Letting the car sit for a few weeks?

NaCl

NaCl

New member
Hey all, I'll be going on holiday soon and wanted to know if it's fine to let the F-Type sit idle for around 3-4 weeks?

I'm aware of the battery drainage issues that they seem to face, but since I don't have a battery tender, my current plan is to take it on a long drive the night before departure to charge up the battery.

The car will be kept in my garage and double-locked (I've seen some threads mentioning that double-locking helps to mitigate some of the drainage issues).

My car doesn't have keyless entry so I'm guessing that might also mitigate the drainage further?

Keen to hear your thoughts, thanks.
 
Mine is nearly eight years old.

On original battery, 51,000 miles, lives outside, left for weeks in the winter and once in the summer for 7 weeks.

Never used a trickle charger. Never had any issues or battery low warnings.
 
simpleR said:
Mine is nearly eight years old.

On original battery, 51,000 miles, lives outside, left for weeks in the winter and once in the summer for 7 weeks.

Never used a trickle charger. Never had any issues or battery low warnings.
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Brilliant, that's reassuring to know. Cheers simpleR 🍻
 
No problem at all if the battery is in decent health.

As you say, double locking reduces the risks of issues.

Why not get a ctek though? Doesn't cost much and is a great piece of kit which gives you peace of mind with the battery.
 
Normally the car will go into sleep mode after four days and this reduces battery consumption, can also recommend a Ctek I always use one when the car is not in use.
 
MajorTom said:
Why not get a ctek though? Doesn't cost much and is a great piece of kit which gives you peace of mind with the battery.
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Main reason is because I drive the car a good distance around 3-4 days a week even during winter so haven't felt the need to install one... aaand also because I'm not too confident in my DIY skills to install a CTEK myself 😅
 
NaCl said:
MajorTom said:
Why not get a ctek though? Doesn't cost much and is a great piece of kit which gives you peace of mind with the battery.
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Main reason is because I drive the car a good distance around 3-4 days a week even during winter so haven't felt the need to install one... aaand also because I'm not too confident in my DIY skills to install a CTEK myself 😅
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Fair enough. :) Sounds like your car's battery should be decently charged then. Topping it up or giving it a maintenance reconditioning charge every now and then certainly wouldn't be bad for it though.

There's no installation needed. You just connect it to the battery charge points under the bonnet. Unless of course you want to install a charge point in the boot like some do.
 
Mine sat unused for three months while I was self-isolating all those years ago and it started on the button after that time. It did say "low battery" so I gave it an overnight charge, and it's been fine since. The "battery draining issue" is only due to improperly disconnecting from the OBD port, so if your battery hasn't drained in four days you haven't got it - you can check that by making sure the backlight in the hazard switch goes out after about 10 minutes of locking the car.
 
MajorTom said:
There's no installation needed. You just connect it to the battery charge points under the bonnet. Unless of course you want to install a charge point in the boot like some do.
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Ah, I think I might have been watching videos of installing the charging point. If it's just a case of connecting the CTEK to the battery terminals and plugging it into a socket, then that sounds pretty straightforward to do.
 
NaCl said:
MajorTom said:
There's no installation needed. You just connect it to the battery charge points under the bonnet. Unless of course you want to install a charge point in the boot like some do.
Click to expand...

Ah, I think I might have been watching videos of installing the charging point. If it's just a case of connecting the CTEK to the battery terminals and plugging it into a socket, then that sounds pretty straightforward to do.
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Exactly. It's that simple. I consider a good CTEK a fundamental car maintenance item and have used it to keep all my cars' batteries in top shape.
 
MajorTom said:
NaCl said:
MajorTom said:
There's no installation needed. You just connect it to the battery charge points under the bonnet. Unless of course you want to install a charge point in the boot like some do.
Click to expand...

Ah, I think I might have been watching videos of installing the charging point. If it's just a case of connecting the CTEK to the battery terminals and plugging it into a socket, then that sounds pretty straightforward to do.
Click to expand...

Exactly. It's that simple. I consider a good CTEK a fundamental car maintenance item and have used it to keep all my cars' batteries in top shape.
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If you're connecting in the boot don't connect to the battery negative terminal or it'll bypass the BMS - instead, connect the negative to an earth point (just follow the lead from the battery negative to where it connects to the boot floor).
 
Ordered up a CTEK MXS 5.0 T from Halfords today for £72 after discounts. Looking forward to setting it up next week :D
 
I work away from the UK 8-10 weeks at a time on/off and have never used a charger or done anything special, occasionally I get the low battery message on the dash when I start it up again after my longer work trips (10 weeks +) but even the stop/start is back up and running after a short drive. I think you’ll be totally fine after 3 weeks, it won’t hurt it at all
 
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