[performancefleece]

Hi! Gonna be leaving my 2020 Sport Forester for a monthmax. I’m reading different info on putting fuel stabilizer in and leaving it out. Will I need this?

As well as, using a battery trickle/charger maintenance. I don’t have battery trickle/charger. If I do need it, which one do I need?

I’m planning on keeping the car covered in the garage. Any other suggestions on 1 month storage?

Thanks everyone!

 

[bman400]

As a motorcycle owner which is stored for many months at a time. I will offer my advise for your 1 month situation. Don't bother with fuel stabilizer, only needed if you go beyond 6 months of storage. Battery trickle charger most definitely needed, I personally use NOCO brand on all my cars and motorcycle, I suggest NOCO GENIUS5, 5-Amp Fully-Automatic Smart Charger

For the gasoline, make sure your fuel tank is full to reduce the chance of water from air condensation into the fuel. The less air the better.

Other than that, for 1 month I would do nothing else. 1 month for a car is nothing compared to 6 months I put my motorcycle through.

 

[adc]

If you charge the battery fully you will be OK. A month is no big deal. Just an opinion. Not arguing with anyone

 

[bbottomley]

If you do go for a charger, make sure it's one that connects directly to the battery, and not one that plugs into a lighter socket. Those aren't live when the key is off.

 

[performancefleece]

As a motorcycle owner which is stored for many months at a time. I will offer my advise for your 1 month situation. Don't bother with fuel stabilizer, only needed if you go beyond 6 months of storage. Battery trickle charger most definitely needed, I personally use NOCO brand on all my cars and motorcycle, I suggest NOCO GENIUS5, 5-Amp Fully-Automatic Smart Charger

For the gasoline, make sure your fuel tank is full to reduce the chance of water from air condensation into the fuel. The less air the better.

Other than that, for 1 month I would do nothing else. 1 month for a car is nothing compared to 6 months I put my motorcycle through.

Ah...thanks for clearing that up.

 

[performancefleece]

If you do go for a charger, make sure it's one that connects directly to the battery, and not one that plugs into a lighter socket. Those aren't live when the key is off.

Good tips. Thanks!

 

[performancefleece]

If you charge the battery fully you will be OK. A month is no big deal. Just an opinion. Not arguing with anyone

Will still take that into consideration. Thank you!

 

[ForesterBill]

If you charge the battery fully you will be OK. A month is no big deal. Just an opinion. Not arguing with anyone

If the OP was driving a 2018 like you and I then I would agree. However, OP has a 2019-2020 which are infamous for short-term battery failures. If I were the OP I would hook up a battery maintainer for the month he/she is gone. Battery Tenders are as cheap as $25 at Walmart:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Deltran-Battery-Tender-Junior-12V-Automatic-Battery-Charger/108265818

 

[boureesub]

I have a 2019. You should be fine just leaving it since your battery is relatively new, assuming it's fully charged to start. When new, I left my car for a month at a trailhead with no problem. If I was to do this today, I'd disconnect the 2-year old battery first, with no worries. Self discharge over that time is only a few percent.

Since you're in a garage, the most bullet proof approach is to put it on a battery charger/maintainer. Everyone should have one on hand. Smart chargers (automatic 3-4 stage) are commonplace and relatively inexpensive. The NOCO mentioned by @bman400, is a nice product with headquarters in my hometown. I have an adjustable Victron unit and a smaller Battery Tender brand charger. They also work well. Any big box or parts store will have that will do the job, just make sure it has a maintenance mode. The ones I mentioned do.

 

[YoGeorge]

Instead of a trickle charger, pull the negative battery cable. I've been storing my '91 BMW over winters since I bought it in 1994. Fuel will be OK for a month or two; my BMW does get stabilizer for 3-4 month storage. I played with trickle chargers with my BMW and it is far easier to just pull the negative battery cable.

 

[Yarameme]

I have a 2020 sport. I find my battery voltage a little lower just below 12.0 volt after 2 weeks of no driving. (Working from home during the pandemic) I check by going into the radio secret menu. It started fine. But I concern about the dark current since the car has so many electronic/computer control run checks and diagnostics all the time especially with push start is constantly listening for a key fob. I would get a trickle charger just in case of a portable jump starter.

 

[bbottomley]

'91 BMW

But way back then there weren't too many electronic gizmos in the car that would need to be reset or reprogrammed when they lost power. Probably even had mechanical presets on the radio.

 

[whobodym]

I left our Audi parked for 6 weeks in our garage a year ago, with no problem at all. At that point, it had a battery that was one year old. And I had finally discovered that the OBD-port phone-app I had left plugged in all the time, was probably the reason that the car's OEM battery had not survived a 3 week storage session the year before - my parked car had been broadcasting wi-fi 24 hours/day from our garage.

 

[YoGeorge]

But way back then there weren't too many electronic gizmos in the car that would need to be reset or reprogrammed when they lost power. Probably even had mechanical presets on the radio.

Nope, radio has a theft code and is all digital (complete with cassette player). And I have to set the clock and date calendar. A tender works fine also, but simply disconnecting the negative cable is easier and I don't have a cheap Chinese wall wart in my trunk (where the battery is) plugged in presenting a (small) fire risk, or an extension cord across my garage floor. I think the car has been through about 10 batteries but they've cost me little because I have killed them under warranty

Ultimately a car is safer with no power going to accessories anyway. I paid for BMW storage for a few years and the owner of the biz flatly told me to disconnect the battery. I had an '02 Ford E150 that had a couple recalls because there was a live electrical switch in the brake fluid by design (cruise shutoff) and a few people got killed when their Ford caught fire in the attached garage right under their bedroom.

I'm not sure how many presets a Foz has that are that problematic...the clock would definitely need resetting, but do the radio presets go away with no battery power these days?

and a ps--disconnecting the battery for a month should lose you no more info than disconnecting for a few hours to work on the engine. It's not that big a deal IMO.

 

[steve_k]

Just like in Donnie Brasco, forget about it. One month shouldn't be an issue at all. My personal opinion would be in that short amount of time would be possible battery failure if its at the end of its life span.

 

[NYC1up]

Another idea: maybe ask a friend/family member to boot it up from time to time, esp if you could drop it off at their location. Just a thought. otherwise 1 month isn't that long.

 

[ForesterBill]

All that is going to do in run the battery down more unless the car is driven for awhile.

 

[Cmartinez729]

You don't need to do anything. Save your money.

 

[hogtownrocketsled]

Optima 400 battery tender here. I am very happy with it.

 

[DockingPilot]

Another idea: maybe ask a friend/family member to boot it up from time to time, esp if you could drop it off at their location. Just a thought. otherwise 1 month isn't that long.

Definitely don’t do this.


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