Which raises the debate: do you store a vehicle (long-term) with a full tank, an empty tank, or a partially full tank? You don't want the fuel to go bad, so a stabilizer is imperative, but regardless, it still degrades over time. Will it degrade faster with air in the tank? Some think so. It would certainly be easier to burn through a small amount of bad gas, so keeping the tank low would allow one to add fresh gas to dilute the bad. Storing a vehicle with no gas is possible, but I would worry about the fuel pump seals drying and cracking. Like so many topics on CL, there are no easy answers (not that this stops posters from giving them)! This question would be best addressed by collectors like Jay Leno or Jerry Seinfeld who have a whole lot of experience with storing cars.

 

I only fill up my truck with gas once or twice a year. It’s full now. I use it more in spring and summer than in winter. Next fill up will likely be in November. 😃

 

Fine, but it probably doesn't do the gasoline any good to sit that long unused, particularly if you get condensation in the tank.

 

I fill it up in the spring because I use it for yard projects and trips to Home Depot and the nursery, but it’s only a few miles to each. So it gets used/driven, but doesn’t need gas again until the fall. So far, so good.

 

So many things are theoretical. Do you pull your boat out in the winter? This one I think you should.

When I first got a snowblower I was into it. Back then they had HP ratings. Mine's like 13. Imagine draining fuel and oil out of something that size every spring. I did the first 4 seasons, and then I said, I'm not going to. It's now 17 years old, and starts first pull. Pull, yes, because the starter broke and was over $200. Should I drain the fuel and the oil every season, probably, does it matter, no. Think about all the lawn and garden implements, chain saws, weed trimmers, hedge trimmers, blah blah blah. I even used to use Sta Bil, not anymore. I just personally think for a car to sit 2 mos is nothing at all, 6-12, nothing at all. In 2009 think of all those cars with nowhere to go sitting on lots. Here in PA they get inspected upon arrival (not sure why). So it could have been June 2009, and you'd see cars on the lots with inspections expiring July 09, implying they were delievered July 08, nearly a year ago. Not sure why PA does that. If it were me that's a freshness date, I don't want the one sitting outside for that long, just me. I also get the milk with the longer expiration, my buddy does the opposite (I don't mean flip them all over the place I mean glance lol).

 

Personally, my wife and I agreed to take turns running our two cars to the grocery store (which will probably be every 10-14 days). That's good enough for me. No risk of flat spots or lubrication issues as long as they're driven a couple times per month. Plus I use my car as a way to get out of the house and just drive anyway.

 

Sports car is on a tender and driven once or twice a month when the weather is nice. Rotating a second battery tender on our daily drivers.

We're staying in here in CA. Stay safe and social distance if you have to exercise the vehicles.

 

I heard somewhere that it’s a good idea to turn the “auto” headlight switch to the “off” position if you’re not driving your car frequently. This is supposed to preserve the battery? Sounds like a good idea particularly for older models.

 

I absolutely agree with this!

 

Why? All the "auto" feature does, with sensors, is adjust the front lights between DRLs and full-power night-headlights, depending on the amount of ambient light around the vehicle. You will notice them adjust back and forth, for example, as you go through a tunnel or long underpass.

 

Yeah, I would like to know as well .

 

Not even close. We have three ranging from MY2011-2018 that sit for at least 3 weeksevery single year, and the batteries remain in perfect condition. One has already not even been started in 3 weeks, and won't be for at least another month--so 8 weeks total, or more. I am 100% confident that it will start on the first crank.

My next-door neighbors are snowbirds, and have a pair of late-model CR-Vs (2015 and 2019 if memory serves) that sit in their garage for months on end, to no ill effects.

 

Ok I'm going to chime in here, for each of the past 40 yrs I've been storing my 1979 Fiat Spider convertible for about 6 months thru Wisconsin winters, all I've done with the battery was simply disconnect the battery cables and let it sit in the car in the garage. Come Spring, I put my battery charger on to top it off, and away she goes without a hitch. No battery issues or anything else for that matter. If it sat for more than a year, it could probably develop a few issues like oil seals becoming brittle, sticking brake calipers, compressed suspension bushings and etc., but for the most part 6 months of storage never caused any issues. Btw, I also have been storing my 1990 Jaguar for 6 months and again no major issues related to storage. Shell Premium (w/nitrogen and no ethanol) is my fuel of choice, my 2 LS400's are never stored but are still rock solid with 275k and 330k respectively. I guess you can say all 4 machines are for the most part still "happy", and so am I if they stay that way

 

I have experience regarding this regarding with my 85 MR2, which has the subject auto headlight feature. I noticed the parasitic drain was an issue after a few instances of a dead battery after the car sat for weeks and was cured when I started using the manual switch for the headlights. I didn't analyze the circuit for a definitive explanation, but I assume the auto circuit is energized to keep some circuits/components ready for the photo-cell to activate them. I don't agree with the EE's who are designing the circuits, but because lights are a safety feature, it likely comes down to some sort of liability issue. I think Lexus came up with improved lighting circuits in later vehicles, but even with my 2008 SC and 2011 ES, I'm still perplexed at times by the actions of some of the electronics, including the lights. Rather than fight it, I've conceded to manually turning off the lights when leaving a vehicle parked for any length of time. It sucks because the "auto lights" feature is great and would be even better if one could set it and forget it!

Is this another candidate for "newer isn't always better?" The more electronics they pack into vehicles, the higher the parasitic drain. At some point, EE's will need to rethink this, or come up with better battery technology to counter it.

 

Having the auto headlight switch set to auto doesnt cause any parasitic drain when the car is off, theres no way that it can. Experience with a 35 year old car notwithstanding.



They have already begun the process of doing that, eventually modern cars will all be on 48V electrical systems. On my Pacifica there are two batteries, one that powers the accessories and one that starts the car.