I will be leaving the country for about five weeks, so my car will be left behind. Is there any precautions I need to take before storing it to avoid any trouble when I get back? It will be parked indoors and safe from the elements. Should I disconnect the battery, ad Stabil to the tank, anything like that? Thanks for any help!

 

(apologies, i clearly put this in the wrong section. Mods, would you please move it for me? thanks!)

 

My GP sits for longer, often. I've come back to flat battery so keep a battery retainer on the car. Disconnecting the battery would work too.

 

The "Battery Tenders" are good and around $20. The battery tender is programmed to work like a charging alternator. For that length of time you could disconnect the battery and be fine though.

Disconnect the positive cable first for safety. Reason being if you touch the metal wrench to a ground source, while removing the positive cable, the battery ground will protect you from getting sparked if the ground is still attached. When you re-connect attach the ground first for the same reason.

 

Get a cheap Battery tender JR, they are a little cheaper than the battery tender. That will save you from buying a battery. Otherwise I wouldn't worry.

 

Thanks for the tips guys! I'm parking it in a friends underground parking, so I'm not sure if there will be an outlet nearby or not. If there is I will put a tender on it, and if not I'll just disconnect the battery and hope for the best.

 

The Junior is also the version of Battery Tender I am using. If you don't go out of town regularly I doubt one time for 5 weeks will have a drastic affect on your battery life.

Just in case you were wondering you do not need to leave the battery in the car when using the Battery Tender Jr so if you wanted you could remove and re-install later.

State Inspection??
I am from NY State and they require inspection once per year. If the computer has not gone through all checks (actually ok to be one short of "all") then the inspection will fail. NY state requires the inspection shop to interface the vehicle computer. If you disconnect the battery or clear the codes it can take days depending on your driving schedule to go through all of the checks. So my point is that if you are in an area requiring inspections and yours will be due soon after returning you may wish to get it inspected before you leave.