3 wk Stay in DFW Long Term Parking ... Suggestions?

[jcbesq]

as the title suggests, i will be flying up to NY for the holidays and the car will be sitting in long term parking for 3 weeks ... i'm thinking i will do a forced recharge to top off the ima battery when i get to the long term lot ... from what i've read here and in other places, and honda has reported, this span of time shouldn't be too long to have any negative effects/long term harm ... any other thoughts/suggestions?

[Jayemtee]

That's a great idea for the battery. Maybe not for the engine. I never liked running the engine that fast and shutting it down right away. I suggest a 3 minute idle for the engine, with as little electric load as possible before you turn the key off. This will let the parts move and oil flow while the temperatures normalize.

I've parked on the northwest long term parking for over a month at a time with no problems. It was 2W at the time. Easy in and out. This over 10 years ago and I had a conventional car and lived in Grapevine.

[jcbesq]

just got back ... when i parked the car it was one bar shy of full ima battery power on the mid screen and after 3 weeks it didn't move so much as a bar ... started right up without the starter motor and then i let it idle for 3-5 mintes ... the only discernible anomaly after sitting for 3 weeks was when i put it in gear (D) the car didn't immediately move - it seemed to take a couple seconds for the juices to start flowing ... thereafter the tranny seemed somewhat hesitant for the first quarter mile ... the rest of the ride home was fine and the battery is as strong if not stronger than when i left

[gilbertguy]

Glad you had a working car when you got back, I had left my second gen Prius parked at the airport on several occasions for 2-3 weeks and it never had any issues starting up upon my return. Interesting about the transmission having to "wake up" so to speak, didn't see that one coming?

[mrkcohen]

the only discernible anomaly after sitting for 3 weeks was when i put it in gear (D) the car didn't immediately move - it seemed to take a couple seconds for the juices to start flowing ... thereafter the tranny seemed somewhat hesitant for the first quarter mile ..

Interesting about the transmission having to "wake up" so to speak, didn't see that one coming?

I've had this "issue" with my Gen2 from day one. It is a colder weather thing that I have come to consider normal. I took delivery of the car in late April 2009 and temps were still cool, probably 40 F at night, and I noticed it the first morning I went to back out of my driveway. The hesitation went away by late spring and comes back in the fall.

Interesting that you both have never experienced this and are both from warmer climes.

The colder the weather the worse the hesitation is. I've never been one to let my cars warm up more than a minute or two even on the coldest of days but I have learned to let the car warm up for longer than usual when the weather is especially cold. With temps below 20-30 F I will usually let the car warm up for 4-5 minutes before moving and then I am extra gentle on the tranny until the car is fully warmed up. When temps dip into the single digits I might even start the car up and go back inside for 10-15 minutes.

Like I said I have considered this normal cold weather behavior and have never even brought it up with the dealer during service.

[Zwolfe]

I have the hesitation as well, showed up during the recent cold weather.

I work nights. So the car sits all night in the parking lot. I get off work and go get in and sometimes it won't go forward unless I apply gas.

I don't see it as anything unusual.

[gilbertguy]

I made the battery comparision to a Gen2 Prius I used to own but that car got totalled. Also I currently own a Gen1 Insight with MT but am lurning in the Gen2 forum because I'm actually leaning torwards buying one at the end of this year. Trying to pick up all the info I can from the Gen2 owners so I am fully informed before making a purchase.