How long can the car sit between drives? - BMW 3-Series Forum (F30 / F32)

Agamemnon · 01-06-2013, 02:23 AM

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With a brand new car, how many days do you think you could leave it between drives before you would run into battery problems.

With the inclement weather, it can be 5 days between drives. The drives tend to be a good hour long so the battery would be pretty topped up. Ideally, I would put a battery tender on it but my one car garage is taken up by a collector car that is currently not insured. I may have to move cars around to keep the batteries both in tip top shape.

smashhell · 01-06-2013, 02:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

With a brand new car, how many days do you think you could leave it between drives before you would run into battery problems.

With the inclement weather, it can be 5 days between drives. The drives tend to be a good hour long so the battery would be pretty topped up. Ideally, I would put a battery tender on it but my one car garage is taken up by a collector car that is currently not insured. I may have to move cars around to keep the batteries both in tip top shape.

Once a month

BavarianFanatic · 01-06-2013, 10:56 AM

Good question. There's a ton of parasitic drain these days. I DON'T think I'd go a full month without a tender. Under normal conditions, the F30's alternator only charges during decelleration or coast, not 100% of the time as we're used to. Perhaps this changes if the battery is low, but I don't know for certain.

I personally wouldn't go past two weeks without a trickle charger. At least until there's more feedback about how well they manage their charge.

tdizzle · 01-06-2013, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BavarianFanatic

Under normal conditions, the F30's alternator only charges during decelleration or coast, not 100% of the time as we're used to.

Sure about that?

roundel335 · 01-06-2013, 11:14 AM

I believe the condition under which the alternator only charges on deceleration is in Eco-Pro mode, so if you drive in that mode a lot, you would have to drive further to get the same amount of charge as with other modes. With a new battery, you could easily go 2+ weeks without needing a charge. When the car passes the 3-year mark, that interval could shorten, as our batteries have tended to last roughly 5 years. That's when my E92's battery needed replacing.

Tsuyoi · 01-06-2013, 11:42 AM

Unless a BMW is crappier than a Ford, I doubt there needs to be concern about this. I've left my 2002 Ford for well over a month at a time without driving it, no problems with battery at all...

dude987 · 01-06-2013, 12:13 PM

Left my F30 sitting for over a month without driving. Started up with no problems.

Agamemnon · 01-06-2013, 12:37 PM

Thanks for the replies everyone. It looks that I don't really have to worry as long as I'm taking the car out for a good drive once a week. And it looks like I could go a couple of weeks without worrying. That makes sense as the car would be sitting idle if I am on vacation for a couple of weeks.

Carnook · 01-06-2013, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

Thanks for the replies everyone. It looks that I don't really have to worry as long as I'm taking the car out for a good drive once a week. And it looks like I could go a couple of weeks without worrying. That makes sense as the car would be sitting idle if I am on vacation for a couple of weeks.

Oh absolutely. I leave mine for weeks at a time when travelling and have never had an issue.

themoveforward · 01-06-2013, 03:34 PM

The only things you really have to worry about are the battery and the tires. The battery charge can be stabilized using a battery maintainer and the tires can become out of round if left for too long. It's best to leave the car slightly raised on jack stands to relieve the pressure on the tires. I'd say you can go about a month or two without any fear of damage, but any longer can cause problems with the things I just mentioned.

shivaswrath · 01-06-2013, 03:45 PM

I wouldn't worry about it - if anything the RFT's will give you the most hassle, flattening out and requiring a few miles to become round again before you'd have to worry about the battery.

David328M-Sport · 01-06-2013, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roundel335

I believe the condition under which the alternator only charges on deceleration is in Eco-Pro mode

Mine charges in all modes. You can see the curved blue bar extend towards the battery icon during coasting & braking. When that happens, the battery is being charged.

pkim1079 · 01-06-2013, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David328M-Sport

Quote:

Originally Posted by roundel335

I believe the condition under which the alternator only charges on deceleration is in Eco-Pro mode

Mine charges in all modes. You can see the curved blue bar extend towards the battery icon during coasting & braking. When that happens, the battery is being charged.

Isnt this exactly what bmw efficient dynamics is? Charging in coast and braking??!!

Elk · 01-06-2013, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by themoveforward

. . . the tires can become out of round if left for too long.

Fortunately, this is not an issue with modern tires and has not been since bias ply. A few miles and the tires are up to temperature any minor issue is gone.

BavarianFanatic · 01-07-2013, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tsuyoi

Unless a BMW is crappier than a Ford, I doubt there needs to be concern about this. I've left my 2002 Ford for well over a month at a time without driving it, no problems with battery at all...

There's been quite a few times over the past few years when there have been issues with high parasitic drain among several BMW lines. I have personal experience with an early E83 X3 which was notorious for this. The body control module would routinely "wake up" and interrogate all of the other modules in the car every once in a while to verify status and also to check to see if the car had been flagged as stolen. There was a bug in the software that would randomly prevent the modules from going back to "sleep". When active, they had a high drain rate that could flatten a battery in short order. More than once it happened over night.

