parking car for 20 days outside

Thanks for all the opinions. No block heater plugins in the lot. Ill just park as is. There’s quite a few other employee cars so I’m sure they will know what works.

Someone mentioned paint damage being their concern. You wouldn’t be too worried about that on my van. Ha. It runs great though. Those old Chrysler 3.3l engines are very dependable.
 
20 days? That's nothing. I just started driving a car I had parked outside for over 10 years.
Lol, yeah you don't live on the Canadian arctic prairies where they regularly set records for being the coldest place on earth.
At those temps NOTHING moves and if it does there's a good chance it'll soon be broken.
 
Lol, yeah you don't live on the Canadian arctic prairies where they regularly set records for being the coldest place on earth.
At those temps NOTHING moves and if it does there's a good chance it'll soon be broken.
The cold preserves the vehicles. It's the temperature fluctuations that cause deterioration more than anything else.
 
Lol, yeah you don't live on the Canadian arctic prairies where they regularly set records for being the coldest place on earth.
At those temps NOTHING moves and if it does there's a good chance it'll soon be broken.

I believe it. We got a -40F cold snap a few years ago and attempting to start my car in those temps was miserable. Clutch pedal was lazy - assuming from the super thick fluid at such a low temp; took a 20 minute drive for the trans to warm up. I can only imagine a how brittle and easy parts would be to break in those temps.
 
You are worrying about nothing (looks out window at my truck that gets driven 2-3 times a month).
Drive to the lot and park it with whatever is in the tank.
Get in and drive it when you get back and fill the tank as needed.

As others mentioned, my only concern would be the battery if more than a couple of years old.
A lithium jump pack would solve that for ~$40.
 
Lot of deployments on Submarines for months at time. I had an 88 Dodge Daytona. Parked it how it was in Washington. Never looked at anything. Always started no issues. 20 days isn't going to hurt that thing. My 2017 3500 HD will sometimes sit 2 months at time. You are going to be fine.
 
I believe it. We got a -40F cold snap a few years ago and attempting to start my car in those temps was miserable. Clutch pedal was lazy - assuming from the super thick fluid at such a low temp; took a 20 minute drive for the trans to warm up. I can only imagine a how brittle and easy parts would be to break in those temps.
That winter sucked bad. Still had my 95 Tahoe during that winter and she did not care for those temps at all. I had to get up about 20 minutes earlier every morning to start the truck to make sure the windows would have a least a little heat so they wouldn't be totally fogged over just so I could drive less than 5 minutes to work. She started every time but I was always worried that the old TBI motor would just decide it was too cold to get going. I imagine that those up in Canada would have had to have the block heaters for the older vehicles like that for them to start and run well during the winters when it is that temperature for months at a time.
 
There’s hundreds of vehicles parked at the Edmonton airport owned by guys working at Fort Mac. They don’t do anything except maybe have a lithium jump pack in the truck. They’re also not the type of guys to try squeeze a fifth year out of a battery. Most of them buy a new truck before it’s time to change a battery!

Have a read at what’s available for parking at the Edmonton airport.

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My new AC Delco battery is good for 70 Ahr. My Ford Taurus has a normal drain on the battery which I measuresd as 34 mA. To get this measurement one has to have the ammeter hooked up, and then wait for 30 minutes with all the lights off and all the doors and trunk closed and let the electronics “ go to sleep”. You can see thIs on the ammeter. That’s not enough to drain a good battery in just 20 days. You should be fine. If in doubt use your first pay check to buy a new battery to give you some peace of mind.
 
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Re rodents: Maybe a "bag" (old sock etc.) or 3 of mothballs under the hood.
It's always been mice damage where I'm from.
No food residue in the car, as mentioned.
 
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