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Leaving vehicle for 2 months


WendyG
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Hi everyone

Can someone advise me what to do when leaving a car with a security system garaged for 2/3 months.

I normally leave my Freelander in the bar unlocked which means the alarm system etc is not activated and therefore does not run down the battery.

I have now acquired a Honda Civic itec which has a flashing red light on the dash even if left unlocked.  What can I do to ensure it does not run the battery down - if it does will it then cause a problem with the security system.

Any helpful comments would be most welcome as obviously I do not want to come back to a flat battery etc.

WendyG

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We regularly leave a very old Saab in France for 2 months and it always starts first time. It's left as normal, with the battery connected in the garage, red light winking away. Come to think of it, my Polo is also left out on the drive for up to 3 months in UK and also starts first time, but doesn't have a red flashing light. The ancient Porsche also has such a security system, but is notoriously bad at holding a charge; we don't expect that to start on our return to UK. That has to go on charge. OH also has a supercharger of some sort for it, big red thing - but that accompanies him almost everywhere. Maybe one of those would be useful to OP.
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I regularly leave the Jeep in the garage for extended periods, like the winter. I fitted a quick release battery connector to the live terminal of the battery - cost about 5 Euro - just unclip the positive terminal from the battery when it's not in use for a while. Quick, easy and cheap.
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If there was power near by, I'd suggest an Optimate, if not, then it would make sense to disconnect the battery and lock the doors with the key. One other point, and slightly more crucial in France than the UK, two months is more than enough time for the petrol to go stale, and it's easy to tell because of the smell. Stale petrol will work, but it needs a hotter spark. I usuallu run anything than is going into storage (car, bike, strimmer, chain saw etc etc) to very low, and then put as much fresh petrol as possible in before trying to start it, along with a freshly charged battry in the case of a car or bike. Most modern vehicles don't have coils these days, but spark genorators, and these don't work well with a low charge, so add that to stale petrol, means a difficult to start car!  French petrol seems more prone to going stale quickly.

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As Theiere said, if light gets into the barn, you could get a solar charger and stick it into the ciggie lighter, it doesnt need bright sunshine just daylight and it will put a trickle into the battery that hopefully will compensate for the trickle coming out.

And leave your handbrake OFF!
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[quote user="RicandJo"]Because when the discs develop their surface corrosion the pads can become firmly attached to the discs.

Agreed but this can equally happen with the handbrake off and the bond can always be broken by driving off, not even a snatch is noticeable, tha advice does hold true for drum brakes though which under certain circumstances can seize preventing the vehicle from being driven, In 30 years  I have only encountered this twice on vehicles left abandoned outside for decades, on the other hand far more instances of stuck clutch friction plates.

For a couple of months resting in a barn there really is no need to be concerned

The force required to free them up when you drive off can warp the disc. Handbrake off, just leave her in gear.

Yeah Right! [:D]

[/quote]

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[quote user="Chancer"]

[quote user="RicandJo"]Because when the discs develop their surface corrosion the pads can become firmly attached to the discs.

Agreed but this can equally happen with the handbrake off and the bond can always be broken by driving off, not even a snatch is noticeable, tha advice does hold true for drum brakes though which under certain circumstances can seize preventing the vehicle from being driven, In 30 years  I have only encountered this twice on vehicles left abandoned outside for decades, on the other hand far more instances of stuck clutch friction plates.

For a couple of months resting in a barn there really is no need to be concerned

The force required to free them up when you drive off can warp the disc. Handbrake off, just leave her in gear.

Yeah Right! [:D]

[/quote]

[/quote]

Thanks for explaining that ricandjo, now could you please explain it to my car too, it obviously doesn't know how cars behave as when I left it for a few months recently, there is NO WAY its back wheels were ever going to turn under its own volition. I will also pass the info on to my mechanic, a long time friend who has been in the trade all his life but who seems to be under the impression that this is a common occurrence and he has been called out hundreds of times to do what he had to do for my car - jack it up, take the wheels off, strip the brakes, clean everything up and reassemble. Nice to know it won't happen, Yeah Right!
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[quote user="RicandJo"]Because when the discs develop their surface corrosion the pads can become firmly attached to the discs. The force required to free them up when you drive off can warp the disc.

Handbrake off, just leave her in gear.[/quote]

I don't think it could warp a disc. More than likely, a reasonably thick part of the pad material will come off when 'freed' and be stuck to the disc, this obviously makes the surface of the disc uneven, so when you go on the brakes, you'll get some shuddering which feels like the disc is warped, but it's really the pad material left over from the pad being stuck to the disc.

Leaving the handbrake off and leaving it in gear is sound advice though!

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Or even the rust being of a finite thickness on the rest of the disc and infinitessimal under the pad, stuck or otherwise.

These and other things can provoke brake squeal and/or judder but whilst the mechanics in the fast fit centres love to say "your discs are warped" they aint in fact.

I have warped discs on race cars and have also trued up real warped discs on my lathe but this will never happen through laying up a vehicle.

