Leaving Trac for a month

[Adam Smith]

I might have to leave the 04 trac for a month in my garage if I am deployed to N.O.

What is best:

having someone start it each week vs.

disconnecting the battery vs.

nothing.

Thank you!

 

[Nelson Atwell]

Either way, make sure you put gas stabilizer in the tank.

 

[Gavin Allan]

Dump in the stabilizer.



Fill the tank.



Unhook the battery.



Have fun in NO!

 

[Deleted deleted]

Unless the person starting it is going to drive it, it would be easier on the engine to just follow the above advice... put in fuel stabilizer and do not have someone start it during the month you're away. Disconnecting just the negative cable to the battery is good enough.

 

[Nelson Atwell]

Leaving a vehicle for one month isn't too bad. I left my old Toyota for 90 days with the battery still attached, with gas stabilizer, and it fired up with no problems.



Now when I left the same car for a year, that was a different story. I left it with my fiancee, in her garage. I had it completely serviced, waxed/detailed, put in the gas stabilizer and disconnected the battery to store it. The first month I was gone, one of her children borrowed the car for an out-of -town trip and ran out the tank of gas. They parked it with a new tank of gas for the remaining eleven months, with the battery connected. When I got home, the battery was dead, the engine ran like crap, and the paint was dull from having road grime on it all year. I traded it for my first ST within 6 weeks of returning, because it was basically trashed. Needless to say, I wasn't happy.

 

[LB]

Darin:



Why disconnect just the neg cable??? What does it do if you disconnect both?



DB

 

[Tom Schindler]

Daniel, Disconnecting the negative battery cable is the same as disconnecting both. The difference is twice the work disconnecting both.



dbk747, Park it and forget about it. You might want to connect a battery conditioner that will float the battery. I left my 1996 Escort GT parked for the winter for 5 months without doing a thing to it. It fired right up. I left my 1992 Escort GT parked for three months when I went to Europe. The battery in it was 6 years old and I had to charge it when I came home. Besides a dead battery, because it was bad in the first place, it fired right up after it was charged.



I never use any type of fuel stabilizer. Not in my lawnmowers, weed wacker, tiller, or pressure washers. I park it and come spring, I fire them right up and they work fine.



I have done alot of buisness travel in the past. I would be gone a month, sometimes longer. I never put any of that crap in my tank. My brother had a car that sat for 6 years. He put a charger on it and it fired right up without skipping a beat.



Park it and help those in need.





Tom

 

[Johnny O]

If it's just for a month, the battery will be fine to leave connected as long as it's in good shape to begin with. Sta-Bil in the gas tank if it will make you feel better, but again, for a month it really isn't necessary. I'd fill the gas and pump all the tires up to 35 though.

My dad leaves his old Lincoln in FL all summer and fall, never disconnects the battery and it's fine. For that long we do put Sta-Bil in the gas and pump the tires up to 40. Also he backs it into the garage just in case it won't start when he gets back.



Best of luck in N.O. Thank you for your service.

 

[TomT]

Invert it.