Truck will be sitting for 3-5+ months?

[mattl600]

Good thread.

I gotta leave town for 3 months on a job. Gonna have the girlfriend take the raptor to the barn twice a week (about a 3 mile round trip). Good enough?

 

[KAH 24]

Good Morning All,

In my humble opinion, my #1 priority would be to rent a small garage/storage facility space (one with electricity to connect a Deltran Battery Tender), so it would be protected from the elements—and trickle charged.

Rodents are not a worry unless you have a vermin issue in the garage.

Other than the garage and trickle charger—you can for peace of mind dump a reputable fuel-stabilizer in the tank if it makes you sleep better. If you put your Raptor in a garage/storage facility space—you’ll be fine.

NOTE: Gasoline (even w/ethanol) is fine at 3 mos. Purely science with data vs. the anecdotal.

All of our vehicles (including RV) are in our garages—and needless to say, that is the way to do it. I have a ‘70 muscle car that belonged to my uncle (he’s still in good health, but sold it to me). He garaged it since buying/restoring it 25 or so yrs ago and I’ve garaged it since. Looks brand new as a result.

NOTE: I know for some the Raptor is “just a pickup truck”, but some do prioritize keeping it looking good.

 

[jabroni619]

You can do scheduled starts using the Ford Pass app. Fuel stabilizer wouldn’t hurt but probably not necessary.

 

[CoronaRaptor]

Good thread.

I gotta leave town for 3 months on a job. Gonna have the girlfriend take the raptor to the barn twice a week (about a 3 mile round trip). Good enough?

As long as she lets it warm up and all the fluids are at operating temp, that should be good. Vehicles don't like to sit, so that's a good alternative.

 

[Russ103]

You can set up a schedule to start it many times, but then again I do end up driving it.

When I was out for knee surgery recovery I believe I started manually many times over three or five weeks but only using 10 minute intervals, it was set to 10 and I forgot to change it to 15 min., however, it did go into a deep sleep and then I had to manually start it.

I completely forgot about the scheduled starts (never used that feature) but that’s a good idea.

 

[wheelman55]

Guys. Not trying to start a war here. My opinion from storing my Raptor several times.

There is zero benefit for the battery to do either scheduled or sporadic starts when storing the Raptor.

For 3-5 month storage, either let the Raptor go into deep sleep mode or put a smart charger on the battery.

For longer storage put the battery on a smart charger.

 

[Frank N]

Guys. Not trying to start a war here. My opinion from storing my Raptor several times.

There is zero benefit for the battery to do either scheduled or sporadic starts when storing the Raptor.

For 3-5 month storage, either let the Raptor go into deep sleep mode or put a smart charger on the battery.

For longer storage put the battery on a smart charger.

Agreed...unless one wants excess moisture to build up in the exhaust system....lol

 

[Jughead]

Don't need a trickle charger for the battery?

 

[wheelman55]

Jughead. No need to trickle charge a healthy battery if only 3-5 months. If the battery is old, then yes.

It all depends on the self discharge rate of your battery, plus any small loads that might need to be kept on.

I store a ‘93 F250 for 5-6 months and only disconnect the battery. I do put the charger on before I disconnect to make sure that the charge is at 100%. The battery is a VERY strong X2Power AGM with low self discharge and no loads. Starts up within seconds upon my return.

I store a 74 Alfa for 6-7 months straight each year. The battery here is a 10 year old Odyssey AGM so has a high self discharge. I remove this battery and keep it on a smart charger. Also put in new plugs before I start it. The Alfa starts right up too.

The Raptor’s been stored several times for 1-5 months. Did nothing special. It puts itself into deep sleep mode and starts right up. The self discharge while in deep sleep is pretty low.

I only use fuel stabilizer in the Alfa. The other vehicles just get full tanks. I do make it a point to fill up often when burning that first tank.

We live off grid in the winter and are 100% solar. When we leave I shut down the system. The batteries are LiFeP04 and have hardly any self discharge. I leave them at 80% charge and when I return after 6 months the charge is still in the 70% range.

So new/strong battery no worries for 3-5 months. Old weak battery, plug it in.

Hooe this helps.

 

[Raptorial]

Put Stabil in a full tank of fuel. A full tank minimizes condensation. Drive it around for 5-10 minutes to make sure it's gone all through your fuel system. A company I worked for did a lot of testing and found none better than Stabil. DON'T do occasional starts. A short run period from an occasional start can actually cause issues from greatly increasing condensation, because it never gets up to temp long enough to burn it off, but gets warm enough to cause more. The starting and running for a few minutes really has no benefit. Pulling the battery and putting it in your garage on something like a Deltran Battery Tender is a good idea, if you can't charge it where you park it. If it's on dirt, drive it up on wood planks to minimize moisture penetration in the tires. I had 2 of my boats sit for 3 years once when I had really serious health issues and they started up and ran like they were only sitting for a weekend.

If all that is too much work, ship it to my house and I will keep it exercised for you, no charge.

This is good advice. I used to put my race bikes on stands and go through the gears once a week (in winter) vs just letting it start and get to operating temperature.