Car care while on a thru-hike

[Wolf - 23000]

Hi Everyone,

This summer, I will be leaving to thru-hike the CDT. This will also be the longest time I have ever left my car unattended. I am no car expert, but my understanding is that if a car sits too long, the battery is likely to go dead. I have a Toyota Prius, it is not cheap to replace a battery. I thought about selling it, but I would not get much for it because of the age and the number of miles. So what do other hikers do?

[peakbagger]

Change the oil, put it up on blocks and buy a solar trickle charger for the 12 volt battery on Fleabay. If its stored in an area with mice make sure the air cleaner inlet is plugged or they will nest in it. If its parked in area with wild rats find another place to park it.

[rhjanes]

Get some Sta-Bil, Fuel stablizer. estimate how much fuel you have and treat it accordingly.

[0NLYJ0HN]

How long do you plan to be gone?
Where will the car be left?

[Alligator]

It has a regular battery and a hybrid battery.

Toyota says the following:

To prevent excessive auxiliary battery drainage, charge the battery at least once every two weeks by powering on the hybrid system for 20 minutes with all non-essential electrical accessories (such as air conditioning and audio equipment) turned off. It is not necessary to drive the vehicle, but do not start the hybrid system in an enclosed area unless the tail pipe is connected to an exhaust hose to prevent harmful buildup of fumes. As an alternative, you may disconnect the negative terminal of the auxiliary battery.

For the hybrid vehicle battery, charge the battery at least once every two months by starting the hybrid system for about 30 minutes*. Check that the "ready" light is on and all lights and electrical accessories are off. As with the auxiliary battery charging, it is not necessary to drive the vehicle, but the steps to prevent exhaust buildup must be taken.

I would recommend just disconnecting the negative on the auxiliary battery (12V). If you look for long term storage of Toyota Prius, you'll find people aren't seeing much effect for periods of 6 months on the hybrid battery. On the other hand, if you've got someone to start it for you 2-3 times, do that. If they are available every two weeks leave the auxiliary battery connected. I would think that's an easy task to forget about though, particularly around the 5th or 6th time. Make sure the hybrid battery is fully charged before storing.

[danil411]

If you have a support person sending you gear, etc. leave the car with them so they can start/drive it once in a while.

[4eyedbuzzard]

Beyond just battery maintenance and those potential problems, I would be more concerned about the rest of the vehicle. Cars are designed to run - not sit. Engines, transmissions, tires, brakes, etc., do not weather well when they sit for long periods without being run and moved. Tires lose a pound or two of pressure every month, and they tend to develop cracks more easily when not put in motion (flexing the sidewalls) regularly. Brakes often suffer from rusting of rotors and freezing up of calipers. Engines and transmissions suffer from having the oil film drain away and also from sludge forming in places where oil collects, and also from not being run and brought up to temperature to evaporate off water that condenses inside (and on those surfaces where the oil film has gone away). If at all possible, get someone to start it once a week or every other week and take it for a 20 to 30 minute drive - long enough to heat up the engine and exhaust system and also keep the fluid circulating and all the moving parts moving.

[garlic08]

I'd think again about selling the Prius. There may never be a better time to sell a used car. I ran a Prius for over ten years, and still got good resale from it with an old traction battery with almost 200K miles on it. Of course the downside to that is there's never been a worse time to buy a used car. But if you cash in on the value of the hybrid system, you might do okay. I was able to buy a gas-powered car, same age with fewer miles, for half the sales price of the Prius. Eight years later the replacement car is still running fine.

I never left the Prius unattended for a thru-hike--my wife or a friend would "take care" of it. After I sold the Prius, I've had no qualms about leaving the gas car unattended for many months--I do that nearly every year now. Freedom from concern about that very expensive battery is nice.

[rhjanes]

Every thing 4Eyebuzzard said is true. I've got two 50+ year old cars. When I drive them (Not often enough), I go get 10 miles minimum on them. That gets everything at least warm, cooks off the moisture in exhaust and such. I've got silicone brake fluid in them since it doesn't absorb H2O like Dot3 does. So if you get a friend to care for it, tell them to take it grocery shopping twice a month and put some road miles on it. My 14 year old "play" car, gets driven three evenings a week on weekends.

[Alligator]

Maybe do something radical like a car share app such as Turo. Even if it's a beater someone may drive it once in a while which is all you need. Ask someone to watch over it and then split any profits.

[ldsailor]

I went hiking for 2 1/2 months last fall. When I returned home, my car battery was fine, but not my tires. I've never seen a tire get out of round, but it happened to mine. It's like driving down the road with square blocks (okay, that's an exaggeration). Anyway, the ride is bumpy and I'll probably need to replace the tires, which does not make me happy. The tires have at least another 30K miles of tread on them. Put that car up on blocks!

[Coffee]

I used to have a 65 mustang that I stored for five months of the year. Many of the suggestions here are on target. Use stabil and fill up the tank prior to departure. Change the oil. Put the car up on blocks. Disconnect the battery and possibly hook it up to a trickle charger.

Before starting up again, I changed the oil and filter again (perhaps redundant), reinstalled the battery and it always fired right up. Now, that was a car with no tech whatsoever so maybe a modern car would require more attention.

[peakbagger]

If you have access to ethanol free gas, run a tank through it. It costs more but it does not degrade like ethanol blend gas does.

[BlackCloud]

I once let my vehicle sit for 6 months. Not only did the battery die, it was never the same. I thereafter had a series of problems with it and grudgingly sold it. You can get much more for a used car these days than ever before. At least look into it. You will be surprised.

[Starchild]

I left my car with my parents for the first 3 months which they would drive it every so often. Then I hiked by and picked it up to drive it home (as I and they live close to the trail in NY), and all I did I believe is disconnect the battery cable for the remaining 2. Got back and after reconnecting the cable the car ran like a top.

[Alligator]

One summer over college break I packed up my belongings into the bed of my pickup and stored it at my Dad's house. Make sure if you store a microwave to take the leftover seafood pasta out that you forgot to eat the night before.

Another time during summer I had a grocery bag slide under the seat just as I got called away unexpectedly from home for a couple weeks. I never did figure out what the liquified mess was.

Remove all foodstuffs from the vehicle!

[Tabasco]

I sold my car. Got a silly amount of money for what it was too.

[chknfngrs]

Same for a shorter trail like a JMT or SHT or LT? Or if not the same any suggestions about what to do during a 3 or 4 week hike?

[rhjanes]

Same for a shorter trail like a JMT or SHT or LT? Or if not the same any suggestions about what to do during a 3 or 4 week hike?

For only a month, if the battery is in decent shape, just put it on a trickle charger. Fill the fuel tank and air up the tires, I'd suggest 2 PSI over what the tag on the door says. A month later, check the tires, open the hood to look for critters, disconnect the battery trickle charger and fire it up. My old, old cars have sat for 4 to 6 months when life dictated other projects. I simply filled the tires and they live on trickle chargers anyway. I think I filled their tanks and parked them after that. Both took some "Cranking" to get to start, due to carburetors having all the fuel evaporated. For a month if the car is in decent shape anyway, I would think you'd be fine. Battery Tenders can be purchased at Home/Lowes, Northern Tools, ACE and such.

[garlic08]

Yeah, don't worry about a month. If your car has a smart key system that can be turned off, RTFM and do so.

If you don't care about radio presets, disconnect the negative battery terminal. Some cars need to relearn engine settings and will idle roughly for a couple of days after that.