car and pump the tyres with air before parking and check all the fluids. Its also best to just have a 1/4 tank of petrol in the car as petrol goes stale after a while, then fill it up once he is back.

Once he comes back after 6 months, before starting he should do some checks, see if there are any leaks under the car, check the oil and all the belts and most importantly check the coolant all over again.

[harshansenadhir]

what AA has to say about this ...

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/laying_up.html

[VVTi]

guys ... some one who is close to me is leaving his country for around 6 months and he has to leave his car behind and there's no one capable enough to drive it around here so it will just be sleeping in the garage until he returns. the guy is has no idea what so ever how to prepare his car for a long hibernation and i have no idea what so ever on what to do or where to start, so ..please i need some advice on what to do to a car before you park it and leave for a long period and is there any special precautions you must take if its a petrol or a diesel and what effects does the climate have on long term parking and is this long term parking effect on the overall performance of the car if so how to minimize it

thanks a lot

What exactly is the car.... when you say, no one capable of driving it...

If you are capable, take it out once a week for a hundred Kms or so and she will be fine...

[kotte mafia]

its a crovatte,BMW 325i,peugeot 407,VW Gti and a LR3 the problem we are going to face is theres no one to drive thesecos the full family is leaving on holiday and all the babies will be resting in the garage for quite some time un attened thankz alot guys on the tips if theres anyhing special to do please let me know ... thankz again on the helpful tips really do appriciate it

[Ripper]

hooking up the batteries to a "battery tender" type trickle/float charger too will help if you want the batteries to be safe and in good shape when you get back...

i bought a trickle charger online to keep my bike battery in shape and it works like a charm...

i start it only once a month or so just keep the motor running etc and she fires the first time

[VVTi]

its a crovatte,BMW 325i,peugeot 407,VW Gti and a LR3 the problem we are going to face is theres no one to drive thesecos the full family is leaving on holiday and all the babies will be resting in the garage for quite some time un attened thankz alot guys on the tips if theres anyhing special to do please let me know ... thankz again on the helpful tips really do appriciate it

Ado that's quite a handful. Why don't you offer to take them out on weekends and run a few Kms on each? That will be the best thing to do! Far too many wheels to go for a proper storage. Leaving them idle for a couple of weeks at a time won't hurt the insides at all. Besides, if you are not in a tropical zone, rust will not be an issue. Tell the owners to top up the tanks, get the oils changed and get trusted and careful drivers to take them out occasionally.

I was in KSA for a while and my boss used to leave his 540 at home for months. Once in a while one of us would go take her out for a drive so the battery will not be dead when he gets back. Never had an issue.

Won't take half a day a weekend for you to take them all out for a spin.

Edited July 28, 2009 by VVTi

[Ripper]

Ado that's quite a handful. Why don't you offer to take them out on weekends and run a few Kms on each? That will be the best thing to do! Far too many wheels to go for a proper storage. Leaving them idle for a couple of weeks at a time won't hurt the insides at all. Besides, if you are not in a tropical zone, rust will not be an issue. Tell the owners to top up the tanks, get the oils changed and get trusted and careful drivers to take them out occasionally.

I was in KSA for a while and my boss used to leave his 540 at home for months. Once in a while one of us would go take her out for a drive so the battery will not be dead when he gets back. Never had an issue.

Won't take half a day a weekend for you to take them all out for a spin.

i bet he too is incapable of driving them

[VVTi]

i bet he too is incapable of driving them

Ripper, I wish I was him... heck , I would call you and we can take the dogs for their walks every weekend!!!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha

[kotte mafia]

nehe machang i won't be around tooo thats the major issue and by the way its in oman where theres no rain but the case is the winter is going to start soon then its a different ball game but hte garage is nice with AC .....but it seems we have to change the holiday timings or else forget about the cars ..... i do love the crovatte alot with the Z06 racing package its a monster drive but its really hard on the pocket ..... if they leave me with petrol money i will be king of the rock until they come back ...

Edited July 29, 2009 by kotte mafia

[Niroshan_AM]

Sorry to bring up this old thread back. But i want your expert opinion on this.

I have to put my 2008 allion 260 in hirebination for 9 months. 

1. Is it bad to remove the battery from the car? My electrician strongly recommended against it saying that i would need to reprogram the ecu.