Since the F30 is a very new model (with many new technologies), I personally would err on the side of caution "just in case". Once bitten, twice shy I suppose. Batteries don't like being fully drained and recharged too many times.

Dabaitu · 01-07-2013, 04:01 PM

Just make sure you lock your car properly and it'll put some of the functions to sleep, reducing battery drain.

A month shouldn't be a problem for anyone however.

Tonitron335i · 01-07-2013, 05:31 PM

I had to leave my 335i at the airport for six weeks, when I came back everything was working excellent, also I checked the tire pressure and no problems at all.

01-06-2013, 02:23 AM	#1
Agamemnon Private First Class Drives: 2013 BMW 335i Msport Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Richmond BC Posts: 138 iTrader: (0)	How long can the car sit between drives? Featured on BIMMERPOST.com With a brand new car, how many days do you think you could leave it between drives before you would run into battery problems. With the inclement weather, it can be 5 days between drives. The drives tend to be a good hour long so the battery would be pretty topped up. Ideally, I would put a battery tender on it but my one car garage is taken up by a collector car that is currently not insured. I may have to move cars around to keep the batteries both in tip top shape.
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01-06-2013, 11:14 AM	#5
roundel335 Colonel Drives: 13 335i Sedan, 11 128i Cabrio Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Boerne, TX Posts: 2,734 iTrader: (2) Garage List 2013 BMW 335i Sedan [5.00] 2011 BMW 128i Cabri ... [4.25]	I believe the condition under which the alternator only charges on deceleration is in Eco-Pro mode, so if you drive in that mode a lot, you would have to drive further to get the same amount of charge as with other modes. With a new battery, you could easily go 2+ weeks without needing a charge. When the car passes the 3-year mark, that interval could shorten, as our batteries have tended to last roughly 5 years. That's when my E92's battery needed replacing. __________________ 2013 F30 335i M-Sport 8AT/MPE/MPPK, 2011 128i M-sport Cabrio 6MT/PE

01-06-2013, 03:45 PM	#11
shivaswrath Colonel Drives: 2012 335i Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Norwalk CT Posts: 2,038 iTrader: (2)	I wouldn't worry about it - if anything the RFT's will give you the most hassle, flattening out and requiring a few miles to become round again before you'd have to worry about the battery. __________________ 2012 335i Mineral Gray M Performance Whore: PPK\|Exhaust\|Brakes\|Performance Suspension Struts & Springs\|Black Kidney Grilles\|CF Spoiler and Mirror Caps\|M Sport 400M\|BMWF30.com 335i brakes FS!

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01-06-2013, 10:56 AM	#3
BavarianFanatic Too much is never enough Drives: Too Many Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: SE PA Posts: 751 iTrader: (0)	Good question. There's a ton of parasitic drain these days. I DON'T think I'd go a full month without a tender. Under normal conditions, the F30's alternator only charges during decelleration or coast, not 100% of the time as we're used to. Perhaps this changes if the battery is low, but I don't know for certain. I personally wouldn't go past two weeks without a trickle charger. At least until there's more feedback about how well they manage their charge.

01-06-2013, 11:42 AM	#6
Tsuyoi Lieutenant Drives: 2013 F30 328i Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: New York Posts: 537 iTrader: (0)	Unless a BMW is crappier than a Ford, I doubt there needs to be concern about this. I've left my 2002 Ford for well over a month at a time without driving it, no problems with battery at all...

01-06-2013, 12:13 PM	#7
dude987 Private First Class Drives: BMW 328i Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Chicago Posts: 188 iTrader: (0)	Left my F30 sitting for over a month without driving. Started up with no problems.

01-06-2013, 12:37 PM	#8
Agamemnon Private First Class Drives: 2013 BMW 335i Msport Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Richmond BC Posts: 138 iTrader: (0)	Thanks for the replies everyone. It looks that I don't really have to worry as long as I'm taking the car out for a good drive once a week. And it looks like I could go a couple of weeks without worrying. That makes sense as the car would be sitting idle if I am on vacation for a couple of weeks.

01-06-2013, 03:34 PM	#10
themoveforward Private First Class Drives: 13' 328xi MG mSport Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: L.I., NY Posts: 103 iTrader: (0)	The only things you really have to worry about are the battery and the tires. The battery charge can be stabilized using a battery maintainer and the tires can become out of round if left for too long. It's best to leave the car slightly raised on jack stands to relieve the pressure on the tires. I'd say you can go about a month or two without any fear of damage, but any longer can cause problems with the things I just mentioned.

01-07-2013, 04:01 PM	#16
Dabaitu Colonel Drives: anything given a chance Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: .au Posts: 2,605 iTrader: (0) Garage List 2012 BMW F30 328i S ... [5.00]	Just make sure you lock your car properly and it'll put some of the functions to sleep, reducing battery drain. A month shouldn't be a problem for anyone however.

01-07-2013, 05:31 PM	#17
Tonitron335i Private Drives: 2012 BMW 335i Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Houston, Tx Posts: 56 iTrader: (0)	I had to leave my 335i at the airport for six weeks, when I came back everything was working excellent, also I checked the tire pressure and no problems at all.