RS4 B7 Sat for a month at a time

Post by **d9lek42** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 9:39 am

Alright Fellas...

Been looking for an answer to this for an hour and cant really find anything other than info actually putting the car into storage. I work away from home 5 weeks at a time so apart from the missus taking it out once a week if that it wont get used.. if it does it wont get much welly. Is there anything i should be doing other than maybe keeping the battery on a optimizer?

Post by **brn7y** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 10:22 am

I leave mine sat in the garage for a month at a time with nothing and have had no problems.

Post by **d9lek42** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 10:34 am

it that a regular month on and off brn7y or just a few a year? How long you had your motor?

Post by **MikeFish** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 10:35 am

Get the wife to give it a good spanking! And the car too.

Post by **rwilsonrs4** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 11:28 am

I leave mine for nearly 5 weeks as i,m on a rotation , and I have never had a problem at all even over the winter months , I suppose a good run before you go will help keep the battery topped up, and I dont leave the handbrake on,I just leave it in gear .

Post by **d9lek42** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 11:34 am

Cheers for that mate.... never thought about the handbrake. Just skyped the missus to take it off lol

Post by **adsgreen** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 11:43 am

TBH unless parked on a significant hill I always park with the handbrake off. Force of habit now from sitting in pitlanes. With the engine and transmission on the rs4 I doubt it'll go anywhere quickly

As an aside I generally also leave the steering at a large angle... carry over from living in San Francisco for while.

5 weeks will be fine. The battery has a controller that should systematically disconnect things as the level drops (IE, RNS-E). Also worth turning off the interior alarm sensor as:
- it's a big drain
- the alarm is quieter than a who.

It may be a bit lumpy when you start it up but as long as you give it plenty of time to warm up and a good clear out should be fine.

If you are not using it much when you are back then worth keeping the petrol nearer the low level than full. that way you'll always be topping up with fresh stuff rather than having a full tank that could be sat there for months.

Post by **d9lek42** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 1:02 pm

Really appriciate the insight mate.... this is my first one so got a lot to learn

Post by **Ranger Rico** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 1:50 pm

I'm away 4 weeks at a time and when I get back the discs are pretty rusty, after the first run the disc holes are full of the rust and need drilled out.
There's no way I'm letting my misses drive the 4 to avoid this though!

Post by **brn7y** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 5:15 pm

Monthly rotation. Had the car since March.

Garage is attached to the house with sealed roller doors and heated by the CH boiler so car is always warm and dry which helps.

Post by **ROY** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 5:51 pm

I used to store an old Muscle shape C3 corvette and found condesation and damp inside the car to be a big problem, i used them moisture granule things in containers placed in the footwells which worked great.

Or if you've got a garage large enough you could drive it into one of the airtight bag carcoon things
http://www.carcoon.com/carcoon-evo-indoor

Post by **adsgreen** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 7:17 pm

Ranger Rico wrote:I'm away 4 weeks at a time and when I get back the discs are pretty rusty, after the first run the disc holes are full of the rust and need drilled out.
There's no way I'm letting my misses drive the 4 to avoid this though!

If you really are bothered by this (and don't laugh - serious) you could spray the discs with wd40.
It won't do anything bad to the discs and pads and will stop them rusting (it's essentially petrol and vaseline)

Just remember the first time you dirve it you will have to press a bit harder than normal to clear the WD40 film that is left after it evaporates.
Used it when storing (including track) cars and never had a problem. You'll see lots of stories about how it will break down the compounds etc... I've never had any issue like that and the first time I did take the pads off to check them and there wasn't anything on them.

Post by **d9lek42** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 8:35 pm

Mmmm... I've heard stories like that about WD as well. I wonder if there's anything job specific on the market?

Post by **adsgreen** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 9:26 pm

d9lek42 wrote:Mmmm... I've heard stories like that about WD as well. I wonder if there's anything job specific on the market?

There is... WD40

"Water Disperal Formula 40".

The worst stories I hear is when people refer to it as a lubicant. I've even seen sombody prepare a vrey expensive race kart and then spray the entire chain and sprocket with wd40 for lubrication. Needless to say it didn't last long and the chain ended up in the car park.

90-95% of wd40 evaporates within minutes (not surprising being hydrocarbon based).

Seriously. WD-40 is mostly a mix of baby oil, Vaseline, and the goop inside homemade lava lamps.

http://www.wired.com/science/discoverie ... hatsinside

I can't stress how you do need to burn it off by pressing hard on the brakes though. It's feels like an old bike with rubber brakes in the rain... you get bugger all slowing down and it takes a few seconds for your brain to go "wtf?". Hmm... could make a good practical joke...
But it's not a lubricant... the only reason if affects the braking performance is simply down to the layer left after evaporation - it just happens to feel a little slidey but soon goes.

Post by **d9lek42** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 9:30 pm

I'm sold.... That's it the missus will be under the car tomorrow spraying the discs lol

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