Mothballing the Car..

JPD125 · May 12, 2008

Hi guys and girls

Thanks to work

i will very shortly have to put the car in the garage for 6 months.

What precautions would you take?

Happy with standard things such as leave the handbrake off with the wheels chocked etc but what about battery, leave it on trickle charge or remove? - any problems with leaving it so long without electrical power on it?

Any advice appreciated.

boggysv · May 12, 2008

I left mine in the garage for 1.5 months, and even with the handbrake off and in gear, the brakes still felt "weird" for the first mile or two. It gives some sort of grinding feeling and sound with a pulse that seems to be proportional to wheel speed. The sensation remained even after a few turns out of the parking lot.

Fwiw, I did not brake into the parking slot, but rather coasted in slowly without brakes, so the pads cant be pressed that hard against the disc to cause this.

Better luck with yours.

Staz · May 12, 2008

Well you have all the bases covered there JPD. Yes leave the handbrake off. Disconnect the battery or if you can trickle charge it without problems then do that.

The air con will be any issue though. It needs to be run once a month at least to keep the seals lubricated. Is this a possibility?

Gti Jazz Blue · May 12, 2008

JPD125 said:
Hi guys and girls

Thanks to work i will very shortly have to put the car in the garage for 6 months.

What precautions would you take?

Happy with standard things such as leave the handbrake off with the wheels chocked etc but what about battery, leave it on trickle charge or remove? - any problems with leaving it so long without electrical power on it?

Any advice appreciated.

Could your Dad, Brother, Sister or best mate take it out for a regular spin ?

You could always leave it at mine :arco:

promise I'd take it easy until the oil is up to temp.

Although disconnecting the battery shouldn't cause any significant issues, it would result in a load of DTCs thrown and you would loose any adaption in any of the modules.

Certainly no handbrake, chock the wheels and leave it in gear.

Might be worth asking the dealer that services your S3 for advise.

Paul

Edit - Good call on the aircon - that could be an issue.

SteveTDCi · May 12, 2008

I leave my old escort in the garage for around 5-6 months over the winter, I tend to just drive it in and leave it, you can buy proper storage chocks to put under the wheels as they can some time bulge due to storage but other than that I wouldn't do anything other than leave it and invest in a very good quality car cover and get the car started every so often if possible.

IN-A3 · May 12, 2008

Pump up to tyres too. This will help them from damage to the side walls. Dont forget to let them down before use.

Make a note and place it in the car or a tag on the key.

Twizzler · May 12, 2008

It's not just the sidewalls though is it? Flat-spotting of the tyres was always a real problem when cars were stored for prolonged periods. Conventional wisdom was that the car should be on axle-stands with the battery disconnected. On a modern car I would prefer a trickle charge on a time switch. An hour a day would reassure me that the car will start ok with all systems intact and little danger of overcharging and/or disaster.

JPD125 · May 12, 2008

thanks to all who posted-brother getting trusted with starting it once in a while, whilst making sure its charged once a week and chocked.

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Mothballing the Car..

JPD125

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boggysv

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Staz

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Gti Jazz Blue

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SteveTDCi

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IN-A3

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Twizzler

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JPD125

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