Not driving car for 1-2 months - how do I prepare it?

[SEXY-BEAST]

Hi everyone -- I won't be driving my car for about 1-2 months. It will stay parked in a garage. my first concerns are the battery and fluids. Do I need to be concerned with the car being idle for that long or should I have someone at least turn the engine on every once in a while? Thank you.

[titan7]

Trickle charger.

[hellokitty]

Stabil fuel treatment, tire flat stoppers

[nicknaz]

+1 for stabil and battery charger.

I use the marine formula stabil, and noco g7200 for my 6TT, which regularly sits for 4-6 weeks at a time.

I wouldn't bother with flatstopper or tire cradle (especially not for 1-2 months)

If anything, use some 2" thick squares of foam insulation, or just inflate the tires up to 40psi. My brother stores his GT4 for ~5 months this way without any flat spot issues on the cup2 tires

[drjoe66]

I had mine sitting in the garage for 4 months. Did nothing at all to prep exept take it for a long drive on the freeway and fill up the tank before I stored it. Came back, it started up immediately, no issues whatsoever.

[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by SEXY-BEAST

Hi everyone -- I won't be driving my car for about 1-2 months. It will stay parked in a garage. my first concerns are the battery and fluids. Do I need to be concerned with the car being idle for that long or should I have someone at least turn the engine on every once in a while? Thank you.

Make sure your trickle charger is for a Lithium Ion battery. I use a CTEK charger and put it on every 3 weeks or so when I store the car over winter. Never have had any problems with the battery. Keep the gas tank full and use a fuel stabilizer.

[Egrunt]

I was out of the country for 3 months and the F80 was parked in the garage. When I returned I checked the air pressure in the tires and went driving. No issues with starting and the F80 performed perfectly.

Prior to retiring from the military I would be deployed overseas for 6 month deployments. I would add fuel stabilizer and attach a battery charger while I was deployed.

[325iExecutive]

You need to do nothing. I park my car every year for 2 months. It is parked in the garage. The only thing I do is get is detailed and then park it (that is personal preference). When starting it up again, check tire pressure and take it out for relaxed short drive.

Keep it in neutral and don't pull the hand brake. In my previous BMW the hand brake jammed (it was 10 years old). Nonetheless, I stopped since to be safe.

[nicknaz]

Originally Posted by 325iExecutive

Keep it in neutral and don't pull the hand brake. In my previous BMW the hand brake jammed (it was 10 years old). Nonetheless, I stopped since to be safe.

Good reminder on keeping the hand brake down. I put wheel chocks "just in case"

What's the rationale for keeping it in neutral vs. 1st?

[doug_999]

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

Make sure your trickle charger is for a Lithium Ion battery. I use a CTEK charger and put it on every 3 weeks or so when I store the car over winter. Never have had any problems with the battery. Keep the gas tank full and use a fuel stabilizer.

I don't think you mean "lithium ion", I think you mean "make sure it supports an AGM battery", which in the Ctek is the snowflake mode.

[Brasko]

I park mine for 3-6 months at a time and haven't had any issues. Usually just do a full detail and park it like normal. Tire air pressure, battery, etc. have held up great.

[325iExecutive]

Originally Posted by nicknaz

Good reminder on keeping the hand brake down. I put wheel chocks "just in case"

What's the rationale for keeping it in neutral vs. 1st?

It can be kept in 1st gear. I just keep it in neutral since my garage is flat and I placed a wedge behind tires to prevent rolling.

[shiv.nandak]

Originally Posted by hellokitty

Stabil fuel treatment, tire flat stoppers

I don't think flat spots are an issue for such a short amount of time.

[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by doug_999

I don't think you mean "lithium ion", I think you mean "make sure it supports an AGM battery", which in the Ctek is the snowflake mode.

No, The battery in the f80/82 is not an AGM and you do need a special charger or you will hurt your battery which costs over a thousand dollars. There are a lot of threads on this forum about the batteries in our cars and the trickle charger required.

[allinon72]

My car just sat for a month and still had 75% battery. For that length of time you don't have to do anything at all IMO.

[Nikolas]

For 1-2 months, you park it. No need for fuel stabilizer or trickle charger.

[///My5UV]

My wife's Z3 is on a battery tender pretty regularly for a month or two in winter. That and a generous top-off of air pressure and you're fine.
With AGM we have accidentally run her battery down so low the door locks won't actuate but a day on the battery tender and it was good as new!
I will never buy another non-AGM battery again.

Conversely, it was 4 degrees the other morning and after sitting out overnight my E90 barely started. Couldn't wait to be back home with a garage after that trip!

[///M-er-gized]

2 months isn't really that long. Trickle charger (battery tender) is all I would do.

EDIT: some people are saying you don't need a trickle charger, and that could be true, but I wouldn't roll the dice. I'd do it just to play it safe.

[doug_999]

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

No, The battery in the f80/82 is not an AGM and you do need a special charger or you will hurt your battery which costs over a thousand dollars. There are a lot of threads on this forum about the batteries in our cars and the trickle charger required.

Damn! You are correct (although it says you can replace it with an AGM battery).

I'm surprised they are using Lithium Ion batteries in cars!

[Rik84]

It’s 30-60 days. You won’t have to do a thing aside from a trickle charger (specific to our vehicles as noted above). 6 months - a year, yes to stabilizer, tire considerations etc.

[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by doug_999

Damn! You are correct (although it says you can replace it with an AGM battery).

I'm surprised they are using Lithium Ion batteries in cars!

They are lighter but I suspect BMW is using them more because they handle the electrical demands of the car better and have a superior recovery from a deep discharge. Not going to be fun paying for a replacement, though! It wasn’t really widely known that the batteries were lithium ion even amongst people in the dealerships. This forum is fabulous for finding out stuff like this. Some really knowledgeable people post here. I don’t consider myself to be one, though.

[Memphis17CPM4]

I've left mine for 5 weeks twice without using it (only a week between those 2 actually) since buying it in August. All I did was make sure my security camera in my garage was functional. Came back and started right up. No issues. But that is just a 5 week example, not 8 as you may do.