Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum and would love some advice as I'm off traveling for work for 7 weeks which is both exciting and daunting as I will need to leave my 2016 Cayenne V6 sat unused for all this time.

Aside from the risk of flat spots on the tires and a flat battery, is there anything else that could be more serious? A professional storage company is much more expensive than the airport parking reservation I have made, but would consider it if leaving it parked up for 7 weeks could be detrimental.

It will be stored covered, underground airport parking lot at a hotel.

Thanks,
W

 

I would:

- Make sure all fluids are topped up, check engine oil level (if close to change I'd do this anyway).
- Make sure your tires are at their maximum PSI (this eliminates flat spots - should NOT be on bricks)
- Make sure your car is washed and waxed, so if there's any movement because of wind on the cover, it's not going to cause scratches
- Fill gas tank, maybe add a fuel stabilizer
- Leave the car in Park, but don't engage the parking brake (to help stop binding). Block the wheels.
- Roll down the window a fraction or leave sunroof ajar to help get rid of any moisture in the car
- See if the hotel would allow you to leave a trickle charger attached
- Rodents love cars... I'd leave dryer sheets in the engine bay, it keeps them away, and a note attached to your steering wheel to remind you to remove them!

When you pickup your car, I'd remove the dryer sheets, start the car, see how your tire pressures are, make sure there's no damage and let it idle for a bit to allow the oil to move back through the system before driving away.

 

Good tips!
What do mean by parking brake 'binding'?
Another Cayenne owner told me that the dealer recommended NOT using the parking brakes because it will warp the rotors. Any truth to that?

 

I had left my new Tacoma for 3 months, parking brake wouldn't disengage and had to drive/reverse the truck back and forth a couple of times to release it.. Drove the truck at highway speed and braked hard a couple of times to clean the rotors. Best just not to have the parking brake on and chock the wheels with some wood / bricks

 

cayenne uses an electronic parking brake, different than the toyota.

 

True.. but it's the act of having the brake pads stuck against the rotor for 7-8 weeks that can causing binding. That's why I recommended leaving the car only in park and chocking the wheels.

 

7 weeks... that's not very long.

Really, you don't need to do anything physically to the car or fuel. Some of my cars sit for 3-4 months at a time with no problems.

HOWEVER, many modern cars have very high parasitic battery drain due to some of their systems being on at all times. Porsche cars are known for it, as are Bentley cars. This can kill a battery dead in a month. I'd bet the Cayenne has pretty significant drain on the battery at all times. Usually these are safety systems, alarms, etc.

So, you have 2 options... 1) disconnect the battery (and the alarm along with it) or 2) put it on a battery tender (you'd need an outlet).

I'd suggest putting a battery disconnect on the negative battery pole (if accessible) or just manually disconnect the negative cable before leaving. Otherwise, you can google around and see what systems pull most of the current and remove those fuses.

 

Handbrakes aka Parking brakes have been SOP in manual cars for many years and won't warp the rotors. Hell, you can even drive like 20 miles with the handbrake on and not warp the rotors (ask me how I know). It does produce smoke though. Note: This is probably not possible in the modern car world with electric parking brakes.

Mention to that other owner that back in the old days, Porsche cars had these sticks you needed to move around a lot to change the gears. And then when you stopped, the car would roll away magically by itself if not in gear. To stop this, and have extra peace of mind, you put the handbrake on and left it in gear.

NOTE: I'm not sure the modern parking brakes should even be called handbrakes anymore. I guess you operate with your hand/fingers, but it's really not a 'handbrake' now is it?

If a car (any car, manual or auto) is parked on an incline, I like to put it in neutral, apply the parking brake, let my foot off the regular brake, and make sure it's solidly stuck in place. THEN, I put it in gear. This keeps all that stress OFF the gearbox and also ensures the car won't move if it were to somehow 'pop' out of gear.

These electric brakes suck as they don't let you use the handbrake for drifting or bootlegger's u-turns.