<p>If you need to leave your car, suppose a Toyota Prius, parked and unused for several months, is there anything special that needs to be done? For example, to protect the tires, engine, etc.?</p>
<p>On a normal car I wouldn’t do anything. Perhaps disconnect the battery. Since the Prius is partly electric, with some major league batteries, I’d look into that aspect of it. </p>
<p>Googling around on “storing Prius”, there are several threads talking about the smaller 12V battery, and some that mention disabling the smart key. I think if you do some reading on those you’ll get some decent ideas of what to do.</p>
<p>The best thing would be to have a friend or family-member drive the car every couple of weeks. If that’s not practical, there’s an extensive list of things you COULD do … a friend of mine jacks the car up, sprays silicone on all exposed rubber, and puts dessicant packs in the tailpipe so the exhaust system won’t rust! </p>
<p>What I would suggest, at minimum, is to fill the gas tank full and add fuel stabilizer.</p>
<p>Hold it…what does the owners manual say to do? </p>
<p>I wouldn’t do anything like put dessicant packs in the tailpipe (it gets wet everytime you drive due to condensation), spray silicone over the rubber (it doesn’t get lubricated when you drive, so why would you need to lubricate it when not driving), or jack up the car (not sure what that is supposed to do). Many of these things are old traditions that people have developed but none are methods recommended by the vehicle manufacturer.</p>
<p>I probably wouldn’t add fuel stabilizer or fill the gas tank, either, unless recommended by the vehicle manufacturer.</p>
<p>We have an old ('74) convertible that we only drive in the summer. DH disconnects the battery in the off-season, other than that, nada.</p>
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It takes the weight off of the wheel bearings and suspension components, and can help keep the tires from developing flat spots.</p>
<p>Other recommendations I’ve heard of are things like changing the oil and filter right before it is stored because old oil is very acidic and can sludge up, draining the radiator fluid if you have aluminum engine parts, and releasing the tension off of the engine belts.</p>
<p>Some of this seems like overkill for only a few months.</p>
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<p>It doesn’t hurt the suspension or wheel bearings to bear the weight of the vehicle. After all, the suspension and wheel bearings normally bear the weight of the vehicle every day sitting in the driveway and while driving. It’s not like driving the vehicle takes the load off the suspension or wheel bearings.</p>
<p>As to flat tires, bias ply tires of years ago used to develop flat spot if they sat too long. We’ve long switched to steel belted radial tires which don’t develop flat spots.</p>
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<p>Again, none of these things are necessary…</p>
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I think static loads can lead over time to greater and more permanent deformations than if the loads are dynamic. So a bearing, for example, might go out-of-round if kept in the same location for 6 months, whereas if it is spinning regularly the deformations are evened out or are worn down before they can get bad enough to cause a problem. </p>
<p>Parts that rub against each other will corrode less than if they never move, because when they move they will scrape any buildup off of each other, and may get lubricated as a result of moving.</p>
<p>Modern tires can still get flat spots (happened to my FIL’s car), although I would agree that it is not nearly as much an issue as with bias ply tires. In my FIL’s car’s case, it sat outside for a year without being driven.</p>
<p>Letting oil or gas sit for months without being mixed can apparently lead to problems like sludging. I don’t know the chemistry, but I have had gas in a lawnmower sludge up over the winter. It’s a pain to deal with.</p>
<p>For a time as short a a few months, none of this is probably a big deal.</p>
<p>I have a Lexus hybrid and I was told when I got it that I MUST run the car at least once every 2 weeks or the battery dies. The battery in hybrids are very different than those in regular cars and they are VERY expensive.</p>
<p>I would talk to the service department at your dealer for their recommendations.</p>
<p>Car lead-acid batteries don’t do well when left for an extended time without being charged. Even for the normal car battery, it’s recommended to attach a trickle charger if it’s going to not be run for an extended time (more than 3-4 weeks). These trickle chargers are inexpensive and readily available and take only a minute to hook up.</p>
<p>The engine should do fine for several months. Some people like to take the load off of the tires/bearings by jacking the car up somewhat but I doubt that it would be an issue for just a few months. If you’re really looking at more like 6 months to a year then it’s a good idea.</p>
<p>For the Prius - I recommend you contact the dealer and ask the service personnel (hopefully a mechanic - not the ‘service advisor’) what should be done specially for the Prius’ battery pack and the vehicle in general. The battery pack is an expensive thing to replace if leaving it unused will diminish the lifetime of it.</p>
<p>Our son left his 11 year old Camry in our driveway when he went to college. We had intended to drive it at least weekly, but it doesn’t have heated seats and our other cars do and we live in New England, so… it sat in the driveway undriven for most of the winter. The next summer the brakes seemed to be getting weaker, so I took it to the shop. It ended up needing $1500 in brake repairs - basically replacing the entire braking system on all wheels, including the calipers which had rusted/frozen in place. S had driven the car a little bit over Christmas, when there was snow - and therefore salt - on the roads. Then we left it sitting, and apparently that did the trick.</p>
<p>So I recommend finding someone to drive your car a little bit at least once a week.</p>
<p>Snow? Salt? Excessive moisture? Winter? For some reason those issues didn’t pop into my mind. 
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<p>Those are good points though and the braking system is often one of the first casualties of a car that doesn’t get enough exercise.</p>