How long can a car sit without worrying about the battery draining?

[monterey]

I am planning on letting my car sit idle for the next 6 months. Is there anything I should do to it? I have one of those battery chargers that I can plug into the cig adaptor. Is that a good idea?

[jphughan]

Depends on the condition of the battery, but I'd say more than 2 weeks is pushing it, so for 6 months I'd definitely either disconnect the battery or definitely hook up a battery tender. If you can get someone to drive it just to keep oil circulating every now and then, that would be even better since I know some engines can seize if you try to start them after letting them sit completely unused for a long time. You might also want to minimize the amount of fuel in the tank for that length of time since fuel degrades, but I'm not sure about that one since I don't know how long that takes.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by monterey

I am planning on letting my car sit idle for the next 6 months. Is there anything I should do to it? I have one of those battery chargers that I can plug into the cig adaptor. Is that a good idea?

Here it's now about 5 months to avoid the Belgian winter, bad weather and road salt .
I don't drive my car in bad weather and it's not my DD .
Advice :
Invest in a "CTEK battery charger" ...You can leave it forever on !
Here is my CTEK with pics => #26 http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthr...1#post15488771

[Mr. BMW]

You will want to fill up your gas tank and add a fuel stabilizer to it. That should keep the gas fresh for several months. Its not a good idea to minimize the amount of fuel because you will then get condensation in the tank and that would be bad.

[JFB]

Originally Posted by monterey

I am planning on letting my car sit idle for the next 6 months. Is there anything I should do to it? I have one of those battery chargers that I can plug into the cig adaptor. Is that a good idea?

I just took my car out of storage after 6 months.... I didn't even see it for the time it was in storage. Just threw in some fuel stabilizer, pumped the tires to 50 psi, closed the air vents, put some rags in the exhaust and hooked it up to a battery tender.

Thing started like a champ after 6 months, first try too!

[Agent-GHQ]

While we are on the subject, does anyone know if our car drains battery even if you don't lock the doors? Locking our doors activate the alarm which the red light blinker flashes.

[anselmw]

Originally Posted by Agent-GHQ

While we are on the subject, does anyone know if our car drains battery even if you don't lock the doors? Locking our doors activate the alarm which the red light blinker flashes.

Yes it does, I just left my car for 2 weeks unlocked and forgot to plug the battery tender in and car battery was down to 60%. I also found that the car did not feel right driving it until all the fluids has circulated after a short drive. Think all the oils had settled and needed to be circulated again, especially in the dct.

[Agent-GHQ]

Yikes! Now I need a battery tender. Any suggestions for a god quality brand?

[anselmw]

Originally Posted by Agent-GHQ

Yikes! Now I need a battery tender. Any suggestions for a god quality brand?

I use the Battery Tender/OEM BMW one but CTEK one is good as well.

[Beemdog]

Originally Posted by Agent-GHQ

Yikes! Now I need a battery tender. Any suggestions for a god quality brand?

God Quality is tough to get these days, especially with everything being made in China...

[Agent-GHQ]

Lmao surely that was a typo. Gawd I hate these apple auto spell

[Helmsman]

Originally Posted by Beemdog

God Quality is tough to get these days, especially with everything being made in China...

The CTEK is good old Swedish brand so good to go mate..

[Iyzmi]

Originally Posted by monterey

I have one of those battery chargers that I can plug into the cig adaptor.

What is it?

[alee0729]

With a good condition battery, your car can easily sit for 4-6 weeks and still start. This is not a sustainable practice, but an occasional long period of sitting is not the end of the world. The E92 eventually goes into a deep sleep mode, after which there is very little drain on the battery.

That said, as everyone else is saying, get a CTEK or Deltran battery tender and you are guaranteed to start, and you will dramatically prolong the life of your car battery.

[MachinesWithSouls]

It's amazing to me that I wrote an entire post that was stickied about how to store your car yet people still ask about how to store your car.

Long story short, you need a tender if the car will sit for longer than a week. The alternator only charges the battery when the car is coasting, so even starting and idling it won't help. Spend 60$, get the tender, and be done with it.

[Helmsman]

Originally Posted by SoManyBlueCars

It's amazing to me that I wrote an entire post that was stickied about how to store your car yet people still ask about how to store your car.

Long story short, you need a tender if the car will sit for longer than a week. The alternator only charges the battery when the car is coasting, so even starting and idling it won't help. Spend 60$, get the tender, and be done with it.

A charger is obviously best, if power is available, doing wonder for the battery life time.
However surely the battery is being charged also during idling. Not that you want to sit idling for long periods, but as charge current is highest in the beginning it does give you a quick boost.