[bharatbits]

I work in Healthcare and lockdown or no lockdown i am still doing 40kms everyday. 2 trips of 20 kms each. Earlier i used to spend about 88 minutes each day travelling, these days it is about 48 minutes. The battery in my Linea is about to go bust, Feb 2016 make lying idle with the dealer till Nov 2016 when i purchased and since then lasted me 47000 kms to date on nearly everyday use. Have to replace it after the lockdown once these batterybhai ppl etc are up and running.

[arindambasu13]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

This is a very valid point. In my case - the grocery & veggie stores are part of the housing complex. So taking car there, means even lesser running time for the engine. . And we are going out to those stores only once a week to get groceries. To avoid moving out & to maintain social distancing at a high ratio.

In that case, I guess idling the car is pretty much the only option. In my case though the grocery store is in the next lane, I do take a bit of a circuitous route when getting back home so that the car runs for a bit. And I can address my withdrawal symptom of not being able to get behind the wheel.

[bharatbits]

I am taking this lockdown as a excuse to go to grocery stores by car which are otherwise at walking distances from my home. This way i keep the fluids in circulation, recharge the battery, attain optimum temperature for the car and also simultaneously feeling i am doing myself good by not walking on the roads among people who could be infected.

[PrideRed]

Lockdown and you want to take your car for a spin? Well, no problem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH_uMwk_gmI

On a serious note, important to start the car once in a while if not everyday, look for rat menace and give it a nice detailing. Over the weekend I spent 4 hours washing 2 cars , 2 more to go!

[deep_bang]

Originally Posted by GTO

Share pics? You have a garage?

I have a parking place not so much as a fully covered garage. But I do have a power supply.

Here is a charger that I got from AliExpress:

So, I did have to use an extension box as the wire with the charger is too small.

Next, to actually connect to the battery, I go ahead and connect it directly to the battery while the rest of the connectors are still in place. I think it may not be very safe but the way I see it, all electricals in the car are anyway switched off, and so my view of it isbthat it should be safe. Experts can comment.

The charger shows percentage of charge and also the voltage and current.

Since it's not from a reputed manufacturer I don't let it charge too long. Once it shows 90% I remove the charger (which is a couple of hours if the battery is quite low).

My unique problem is that we have 2 cars and an activa and a thunderbird and all are used less since the last 2 years. So, I have had to charge my cars and bikes regularly.

[Traveler]

Originally Posted by deep_bang

I have a parking place not so much as a fully covered garage. But I do have a power supply.

Next, to actually connect to the battery, I go ahead and connect it directly to the battery while the rest of the connectors are still in place. I think it may not be very safe but the way I see it, all electricals in the car are anyway switched off, and so my view of it isbthat it should be safe. Experts can comment.

I would suggest you to remove the battery terminals and only then put the charger on. There are many circuits in a modern car that remain active even if you switch off the car. Central locking, Media Units etc. In case of anything going wrong it will only damage the battery rather then frying the car electronics.

[GrammarNazi]

My cars battery is a 3 year old Tata Green unit. I had disconnected the negative terminal of the battery on 27th March. Maybe tomorrow onwards I'll do a daily check of the voltage with a multi-meter.

Not as seriously worried about the fluids or tyre-spots as I have previously kept my car idle for weeks at end without even switching it ON, infact even with the battery connected.
Lets see.

[McLaren Rulez]

Apart from special cases, almost all cars will be totally fine if you don't touch them for a month. Exceptions are if you have electronics (like a dashcam) running or if your battery is in poor health.

Don't waste your petrol - it really is completely unnecessary to start your vehicle that often!

[pnredkar]

Originally Posted by Arjun Reddy

It can get jammed over a period of not being used.If engaged.

Originally Posted by jbpanda

Engaging the hand brake for an extended period can result in the brake pads getting stuck to the discs.

Any advice for cars with electronic parking brakes?

[Arjun Reddy]

Originally Posted by pnredkar

Any advice for cars with electronic parking brakes?

Either electronically applied or manually, the brakes are applied. I would suggest you to disengage if on a flat surface.

Jeep sent this one. Jeep suggests starting the car every 2-3 days.

[nidhinsarath]

Since I bought Rapid Montecarlo DSG 1 year back, I'd never made her standstill at my garage. It covered 30k kms in one year and now is due for service. I'd actually booked an appointment for today but due to lockdown it was postponed to a later date. When I enquired, SA told that it can be driven to a max of 2k kms(~32000kms-vehicles with service package). Since I'm a doctor, I've to use the vehicle occasionally and my daily drive is close to 120kms. But as of now I'd locked down my vehicle after a thorough foam wash and interior cleaning.
1. I'd kept the car in the portico parking.
2. Handbrake disengaged
3. DSG in P mode
4. Negative terminal of battery removed to safeguard battery discharge.
5. Body cover applied. ( NB: I know many of my fellow bhpians will be against this. Even I'm not a fan of this though but it's just the circumstances that matters)
For the time being I'm using my E250 which is also due for service in the coming week but it has only run around 4K kms in the past 1 year


Stay safe. We will tide over this crisis situation.👍🏻

[Reinhard]

Received this formal advisory about car care from Tata (My service adviser forwarded it to me) -




P. S. - One funny thing in it is, they are saying put a cover on the car. And then they are also saying wiper arms should be in lifted position.

[vharihar]

Originally Posted by jbpanda

Engaging the hand brake for an extended period can result in the brake pads getting stuck to the discs.

Is this a validated concern? I suspect the validity of this concern. I'm sure the spring action in the brakes would be more than strong enough such that when you resume driving after the lockdown gets over, the brakes would release easily within a few seconds.

I would never advocate parking a vehicle with handbrake disengaged. Placing stones, etc is a big no-no, I've never advocated that. Can kill or injure someone if someone removed the stones and the vehicle starts rolling, as kids playing around can easily do.

When parked, always keep the car in low gear (NOT in NEUTRAL please!) and with parking brake engaged, would be my suggestion.

I don't know about electronic parking brakes. Those may have battery drain issues, I don't know.

[sgm]

Originally Posted by pnredkar

Any advice for cars with electronic parking brakes?

I have the same concern

Originally Posted by Arjun Reddy

Either electronically applied or manually, the brakes are applied. I would suggest you to disengage if on a flat surface.

Is it possible for all the automatic cars ? For some automatic vehicles , the moment you turn of the car, it would be going to "P" (Park) mode. How do we disengage them ?
Eg: For C-class, the gear stick is just like an electronic switch, so either turning of the engine or opening the driver side door will put the car into P automatically but for Altis I can slot the gear stick into N, or P, so I can stop the car in N/D and leave it that way on a flat surface safely.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by vharihar

Is this a validated concern? I suspect the validity of this concern. I'm sure the spring action in the brakes would be more than strong enough such that when you resume driving after the lockdown gets over, the brakes would release easily within a few seconds.

Handbrake being engaged over a long period of time is not good unless the place is very dry. A little bit of moisture between brake shoes and the brake drum would ensure that the shoes wont get released when you release the handbrake after a few weeks. Some of the cars with brake discs in the rear end may not have this issue, but most cars may have problems.

We have had such issues many times in our parking as the Seniors do not take their vehicle out for many weeks at a time, now they leave it in gear.

Leave the vehicle in 1st or reverse gear, that would do it.