Truck will be sitting for 3-5+ months?

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Fordraptorrrrrrrr

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So ill have a company truck for the next 3-5+ months. My truck will be sitting at a yard during that time, ill be 2hrs a way. What should I do so nothing goes wrong during that time? Unplug the battery, fuel stabilizer in the fuel tank, what else?
 

realjones88

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If it's only two hours away is going once a month to start it up and drive a couple miles an option? Or someone at the yard that can start it?
 
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Fordraptorrrrrrrr

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Use the ford app and start her up. I use it all the time. Take a Friday night and head over there for the weekend.
I'll be working 6, hopefully 7 days a week, might not be an option.

Starting her by using the Ford app ain't a bad idea either.
 

wheelman55

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Some SeaFoam in the tank and a smart charger on the battery and you would be good.

If you can’t keep the charger on full time, having it plugged in and charged once a month would keep the battery up.

Mice can wreak havoc on wiring. See if you can have someone open the hood and look around once a month.
 

Oldfart

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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.
 

Just_in_time

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I was gone for 3 months - my 2019 Raptor sat in the garage the whole time - I forgot to put a battery tender on it. I bought the truck new March 2019 - hence the battery was less than 2 years old.

when I got back the truck was dead - I measured the battery with a DVM with the battery disconnected from the truck and it read 3.0 volts. It was the stock factory battery. The Ford app had been showing the truck as being in deep sleep.

Based on this I would either place a battery tender on it while gone or simply disconnect the positive lead from the battery post.

the battery tender is the best option IMO- lead acid batteries love to be trickle charged….

I bought the Ford Performance battery tender for the truck and it was unable to recover the battery. I ended up buying a new Motorcraft AGM battery from the dealer and installed it myself. The remove and replace process was super easy.
 

Cobraman044

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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.
Spot on here. This is how you store RVs as well. Starting them for short times hurt more than help.
 

CoronaRaptor

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My raptor has been sitting a lot this last year due to surgeries, disconnect the battery and fill up the tank, if you are parking on pavement, should be fine, but gravel, do what @Oldfart said and put some plywood under the tires. A sunshade over the dash aint a bad idea either, you could drape a bed sheet over the seats etc as well if its not under cover.
 

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