What to do With This Sitting Car

[Astro14]

Doesn't the Breeze have the battery inside the fender liner? If so, then I would simply disconnect it and Stabil the gas...this isn't a Ferrari or classic collector car...it'll be fine until you need to drive it again...though the flat spots in the tires might take a bit to work their way out...

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: supton

You own a 10 year old VW. Don't worry, that Breeze will get plenty of miles every time you have to borrow it!

Haha amen to that. I'm sure glad this last repair was a whopping $3.77

 

[440Magnum]

Well, starting a car for half an hour every few weeks is just about the worst thing you can do for it. If it were mine, I'd remove the battery and bring it to an indoor garage to keep on a battery maintainer (preferably something like the Solar Prologix that won't just constantly float charge it, but will run it through a maintenance cycle of small charges/discharges.) Yes, I know the "cloud cars" have the battery in the wheel well and the wheel has to come off- but its better than the damage caused by idling for 10 minutes every few weeks. The best thing for the car would be if every 3-4 weeks it could actually get DRIVEN and brought up to full operating temperature and held there for a while. If you can't do that, don't even start it at all. Turn the HVAC off to close all the exterior air inlets before shutting it down, and try to do what you can to keep rodents out from under the hood as well. Air the tires up a little over-pressure, or consider putting it on jackstands to keep from flat-spotting the tires.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: KrisZ

Why not remove the battery, bring it to your home and put it on a charger once a month instead of idling the car? The car does not need to be started during the 7 months that it is sitting. Then, a week or two before they come home, I would put the battery in, run the car for 20-30 minutes, including the AC if it works, check all fluids, tire pressure, etc. and call it a day.

Lots of folks with bikes here in the frozen north do that.

 

[raytseng]

I am of the camp to just disconnect the battery and leave it there. Just bring jumper cables in case when you go to restart it at the end of it's storage. Would be better if it were insured, and you could just use it, swapping with your car every time you go to check.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: raytseng

I am of the camp to just disconnect the battery and leave it there. Just bring jumper cables in case when you go to restart it at the end of it's storage. Would be better if it were insured, and you could just use it, swapping with your car every time you go to check.

Yeah I wish it was insured, but the 7 months it isn't used and probably around $60 a month saves around $400 a year. I'll just disconnect the battery and it'll get a good charge on my drive in July to emissions. I'll take the long way.

 

[Nick1994]

Nevermind, I forgot that if I unhook the battery it'll wipe out the computer and it won't pass emissions. Maybe next year lol. Or does anybody know how long it would take if I reconnected the battery for it to register enough information to pass? Like how many miles I should put on it?

 

[hpb]

Pardon my ignorance, and sorry to go off topic, but what does emissions testing involve? Static test with a sniffer, rolling road with a sniffer? And from your last post, I take it they scan the ECU for codes? We don't have it here, thankfully! Also, how often, and only after the vehicle hits a certain age? Sorry for all the questions!

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: hpb

Pardon my ignorance, and sorry to go off topic, but what does emissions testing involve? Static test with a sniffer, rolling road with a sniffer? And from your last post, I take it they scan the ECU for codes? We don't have it here, thankfully! Also, how often, and only after the vehicle hits a certain age? Sorry for all the questions!

Every state is different. But here in Arizona we have 2 counties that don't require emissions, but they're kind of in the boonies. Here in Phoenix (main city - maybe 2-3 million people) we have to do emissions. All cars from 1966 and older are exempt from emissions 1967-1995 have to run in a "dyno" type thing where they simulate driving and run something on the exhaust to check what's coming out. They also pressure check the gas cap to make sure fuel vapors don't leak into the atmosphere. 1996 and newer is only scanned on the computer to make sure there are no check engine lights on. It won't pass emissions if it has a check engine light on. They also check the gas cap. These vehicles are tested every other year except for diesels, they get emissioned every year. The diesels also get a sniffer put on the exhaust and revved for the test, except my car they run on the dyno thing? 2011-2015 cars are exempt from emissions. This is until the next batch of model year comes out and then 2012-2016 model years will be exempt.

 

[hpb]

Thanks for the detailed explanation. We don't even have annual roadworthy inspections, let alone anything as complex as the 67-95 vehicles have to go through in your neck of the woods.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994

Nevermind, I forgot that if I unhook the battery it'll wipe out the computer and it won't pass emissions. Maybe next year lol. Or does anybody know how long it would take if I reconnected the battery for it to register enough information to pass? Like how many miles I should put on it?

I think it has more to do with start/stop cycles. When I've put a scanner on my daily drivers, they show all parameters ready within 24 hours after clearing the codes or disconnecting the battery but that usually includes at least 3 trips with full warm up and pretty much full cool-down between them.