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Leaving Car For 3 Weeks

Rekin

By Rekin,
in General Maintenance

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Rekin Grand Master

Rekin

Posted
Posted

Hey,

Going for a long trip for 3 weeks and the car will be sitting unused. Should there be anything I should worry about? Ill probably just disconnect the battery but can the car comfortably sit for 3 weeks without being started?

If i leave my car for 2 days the tappets make loud noise on start up until pressure builds up etc, so not sure what to expect after 3 weeks..

Cheers

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116.hks Community Regular

116.hks

Posted
Posted

Yeah mate. Should not be a problem. Mine sits for up to a month with starting and I don't have any problems. I also have a cteck charger connected to it so the battery is also good. The tappet noise you have, in my opinion is a problem with oil the type of oil you are use or they are on there way out.

dkbcleaner Proficient

dkbcleaner

Posted
Posted

For 3 weeks you should be fine. Just disconnect the battery and park it in a safe place. I've gone on holidays for 2 to 3 weeks at a time with other cars and they started and ran fine. One of my friends just recently started his worked 1990 turbo supra after 9 months of sitting in his garage. Put a new battery in and ran and drove beautifully and changed the fluids later that day. As for the tappets sorry I have no advise to help you with that.

shyr33 Community Regular

shyr33

Posted
Posted

Ye it should be fine just don't forget to d/c the battery as you said. I forgot to do this once when I went on like a two week holiday during winter time and then I came back and gone....battery dead haha (but I think it was a older battery aswell tho)

mad082 Grand Master

mad082

Posted
Posted

if your battery goes flat after not being driven for 3 weeks then the battery is shot to start with. my mum had an operation on her hand and didn't driver her car for 6 weeks and she just parked the car on the driveway and didn't do a thing and it was fine when she went to drive it the other day.

disconnecting the battery will reduce the chance of it being stolen, but if you have an alarm in the car it may stop the siren from going off.

GTR-N1 Grand Master

GTR-N1

Posted
Posted

If your battery is a bit suss, or the alarm/immobiliser system tends to drain the battery, then d/c it; keeping in mind that you'll need the code to your ICE to get it going again when you come home.

Before restarting, it's always a good policy to put just a bit of oil in, before turning the engine over. It can depend also, on the quality of oil you already have in the car.

Valve lifters are a 'different' issue however.

mad082 Grand Master

mad082

Posted
Posted

it's only 3 weeks. if it was 6 months then maybe, but not 3 weeks. but then if it was 6 months you wouldn't want to have a full tank of fuel as higher octane fuels go stale (loses its octane rating) quicker than lower octane fuels so you wouldn't want to drive it much (or very hard) if the car had been sitting for a long time and the fuel had gone stale.

ARTZ Grand Master

ARTZ

Posted
Posted

I always disconnect the negative battery terminal as my car sits for months on end..

Just do this and u will have no probs with the battery

My car sat in my friends shed for 2 and a half years without being started, we put a new battery in it and it started straight away , Trusty nissan :)

After sitting for long periods sometimes ill drive it and it will splutter a bit and wont idle,occasionly it would even stall ,so i rev the crap out of it for a bit and its fixed :P I think its just some buildup on a sensor or something, but it always fixes itself once its driven and gets hot

If you are getting tappet noise maybe cause your oil is too thick on startup, but i wouldnt stress to much just dont drive it till it stops ticking. Let it warm up . Try a thinner oil

But yeah 2.5 years mate , so 3 weeks no problems, just disconnect the negative

Rekin Grand Master

Rekin

Posted
  • Author
Posted

haha no drama's. The tappet noise is only for a second, just signs the engine getting tired.

Ill be leaving the car at the end of my fuel cycle (ie. low/empty tank) should I top it back up to full and leave it? Will the fuel after 3 weeks be useless?

cheers

ARTZ Grand Master

ARTZ

Posted
Posted
haha no drama's. The tappet noise is only for a second, just signs the engine getting tired.

Ill be leaving the car at the end of my fuel cycle (ie. low/empty tank) should I top it back up to full and leave it? Will the fuel after 3 weeks be useless?

cheers

Really doesnt matter mate, it will still be fuel when you get back..

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