Temporary non-use of truck
 

Would love thoughts on the following:

I am not going to use my truck for probably 3-4 months. I'm not really in a position to have someone run it every week or so.

I was planning on putting some fuel stabilizer additive into the gas tank to address the ethanol in the fuel, and to clean it and put a truck cover over it.

Any relatively easy and economical things folks would suggest I do or have any tips? (eg How about preventing outdoor critters ending up living in the engine bay or chewing through cables, since it will be outside.)

Many thanks in advance.

Not sure I'd worry about a 3-4 month period, but I know guys who put their "summer" cars up on jack stands to get them off the wheels over the winter. They do that to keep the tires from getting flat spots. Maybe a battery tender, if you can get power to it.

Remove battery and put on a maintainer inside, inflate tires to max on sidewall, get one of the small desiccant kits from the hardware store and stick it on the back seat floor to keep potential mold from growing, moth balls tend to keep most critters away. If you haven't bought a cover yet, they make some that have a "floor" and zipper around the truck. It'd have to be a determined critter to get in there.

I would probably add fuel stabilizer and drive it to an indoor storage facility. That would keep it safe, clean, and critter-free.
I would also pick one that has an outlet to plug in a battery tender.

these trucks sit on the lot for over a year sometimes before someone buys them and i can assure you the dealer does nothing except park em, lock em and leave em. i wouldnt worry about it, other than parking it inside if at all possible to keep the bird crap, tree sap and other junk off the paint.

Hmmm.......that's actually a really good point!! The dealerships do keep a jumpbox, so I'd still consider some type of Battery Tender or I would disconnect the terminals while not in use for 3-4 months.

If you can get non-ethanol fuel rather than a stabilizer, I'd do that. 3-4 months shouldn't matter much either way, and I'd be tempted to leave the tank near empty if you can't get non-ethanol—even with the smaller tank, adding 20 gallons of fresh fuel to four gallons of stale fuel should dilute it enough to prevent any issues. I believe our tanks are plastic, so they're not going to rust if left partially filled.

Don't disconnect the battery, get a battery tender like the one I linked and keep it on the battery. This keeps the electronics and battery "warm" as they are always on. This tender is what I use on my cars that sit over the winter. It's low current and current limiting so it won't overcharge the battery. The price is right too.
As for the rest: Sta-bil in a full fuel tank. For that period of time I wouldn't worry about the tires much. If stored over colder months strategically placed moth balls and bait boxes to keep mice away. A cheap cover from ebay if stored outside helps, just be sure to secure it.
http://www.adventurerv.net/battery-t...source=Froogle

What benefit do you expect from keeping the electronics "warm"? A disconnected battery shouldn't discharge in such a short time period, and aside from losing the usual settings that go away when disconnecting the battery, I don't see any advantage to spending the money on a tender and needing to have shore power. I'm familiar with them, as I have a pair of motorcycles and have needed to recharge my XTerra due to lack of use during the summer, but once I put a negative-disconnect switch on it, I stopped having any issues (well, aside from needing to reset the clock each time I reconnected it).

And why a full tank? With a metal tank and a long period of inactivity, the concern I've always been taught to worry about is that temperature fluctuations lead to condensation and rust. While condensation could still be an issue in a plastic tank, I think you'd be better off minimizing the left-over fuel and adding fresh (ideally before starting up again, but if not, shortly thereafter) to dilute the stale fuel. If I'm missing something, I'd be glad to hear it (between the motorcycles and the truck, I've usually got something sitting for longer than I'd like).

+1

Also, tobacco pouches around the perimeter deter the mouseketeers.