Brake judder and especially scored discs have been much more prevalent since the removal of asbestos from friction material but it does not seem to occur on hard driven vehicles only those where the brakes are gently applied, which includes myself now.

I used to visit my late father once a year and service his cherished Polo every other visit but he would always ask me to service his brakes when I arrived complaining that they juddered, didnt pull up very well and the handbrake would not hold and he didnt have the strength to pull it up onto the 3rd click of the very course ratchet.

And he was right, the discs were always really scored and the brakes pretty apalling, all I used to do ws take it for a very spirited drive through the hills and country lanes around where he lived hammering the brakes to within an inch of their lives but giving them enough time to cool off between applications and the braking system was transformed every time.

A few years ago I bought a Seat Alhambra to replace my Ford Galaxy, essentially the same vehicle so I knew the chracteristics well, it had been driven very sedately the brakes were appalling, the discs grooved beyond recognition judder and violent steeering kickback when braking, I decided to change the discs and pads at the earliest opportunity but at the time was travelling into London every day for a contract.

After two weeks of spirited driving carrying heavy loads there was no longer any judder or kickback and the discs looked like new with no trace of grooving, I repaced the pads as a precaution but they too were unmarked.

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It is also possible that the front wheel drive of most vehicles leaves the back vulnerable to sticking pads without all the available torque of a rear wheel drive to un-stick them.

Warping is done after excess heating not from stuck pads, and the absence of asbestos seems to make them stick much easier IMO

 

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Hi,

A few tips from a retired Transport Engineer

Rear Drum brakes tend to seize on rather than off so if possible, by chocking the wheels with large stones or what ever is available, leave the handbrake off

Leave the fuel tank full, the air in the tank constantly expands and contracts with changes in temperature and the tank will sweat resulting in water dropping into the fuel

Battery acid will freeze if the battery is flat so if its going to be very cold take it off the car and store in the boot, covered

Antifreeze unless strengthen with neat additive will normally only protect down to minus 10 to 15. Protect the radiator ideally with a piece of foam backed carpet

Temperatures can fall below that figure if you take the wind chill factor into consideration

Rust on your brake discs will disappear within 10 miles of driving , take care for those few miles

Brake Fluid absorbs water over time and should be changed every three years. The water in the brake fluid rusts the pistons that operate the brakes making them seize on, making them appear to be stuck to the disc.

Change the engine oil of a diesel on a regular basis because the acid that forms in the old oil will corrode the bearings if left for a long time

Parking up against a fence or hedge will give some protection from the elements

I leave my car unlocked, a new window or repairs to the door and lock are cheaper than losing the bits I leave in the car. If someone targets your car they will get in.

Joshua

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All good advice from Joshua.

I helped out at my local lycée proffesional yesterday for the Telethon, for €5 we were taking cars through the workshops testing battery electrolite, charging, engine coolant, lights and alignment, brake roller testing, damper dynamic testing, several others that I can think of finishing off with a hand wash and valet by what seemed like a crowd of students at some time.

I put my own car through to donate something and was surprised that my engine coolant being the original and now nearly 10 years old still showed a freezing point of minus 25 degrees on the spectrographic tester as I expected a lot less, some 4 year old cars were already down to that freezing point, although I bet mine is acidic now.

One thing I noticed even more than last year, I drove around 30 cars of which only one was not diesel powered, an absolute minter of a Renault 5, the only drive of the day that felt like the controls actually had some connection to the contact points of the tyres at 3 miles per hour!

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[quote user="Joshua"]Battery acid will freeze if the battery is flat so if its going to be very cold take it off the car and store in the boot, covered

Antifreeze unless strengthen with neat additive will normally only protect down to minus 10 to 15. Protect the radiator ideally with a piece of foam backed carpet

Temperatures can fall below that figure if you take the wind chill factor into consideration [/quote]

I don't think wind chill affects anything that isn't producing heat.

It doesn't affect a thermometer, for example.  Does it?

I can see that covering the battery and radiator will slow down the rate of heat loss, but surely any initial heat will have been lost long before 2 months have passed; I would guess within a few days.

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[quote user="Gemonimo"][quote user="Lambkin"]

And leave your handbrake OFF![/quote]

Errrm, why?[/quote]Unless your bar (barn) has a sloping floor why would you want to put it ON is a better question [;-)]

I think for 2/3 months dry storage the only thing you have to worry about is what you asked originally, which was effectively answered in the first response, and dismiss any concerns about rusting brakes. [8-|]

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It comfort hand braking a bit like people that brake if they see even a slight bend.

Why not spray the brake calipers liberally in WD40. Stops oxidization keeps the calipers free and great fun when the brakes first needed.

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[quote user="Dog"]Why not spray the brake calipers liberally in WD40. Stops oxidization keeps the calipers free and great fun when the brakes first needed.[/quote]I'll take it that was tongue in cheek [blink]

WD40

Quote "The long term active ingredient is a non-volatile, viscous oil which

remains on the surface, providing lubrication and protection from

moisture.
"

Bet you didn't know where the name came from either did you [:D][:D][:D]

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