So, my car hasn't been driven for 4 months...

I am wondering if I should do some type of a maintenance/tune-up on it before driving it on a daily basis...

Should I get an oil change? Anything else?

 

Yeah there's a problem, 120 days of no buttery smooth highway cruises.... that's a crime in my book. Change the earl 'cause it will make you feel better. Then just drive it (drive it like you stole it is optional).

 

I would get an oil change and charge the battery to its optimum level... but beyond that, I don't think you really need to do anything else.

 

Do an oil change, and if you want to be on the safe side, syphon out the old fuel. Fuel destabilizes over time and your engine will not like it.

 

The car doesn't have that much fuel in it...when I dropped it off, I made sure that it was close to empty...and that orange/amber light was on...so I'm okay on the fuel part...

So, I should get an oil change and charge the battery to its' optimum level...anything else?

Thanks, in advance

 

Yeah one other thing.
DRIVE THE PISS OUT OF IT!

Can't wait for my ronjon kit to come hopefully in the next 2 weeks.

 

And then there is the opposite school of thought. If your tank is almost empty, it leaves lots of room for condensation, so most people recommend keeping the tank near full to prevent this condensation. The fuel shouldn't degrade appreciably in only 4 months.

You can also add STA-BIL to the tank to keep the fuel fresher.

 

I'd leave the gas tank full, maybe add in some Stabil (although today's gasoline now has a good additives package to make it last longer).

One thing that I would get is a "Battery-Tender", which keeps track of the battery volatge and keeps it in a good charge state. You plug it in to a AC outlet and attach the leads to your battery. It's fully automatic also.

That was you keep the battery in good condition, when a battery discharges it begins to sulfalte the lead plates reducing it's charge capability.

4 months is not that long to have to put the car up on jackstands.

 

^ agree, fuel isn't like orange juice. There is no germs to contaminate it. Storing up to 4 months is fine, my uncle does that all the time with his S430, all he does is getting an oil change. Sometimes he stores his car up to 7 months at a time because he travels alot and is never home.

 

Drive it for a while, the battery probably lost some of it's charge.

 

The rotors will probably have a thick layer of rust on them. You may have to brake a little longer to clean them off. Until they are shiny again, the pedal will feel odd and you may get some pulsation. No harm done though.

dsc888

 

All the oil will be in the pan, so don't beat on the car until it's in operating temperature.

 

This may be slightly extreme, but after a engine has not been started for awhile (months) it's good to crank it at starter speed until oil pressure is built up. This puts oil back into the heads and other areas where it has drained back into the oil pan and pressurizes the oil journals in the rotating parts.

Crank the engine WITHOUT starting it, this used to be simple when all you had to do was pull off the coil wire but on modern engines such as the TL it's not so simple, but not hard either.

Steps
1) Pull fuel pump fuse or fuel pump relay.
2) Crank engine until oil pressure warning light goes out or at least 15 seconds
3) Put fuel pump fuse or fuel pump relay back in.
4) Start engine up

This helps minimize startup wear on engines which have not been started in while

 

With the battery-tender, the ones soley connected to the Power outlet, will they actually trickle a charge? I thought for the power outlets to "work" the key needs to put to the "ON" position... I'm also going on a trip for 4 months and was wondering if a battery-tender is better than just disconnecting the battery.

 

I think you don't want to disconnect the battery & lose all of your memory settings.

 

Yeah, that may be a sacifice to avoid having to jump the start and possibly fry the electronics. BTW, is there any actual proof of that occuring? If done correctly, of course...

 

* Don't forget to check your tire pressure

 

Was thinkin the exact same thing as I read through Ron....

 

I disconnected my battery durring install on a cold air intake and lost absolutely nothing at all. Even the stupid snail trails that showed me hovering over a wooded area near us (near the street near my house) didnt go away on the Navi....although I only had it disconnected for about an hour.