Infrequently driven vehicle

[Ddubya]

My high school aged son has been driving our 2009 Cadillac DTS to work, school, and sports practices etc.,pretty much every day for the last 2 years. Most of these are short trips, but some are in excess of 50-60 miles round trip. I bought the car from my grandad's estate after he passed away a few years ago, and it currently has about 60,000 miles on it. It has the dreaded Northstar oil leak (only leaks when the engine is warm or hot, not when it is sitting in the garage at ambient temperatures, and even then does not leak enough to require any top off oil), but other than that is in average to above average shape. Besides regular oil changes, and a new front left hub assembly, I'm not sure much mechanical work or maintenance has been performed. As far as I know all fluids are most likely original.

My wife and I are buzz kill parents and he will not have a car when he goes away to college in August of this year. Unless I make a point to drive it, it will sit in the garage undriven for weeks at a time. My question: Should I make a point to drive it every 3 or 4 weeks (or similar) just to put a few miles on it and get everything up to operating temperatures, or is it ok sitting for a while as long as it doesn't sit long enough to drain the battery? It's under the back seat, so I'd really like to not mess with a battery tender unless absolutely necessary. Any other general concerns for a car that has been driven regularly that all the sudden stops being driven at regular intervals?

Thank you.

 

[Kestas]

There's two issues important with a car in storage... battery and brakes. Since the car will be garaged, the brakes should be in good shape. The battery can be trickle charged every three months to keep it viable. Modern cars can drain the battery in three weeks.

 

[bubbatime]

Why cant you or the wife take it to work once a week?

 

[E150GT]

flat spots on tires, gas going bad. Im sure theres more.

 

[Ddubya]

My wife has a very short commute to work and no parking garage and I have a home office when I am not traveling for work. I could easily drive it every other weekend or something like that. Just trying to find a sweet spot to keep the miles reasonably low, but not have to treat it like it is in actual storage with a bunch of extra maintenance. It sounds like a decent round trip every 3 weeks or so should do the trick. Appreciate the insights.

 

[danthaman1980]

Just a couple of suggestions:

- If the cigarette lighter socket is 'hot' when the car is turned off, you can plug a battery maintainer into the lighter socket. I think CTEK has an accessory like this that works with their chargers.
- Drive it once every 2-3 weeks, for at least ~20 minutes, to get the engine and fluids up to temp.
- If you aren't going through a full tank of gas at least every ~8 weeks, use some fuel stabilizer (Sta-Bil) in the gas tank.
- Change the oil once a year or so.

 

[blupupher]

Why are you keeping it? If sentimental value, OK, but otherwise why not sell it?

 

[Ddubya]

Originally Posted By: blupupher
Why are you keeping it? If sentimental value, OK, but otherwise why not sell it?


One of two things is most likely going to happen to it. 1) He's going to take it to school with him his sophomore year in fall 2018 (plus we'll keep it for him to drive when he's home for breaks, summer, etc.) or 2) We're going to keep it just a bit longer to let our current 14 year old drive it for a year or so when he turns 16. I'm pretty sure we're going to buy my mom's very low mileage Sonata for a more permanent solution to the younger son's car needs

The other scenario might be to let him take my wife's Mazda to school with him his sophomore year and have her drive the Caddy while we decide what to replace the Mazda with. He's 6'8" and fits in the Caddy much better than the Mazda, so I know which option he would prefer.

I have thought about when to sell it, but I haven't figured it out just yet. Even though I bought it for about half price of NADA, not much on this car is inexpensive to repair, so there is a bit of a balancing act relative to cost involved as well. As long as it doesn't turn into a money pit, I would like to keep it for a few more years. It's a great cruiser.

 

[TmanP]

-I think GM usually has hot cigarette lighters all the time, so that would work
-But there should be a remote positive terminal under the hood, so hooking up a battery charger is easy (hook up to remote positive, and bare engine part)
-look for ethanol-free gas if you can find it
-don't start it up if it won't fully warm up

That's what I'd do.

 

[Ethan1]

Originally Posted By: Ddubya
My wife and I are buzz kill parents and he will not have a car when he goes away to college in August of this year.

I'm not gonna weigh in on the long-debated vehicle storage procedures, but this is a good idea

 

[69GTX]

Only an 8yr old 60K mile V8 Caddy? I wouldn't expect all that much to go wrong any time soon. Shouldn't those cars be fairly trouble free up to around 100K-125K miles with just the usual tire/brake maintenance? Engine/trans/rear end shouldn't be an issue as long as fluids are changed out regularly. If it's 60K miles on orig transmission fluid, I'd get that done. Same comment for coolant/brake fluid/PS fluid.

 

[Linctex]

Definitely change the original coolant. It has a calendar life - even if low miles.

A 20-30 minute drive every 3-4 weeks should keep all the fluids up and the tires round. The gas in the tank should be good for about 6-8 months without too much worry.

 

[Nick1994]

I'd just take it for a good drive every few months and leave it alone.

My Camry has been sitting for 3 months, have no plans to start driving it soon or to sell it, don't know what to do with it so it'll keep on sitting. I have to start it to move it out of the way every once in a while every few weeks, but not long enough for it to charge the battery. Still starts fine.

 

[Tman220]

So why cant he take the car to college? He doesn't want to take it or you don't want him to take it?

That would certainly take care of your driving dilemma that you seem to be mulling over

 

[AZjeff]

Originally Posted By: Tman220
So why cant he take the car to college? He doesn't want to take it or you don't want him to take it?



What part of buzz kill parents don't you understand? They don't want him to have the distraction.

 

[supton]

It was so much easier in college when I didn't have a car. Nobody bummed a ride, never had to move my car for snow removal, never got a parking ticket, never had to find a parking space. Sure there were some downsides, but on a daily basis I was better off.

I'd just take the car out for a drive every couple of weeks. Maybe just get into the habit of driving to work on Fridays, something like that.

 

[Ddubya]

Thank you for the advice and insights. Between away games for my younger son and me being my 80 year old mother-in-law's handy man (she lives about 20 miles from us), there will be ample opportunities to take it for a nice spin every few weeks. Good call on changing out the fluids too. It's probably about time to do that for my wife's Mazda 6 as well. I should be getting a new company car in the first half of 2018 and those get maintenance per a fleet schedule every 5,000 miles, so we're good there.

Regarding our parenting philosophy, the deal we have is if he keeps his grades up his freshman year AND he decides he actually needs a car his sophomore year, we will let him take the Caddy or Mazda to school with him.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: TmanP

-But there should be a remote positive terminal under the hood, so hooking up a battery charger is easy (hook up to remote positive, and bare engine part)



This or you can get a quick connect and string it through the grille. You haven't mentioned insurance or registration costs being an issue so I'd definitely drive it twice a month.

Quick connect: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Schumacher-WM...tainer/15140206

 

[cmhj]

I like responsible parents

 

[Tman220]

Originally Posted By: cmhj
I like responsible parents


I like responsible adults... Their kid is 18, he should probably get out from under the wing and figure out what it takes to keep a car (if he wants one) without mommy and daddy directing from the helicopter.