car left idle for a few months?

carzony

Hi guys, My mate went away about 4 months ago and his car has just been left idle in his garden ever since..So he decided to give it to me Is it likely he will need a new battery? and it there other things that could be wrong with the car since it's been left for so long?

I will be getting the keys tomorrow so i have no idea if it will have problems?

Once the brake discs aren't too rusty and the handbrake releases fine it should be grand if it was well cared for prior to being laid up. Check the oil and coolant levels before starting it. It might need a jumpstart as the clock and alarm would drain the battery over 4 months. Could well require nothing really.

What sort of car is it?

carzony

RoverJames wrote: »

Once the brake discs aren't too rusty and the handbrake releases fine it should be grand if it was well cared for prior to being laid up. Check the oil and coolant levels before starting it. It might need a jumpstart as the clock and alarm would drain the battery over 4 months. Could well require nothing really.

What sort of car is it?

it's a 00 yaris mate.

Midnight_EG

I left my 95 Civic sitting in my garden for the last 11 months...started it up last week for the first time in those 11 months and all it needed was a jump...nothing more

Still check oil and coolant, tyres and brakes

carzony

Well, The car is perfect. Started straight away, coolant, oil and everything 100% ok..

johndaman66

Very sound of your mate to give you an 00 Yaris . They'd be a god enough seller so he could have shifted it handy enough if he wanted to too I'm sure! I could be doing with a few mates like that!

MrThrifty

It's a Toyota, expect nothing less...

Now had it been a VW, and only been left 4 days, well that's a different story!

Solnskaya

I first read this as "I left a car running for months in my front garden".:D Toyotas seem to be the best car going to sit idle for ages and then just resume use, very good stuff in them.

MrThrifty

Actually, on that note, anyone know how long a car could typically be left running for on a full petrol tank?!! Being serious like...

Delancey

MrThrifty wrote: »

Actually, on that note, anyone know how long a car could typically be left running for on a full petrol tank?!! Being serious like...

TBH that's akin to asking how long is a piece of string - would depend on things like engine size , tank capacity , etc.

johnayo

MrThrifty wrote: »

Actually, on that note, anyone know how long a car could typically be left running for on a full petrol tank?!! Being serious like...

I recall, back in the 80's, I was working in a garage in the Douglas area of Cork. One of the lads jump started a car in the compound for one of the salesmen at around 5pm. One or other of them got distracted, and when I arrived in to work the following morning, the car was happily idling away where it was left.
It was a sales car so I can't imagine there being a huge amount of petrol in the tank.

_Conrad_

How much fuel it has, how thirsty it is and if the cooling system is good. A friend of mine accidentally left a peugeot 206 idling for something like 18 hours and it was fine.

I've often left my old pickup i had idling for ages, easily 10 plus hours while using it's row of spot lights and rear work lights to work outdoors at night

MrThrifty

Sure, but I was really wondering if we could be talking a week or something on a full tank. Tends to be bigger engine cars that tend to have larger tanks so that prob balances things out. Presume diesel also wins over petrol even when idling. Go on, is anyone not tempted to try this out?! We could raise fuel money via Boards or via some betting on how long the car will go for!! (Joking like)

I reckon a car that would do 40mpg at 60mph that has a 10 gallon tank would idle away for about 24 hours, that's guesstimating that at 2500/3000rpm it's using 10 times more fuel than what it used when idling, when there is no load on the engine (weight of car and no drag as it's standing) would idle away for the guts of 72 hours if the tank was full.

L-M

johnayo wrote: »

I recall, back in the 80's, I was working in a garage in the Douglas area of Cork. One of the lads jump started a car in the compound for one of the salesmen at around 5pm. One or other of them got distracted, and when I arrived in to work the following morning, the car was happily idling away where it was left.
It was a sales car so I can't imagine there being a huge amount of petrol in the tank.

I did that once, too

I remembering leaving a car idle with a trip computer and it read something like 0.4L/H

So I'd assume it would stay running for at least 3 days as James said, if not longer.

Bumpstop

Transmitted message.....
send reinforcements we are going to advance.

Received message......
Send three and four pence we are going to a dance !

:D:D:D

_Conrad_

RoverJames wrote: »

I reckon a car that would do 40mpg at 60mph that has a 10 gallon tank would idle away for about 24 hours, that's guesstimating that at 2500/3000rpm it's using 10 times more fuel than what it used when idling, when there is no load on the engine (weight of car and no drag as it's standing) would idle away for the guts of 72 hours if the tank was full.

You'd probably leave an old diesel like my 1.9 vw running for 72 hours alright. It has a 70l tank so could fit plenty of diesel in there. though to test that it'd cost quite a bit. Could cheat a little by plying around with the pump