Tips on how to look after your car.

Looks like good advice, one thing I was a little unsure about though is draining or leaving a splash of petrol in the tank. Petrol is extremely volatile so having a big air gap above a small amount of fluid is not a good idea. Not sure how you'd get round the problem, a full tank might in theory be better but not sure as you'd then have a huge amount of inflammable material under a small volume of air that could probably still be a problem. Fuel lines tend to get gummed up, especially old cars with carburetor(s).
Tyres also develop a flat spot if left in one position for too long.
I wonder if SORN is an idea too.
Good advice though and a timely link.
 
Apparently super unleaded is more stable than normal petrol (has less/no Ethanol?) and I was advised to top the bikes up as full as possible to reduce the air/fuel area (slows the evaporation of the volatile elements and lowers the area for water absorption). Modern injected systems apparently cope better than old carburetted ones and the fuel lines will be modern fuel proof too. As discussed on other threads, a little battery optimiser/charger will take care of a few vehicle batteries and they can be had solar powered if there's no power available nearby. A few extra pounds in the tyres will help reduce flat spotting but moving the vehicle so it sits on a different bit of the tread is better (and don't forget to reset the pressures before use if you do decide to slightly over-inflate!)
All the toys have been SORNed for the duration.
 
Odd one yesterday, my wife's little used Fiesta's alarm started going off, tried to open the driver's door via keyless entry, nothing doing. Had to open it via physical key inside fob. Once inside it was clear the main car battery was flat, put it on charge. It would seem a flat battery causes the alarm to go off.
 
MatBin said:
Odd one yesterday, my wife's little used Fiesta's alarm started going off, tried to open the driver's door via keyless entry, nothing doing. Had to open it via physical key inside fob. Once inside it was clear the main car battery was flat, put it on charge. It would seem a flat battery causes the alarm to go off.
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Yep :)
Happened to my Focus a few months ago.
 
Theft deterrant. Stealing cars would be easier if a thief could disable the alarm by disconnecting the battery
 
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nilagin said:
Tips on what you can do to look after your car if it isn't seeing much use.
https://www.at.ford.com/en/homepage...solate-your-car-during-covid-19-pandemic.html
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Just reading the part where is says. "If you disconnect the battery it will disable the alarm and your central locking system won’t work." I wonder if the key will still lock the whole of the car? I used to take the battery out to charge it, in older cars. Not tried on the Galaxy yet, only went flat once, but I managed to get it jump started.
 
kennethwfd said:
Theft deterrant. Stealing cars would be easier if a thief could disable the alarm by disconnecting the battery
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Ah!
That makes sense.
 
kennethwfd said:
The alarm system has its own backup battery
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It does indeed, and if you own a VAG and it's 8-10 years old it will be just about to fail and you will either have to disable it or shell out a lot of money for replacement. Happened on both of mine within 6 months. I'm sure you can guess what I did then
 
LongLensPhotography said:
It does indeed, and if you own a VAG and it's 8-10 years old it will be just about to fail and you will either have to disable it or shell out a lot of money for replacement. Happened on both of mine within 6 months. I'm sure you can guess what I did then
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Bought a much younger car?
 
nilagin said:
Bought a much younger car?
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nope. Even if I had the money right now there is just so much uncertainty going on, i.e. Bristol attempting to ban even euro6 diesels, etc. I may as well wait till the dust settles and hopefully we'll have a bunch of affordable long range EVs to choose from by then.
 
Realised this morning that it has been over 3 weeks since my car has been started, let alone moved. Just went out to it and it started fine. The car's a hybrid and it has a 12v reset button which I believe uses the main batter to charge up the 12v one? Didn't have to use it though.

Will take the missus down to feed the pony later to give it a run out.
 
Marc said:
Realised this morning that it has been over 3 weeks since my car has been started, let alone moved. Just went out to it and it started fine. The car's a hybrid and it has a 12v reset button which I believe uses the main batter to charge up the 12v one? Didn't have to use it though.

Will take the missus down to feed the pony later to give it a run out.
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I thought horses were vegetarian? :exit:;)
 
[QUOTE="Marc, post: 8673708, member: 2160",,,,]

Will take the missus down to feed the pony later to give it a run out.[/QUOTE]
Car, wife or pony?
 
LongLensPhotography said:
It does indeed, and if you own a VAG and it's 8-10 years old it will be just about to fail and you will either have to disable it or shell out a lot of money for replacement. Happened on both of mine within 6 months. I'm sure you can guess what I did then
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Well id not be going to an VAG dealer for a 8-10 year old car so hope you found a third party garage to change the battery or did it yourself

Just think people go on holiday for 2 to 3 weeks every year and thier car survives unscathed - unless they park it in an off airport carpark that is
 
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