2. Should i put new engine oil and filter before i leave? If i should what type of oil should i use? Mineral or synthetic? TL put 5000km toyota engine oil and i still have 2000km left on it.(which i think is mineral oil. Not so sure)

Edit-Few months ago i read a more relevent thread to this topic with detailed steps on how to store a car away it but i cant find it now. Can someone pls post it here?

Edited October 18, 2017 by Niroshan_AM

[iRage]

1 hour ago, Niroshan_AM said:

Sorry to bring up this old thread back. But i want your expert opinion on this.

I have to put my 2008 allion 260 in hirebination for 9 months. 

1. Is it bad to remove the battery from the car? My electrician strongly recommended against it saying that i would need to reprogram the ecu.

2. Should i put new engine oil and filter before i leave? If i should what type of oil should i use? Mineral or synthetic? TL put 5000km toyota engine oil and i still have 2000km left on it.(which i think is mineral oil. Not so sure)

Edit-Few months ago i read a more relevent thread to this topic with detailed steps on how to store a car away it but i cant find it now. Can someone pls post it here?

Ideally the car should be run so as to let the fluids circulate and things like the tire's rubber heat up (not doing so and leaving the wheels non-rotational will actually spoil the tire). Isn't there ANYONE who can at least once a week or so; start up your car and leave it idling until the engine leaves prop op temprature ?

The mechanic is right...leaving the battery disconnected for 9 months will reset ECU and some of the other security stuff on the car. But then again leaving the battery connected for 9 months won't actually work as well because it will die off in a much shorter time ( when in Japan I used to leave my RAV4 connected for 5-6 months without being used and the battery would always crank up the car. However, the same car in SL with a new battery bought in SL barely lasts 1 month without the battery draining out.). If possible buy a trickle charger and have it connected to the battery whilst the battery is connected to the car. 

Personally I would do a fresh oil change. Use a good synthetic oil as synthetics are less prone to breaking down with time.

Wash the car thoroughly..especially the under carriage. If there is mud and stuff those can do a nasty number on the bushings and stuff. After washing make sure you dry up the car properly.

Inflate tires. Don't inflate them to a point of cracking but slightly over inflating will help.

Do not put the hand brakes on ! They might lock up and you will have trouble moving once you get back. Leave it in P and use tire blocks (or atleast a gadola) for peace of mind.

If you do leave the car idling for long periods of time...when you return and want to use your car..do NOT JUST JUMP IN START IT UP AND START DRIVING !!! First check the fluids...so a short crank and stop and then start up the car and let it run for a while so that the engine oil circulates etc...Then slowly start rolling the car...check the brakes, etc... If you find someone to run the car atleast once a month make sure the person doesn't just start up the car and go driving....tell the person to let the car run for awhile before he/she moves it.

[maersk]

 or drain all the fluids, remove all tyres (literally Kota uda) and go. In any case you'all need a new battery connected or disconnected so I'll leave the battery connected but obliviously ensure no one is attempting to start the car.

best is if someone drive the car at least every fortnight for few hours but finding that someone is lot harder than you might think.

i have to leave my car every 3 months for 2-3 months but it used to be for longer periods, up to 10 months in the past so I've done some studying about this.

Good luck with your car and your endeavor!

[The Stig]

3 hours ago, Niroshan_AM said:

Sorry to bring up this old thread back. But i want your expert opinion on this.

I have to put my 2008 allion 260 in hirebination for 9 months. 

1. Is it bad to remove the battery from the car? My electrician strongly recommended against it saying that i would need to reprogram the ecu.

2. Should i put new engine oil and filter before i leave? If i should what type of oil should i use? Mineral or synthetic? TL put 5000km toyota engine oil and i still have 2000km left on it.(which i think is mineral oil. Not so sure)

Edit-Few months ago i read a more relevent thread to this topic with detailed steps on how to store a car away it but i cant find it now. Can someone pls post it here?

Guys above me have pretty much covered most of it but on point 2 the average lifetime of mineral oil is 6 months so even if you change it now it will still expire. I thought the allion was suppose to use synthetic ? in that case change the oil now to synthetic and change it again when you get back.

However if i was in your position i would just give the car to one my friends or family members to use as their daily runner.

[vag2]

what about Hybrids,I haven't seen any Trickle chargers to keep the hybrid battery from dying during long hibernating periods.

[Niroshan_AM]

Thank you guys for quick response. I will buy a trickle charger. Is it ok to just drain and replace mineral with synthetic? Do i need to replace oil filter as well?