Not driving for long period

Hello everyone,

I will be outside the country a few times in the coming month for durations of about 1 month.
That means I will not be able to drive my Tundra for stretches of about 4 weeks.
I know its bad to leave your truck sitting for so long and I know the best is to have someone you know drive it during that period, but in this case I might not be able to find someone to drive it for me when im gone.

Is there anything I can do to help the truck, before I leave, or when I return?

Any other ideas or advice about this issue is appreciated!

Thanks!

 

Mine has sat for extended periods (four to six weeks) on several occasions. Only issue that I had was with the battery getting run down. I think that there are several 'vampire loads' that drain the battery slowly but that it isn't evident unless the truck sits for several weeks.

 

I leave my Fiat 124 mothballed for over 7 months with no problems. I do remove the battery and take it to my neighbor who trickle charges it a few times over the winter. In your case I think just disconnecting the negative battery terminal is all you need to do.

 

Battery tender

https://www.batterytender.com/products/5amp-selectable-voltage-chemistry

 

Battery Tender and let it warm up before driving the first time after sitting

 

I wouldn’t disconnect the battery on any modern vehicle that wasn’t going into long term storage (6+months) too many recals and re-learn especially when disconnected for that long

 

Third for the Battery Tender.
I've had vehicles on them for months at a time, no issues.
My personal limit on any newish vehicle is 2 weeks. If it will sit that long or longer, throw a Tender on it.

 

if you are going for extended periods i would pull the battery terminals (the vehicle will cycle the air injection system nightly and drain the battery, thats the weird hum/noise during the night if you hear it. its noted in the owners manual).

if you are doing this in northern tier states during the winter time, i would pull the whole battery and store it inside the house if you dont have a heated garage.

i wouldnt do a battery tender for long term duration, but thats my personal view since i dont trust something going bad in the whole process if i am going for long periods.

 

I have killed multiple Schumacher branded (purchased from Fleet Farm) "float" chargers over the years, but never a genuine Battery Tender. I have an older 1.25 Amp steel-cased version (I think they're still available) that has been in near-continuous use for going on 3 years now. Battery it is "tending" is fresh as a daisy. This IS in a heated garage in MN however. I've never had one in long term use in the elements. (Extreme heat/cold.)
I had another older one that went with a "fun" vehicle when I sold it. That one was closer to 4 years while it was being worked on.

 

My 2014 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution sits for about 4-5 months in garage during winter without starting. I just keep a Noco Genius5 battery tender on it the whole time.

Spring time I just change the oil and it starts up no issue. I have compustar remote start installed on the Evo, which tend to drain battery fast, but since I put in an Optima red top AGM battery and then keep it on charger with the Noco it’s been good for 4 years now.

 

That's what I thought too but that hasn't been my experience at all. I had my 2024 Civic battery disconnected for almost 12 hours and the relearn process was done half way down my driveway. My 2017 Fiat 124 Abarth didn't seem to care at all. If it were a real problem it would happen every time someone killed their battery or had it changed for a new one. I'd rather not depend on an unattended charger to keep it charged.

 

+1 for a battery “tender” trickle charger. I also periodically do a full charge (bulk/absorb/float) and twice a year I check water level and do an equalization charge.

I’m in Canada so we get real cold, and I do a fair amount of short trips.

the Toyota comfort+ system is nice. A trickle charger will keep the battery warmer than outside temp so it’ll have more “oomph” for starting, and a warm battery charges easier than a cold one.

 

If it were me I would run the gas tank as low as possibe and then fill it with pure gas (no ethanol) If you can't find pure gas I would add some seafoam or gas stabalizer, I would not let that corn crap sit in my tank for any longer that a couple of weeks. Seafoam is good stuff, my Grandfather used it in his outboard boat motors 50 years ago and it is still around.

 

Recent experience I had was leaving my 23 gx460 parked in the garage while out of the country and came back after 2.5 weeks. Battery was completely gone. Ended up having to replace it. Next time I’ll use a tender. Weird thing was we drove my tundra to the airport and parked there and it was fine, started right up. Only complaint I had was after like 7 days the remote start won’t function. It’s like some sort of safety feature.

 

its not that i dont trust them, its just too many variables. outlet dies, circuit breaker trips, GFCI trips, lose power and it doesnt reset back to charging.

in my opinion its just easier long term to just unhook the battery. luckily i dont have to worry about a charger since i dont have any job commitments that requires long term trips except rarely.

i did a few years back disconnect the battery when i had to goto a training class for 3 weeks at Hill afb. otherwise i am driving the my 4runner 4 days weeks for work (15 miles 1 way @ 70 mph) and it sits for 3 days a week (the 4runner sits while we drive the wife's tundra for weekend duty since we cant get any miles on it).

we only have like 8,313 miles on it since we picked it up 22-feb-2023 (roughly 18 months)

still wondering how the engine replacement is going to work for us since we have such low mileage and it has a build date of dec-2022

 

The point of a true battery tender is long term storage.

A trickle charger is not a battery tender.

A battery tender monitors the battery and only charges when necessary.

 

I think we’re mixing up terminology.

trickling a battery is to monitor, and slow charge (low amperage) as needed.

when a low battery is charged it,accepts as much amperage the charger will,deliver. As it charges, the amperage will drop to a “trickle” and the,voltage will rise.

a battery tender is absolutely a trickle charger. Battery charger/maintainer is a better term.

 

My trucks have always been for recreation. Not daily drivers.

Both sat for over a month, many times. Never an issue.

A month does not worry me.

 

i have one that does both. it will jump, charge and switch to trickle or shut off and turn on as needed.

need it maybe once a winter where it can sit for 3-4 day or more during our extreme cold snaps of -20/-30 F

 

Thanks everyone for the replies. I did not know about battery tenders and trickle chargers. I will look into. It could be a good option. If my 2022 SR5 Tundra sits for about 1 month, it would be near Miami in the fall. So warm weather. Does that affect how long my battery can last without a charger? Is it even worth it to put a tender or charger for 1 month in that weather?