Recommended layup procedure?

Lincoln

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2014
Location
Seattle, WA
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SE 6 Speed MT
I'll be away for about 10 months, so I'm thinking about laying up my Passat while I'm gone. I can find some tips online that are fairly generic (chalks, instead of parking break; preferable to put on jack stands; keep rodents away; change oil before storing; etc.). The only diesel-specific tips I've found are to use a diesel fuel stabilizer (algaecide), and to flush the urea upon my return. Anything else the gurus on here recommend? Please bear in mind that I only plan to drive it ~2-12 months upon my return before doing the buy-back, so I'm hoping not to put a lot of money into it, and my main concern is that it is drive-able upon my return. It's also possible that I could have my father drop by once per month or so to drive it around a little bit. I'm trying to balance the risk/trouble of more permanent storage vs. just parking it in the garage and asking him to drive it occasionally, so thoughts on that are welcome also.
 

DaveTC

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 14, 2013
Location
Minneapolis, MN
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SE
The first thing that comes to mind is to disconnect the battery cable. Batteries die quickly when they lose their charge.

I have only left a vehicle for a few months while traveling for work, but I did notice that the tires lost some traction when I hit some wet areas. Now, I tend to do some serving and faster corners on dry roads to take off the oxidized(?) surface if the vehicle has been sitting for a while.

I doubt you can do much about rodents, but I have heard horror stories. I have only seen places where mice tried to create a nest in the exhaust manifold or circuit breaker box. Nothing major so far.

If you let the vehicle sit, hopefully it will climb to the next higher buyback amount. I have been driving my truck more to keep the buyback from dropping $700. I am holding on to it at least until the car show comes though and I can decide on a new vehicle. Also, my ongoing car payments will mean more equity when I do turn it in.
 

Skimax

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2001
Location
White mts, NH
TDI
97 B4 variant(retired at 330K), 2000 B5 1.8T passat retired, 2013 SE (buyback5/17) 2015 SEL, 2015 E-Golf SEL sold March 2019, 2018 Volt LT and a 2007 PRHT MX5 for fun
"I doubt you can do much about rodents, but I have heard horror stories. I have only seen places where mice tried to create a nest in the exhaust manifold or circuit breaker box. Nothing major so far."

I take a 6" long piece of 1" dia. AL tubing drilled with many holes and fill it with moth balls. I use AL duct tape to seal the ends and attach self adhesive velcro and the other piece of velcro in the engine compartment. I put 3 or 4 in each car we own. If you paint the tubes yellow or orange they are easy to spot and refill every few months. For temporary use put a bunch of moth balls in a piece of AL foil and poke holes.

This has helped us with rodent problems, hope it works for you.
 
Last edited:

16vjohn

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Jul 12, 2007
Location
Salt Lake City, UT
TDI
EA288 CVCA 6MT
Get a good quality float charger and jackstands. If the car is outdoors, get one of those solar panel cigarette lighter chargers from Wish.com for $15, they work great.

I had rodents making nests on top of the cabin air filter using material they got from the hood padding. Can't say for sure the jack stands make a difference, but I had no more rodent issues once the car was on jack stands. This will also save your suspension and tires from getting a flat spot. That's probably all you need to do.

Other than that, diesel is stable enough to leave for 10 months. I wouldn't worry about that.
 

tdiatlast

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
Location
Fort Worth, Texas
TDI
2009 Sportwagen (boughtback); 2014 Passat TDI SEL (boughtback)
I'll be away for about 10 months, so I'm thinking about laying up my Passat while I'm gone. I can find some tips online that are fairly generic (chalks, instead of parking break; preferable to put on jack stands; keep rodents away; change oil before storing; etc.). The only diesel-specific tips I've found are to use a diesel fuel stabilizer (algaecide), and to flush the urea upon my return. Anything else the gurus on here recommend? Please bear in mind that I only plan to drive it ~2-12 months upon my return before doing the buy-back, so I'm hoping not to put a lot of money into it, and my main concern is that it is drive-able upon my return. It's also possible that I could have my father drop by once per month or so to drive it around a little bit. I'm trying to balance the risk/trouble of more permanent storage vs. just parking it in the garage and asking him to drive it occasionally, so thoughts on that are welcome also.
Other than the liability issue (will the car be insured, or will you let the insurance/registration lapse?), I think the best alternative is having the car driven periodically. In my experience, VAG window/sunroof switches don't like to sit idle, so I'd have him work those, as well.
 

Lincoln

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2014
Location
Seattle, WA
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SE 6 Speed MT
Update: I returned from the desert just before Thanksgiving, having left in mid-January. Steps I took before leaving:
1) Diesel stabilizer, plus a full tank to get air out of the system.
2) Blocked tires and left in neutral with no parking brake set.
3) Disconnected battery cables.

That's it.

The result: Reconnected the battery cable and the car started right back up with no issues at all. I've driven about 700 miles since coming home, and it's as good as new. I do suspect that my original 2013 battery is getting close to dying, particularly since it strained a bit to start the other day when I returned from a week away and there was frost on the car. But given what we all know about the demand on these batteries, I feel pretty good that the 2013 still worked at all when I got back. Oh, and the original Hankook tires are close to end of life also, but with 52,000 miles, that's also understandable. I was just pleasantly surprised to find all four fully inflated.
 
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