Automobile mechanic question.

[Lawrence Ng]

I've got an older van that I am driving right now. In a couple of months my insurance expires and I am thinking of letting the van just sit at my grandma's garage. I was going to sell it, but I would get far too little for it and it's just too good for me dump.

If I remove the battery connected to the van, will the battery still be good when I need to connect the battery up to the van again? Or will I have to purchase a new battery?

Thanks.

Lawrence

[Tailgunner]

I'm assuming you mean remove the battery... leave the wires installed =P. Better if you take it out, but you don't even have to disconnect it if you don't want to. Your seals will rot long before the battery discharges. Unless you leave something on, of course.

[Lawrence Ng]

Aye, I meant the battery heh. /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Yeah, I am afraid that juice in the battery might get drained away. So I figure that disconnecting the battery from the van would be better. I'm just not sure if the battery will still be good when I go to put it back in the van after a few months.

Thanks for the reply.

Lawrence

[Tailgunner]

A couple months should be no problem at all, but disconnecting is the safe bet. I've left 'em hooked up for a couple years and still had 'em turn right over tho. It shouldn't drain at all if you've disconnected it, unless it leaks (in which case you should probably be buying a new battery anyway.)

[IggyWH]

I would disconnect just to be sure...

My pops has a '78 Corvette Pacecar that is garaged during the winter. For the first 2 years he had it, the battery would always be dead come spring.

He finally found out what was killing the battery. The dash had an analog clock that would run. While it didn't take much juice to run, with it running off the battery for 6-8 months without the battery getting any charge since the car wasn't running, it would suck the battery slowly dry.

[Ray Zee]

if the battery gets low and freezes it will be toast. it must be indoors or charged regularly. it loses about 10% of its charge a month. some will still fire up after a year but dont expect it to. and when it does it will have less ability to hold a charge. it needs to be charged every few months at least to survive in good shape.
any engine will not do well if it isnt run till hot regularly. make sure someone drives it around some every few months.

[jakethebake]

Sounds like you need to replace the ol' Johnson Rod to me.

Ray Zee's comment about running it is good advice. If you don't/can't run it, be sure to pull the plugs and spray the cylinders with oil to keep them from rusting and seizing. And the gas tank and lines have to be drained.

There are probably another dozen things you should do, but that's all I remember. And I learned the hard way. I drove a '79 Monte Carlo into a garage without doing anything to it. Just turned it off and walked away. Three years later when I thought I might try and get it back in working order I learned all the bad news. Wound up scrapping it.

[unreal_nh]

just disconnecting the negative cable will prevent anything from draining it