long term parking for my KJ question

Jeep Dawg · **Posted:** Wed Aug 09, 2006 7:59 pm

I started a new job 4 weeks ago and today they gave me my work van. Their gas, and other stuff.
Now that I will be using my work van 92% of the time, Do you guys have any recomendations on how and what I should do to my KJ for parking it?

I am NOT getting rid of it. It will be my weekend play toy.

What should I do to prepair it for the long sitting times?

Albert · **Posted:** Wed Aug 09, 2006 8:10 pm

If I understand you it will sit in your driveway/garage from Monday until Friday and you will be driving it on the weekends. I don't see where that would hurt it as long as you're driving it every weekend. You could also take it on an errand one nite during the week. You could use synthetic oil and that will give you instant lubrication at start up (better than dino). Just some thoughts.

JFortier777 · **Posted:** Wed Aug 09, 2006 8:52 pm

You could get car cover to keep it clean and safe from the elements if it stays outside.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:39 pm

Since Im stupid, there are alot of stupid things I would do, but Im stupid. If I knew it wasnt going to be driven for a full week, I would wash it, make sure the tire pressure is good(Im stupid), put it in a garage on jack stands, release the pressure on the belt tensioner, roll the windows down alittle, and use syn oil since you would be hitting the time limit on the oil before the mileage. :wink:

jason thompson · **Posted:** Wed Aug 09, 2006 10:20 pm

I have been in that situation for 10 years and 3 vehicals and what I did was nothing
dont bother to cover it because the sun and rain is the same at your house and at work and at my house
yes I only use syn. oil and change it every 3K some times that may be 6 month and some times that may be 2 months (I drive alot around the jambo work season) the thing that I have found and dont know why ,I do know that it depends on where you live, my tire seem to "dry rot" faster than any body who drives there rig daily or more than I drive mine I get no more than 3 years befor the tread cracks at the side wall and that can make for a big boom
so just park it and wach the tires I dont keep up with the psi if it looks loe I check it and add as needed

I may be an idiot for doing it this wa but if I aint broke I dont fix it

kolesy · **Posted:** Wed Aug 09, 2006 10:33 pm

How bout ummmm...................... Nothing! You aren't parking it "long term". Just maybe a day or two at a time. Soooo conitnue your normal maintenance. Trust me you won't be able to deny your KJ some love! It will be calling your name after the first day. "Drive me, Drive me!!"

Cacher123 · **Posted:** Thu Aug 10, 2006 1:17 am

Only thing I would consider is a trickle charger for the battery. If it sits then u only take it on local drives you may need to pep up the battery once in a while.

Albert · **Posted:** Thu Aug 10, 2006 9:25 am

yea, the battery. That's a good point. But if you're going to drive it every weekend I would think it would be ok as long as the battery was in good shape and it had a good run - like 20 miles or so at normal highway speed.

If you wanted to check you could get a battery tester that shows voltage and test it on Monday when you put it to bed and again on Friday or Saturday before you start it up just out of curiosity to see if it dropped any. It shouldn't drop much.

In the winter make sure it has at least 3/4 of a tank of gas. Less condensation. If it gets too cold take it for a Wednesday joy ride.

Sport · **Posted:** Thu Aug 10, 2006 9:34 am

I had to leave the jeep at the airport for a week and everything was just fine. The only thing I did was find a nice shady spot in the parking garage to keep it away from the sun. I don't like the thought of my paint being subjected to that not to mention the interior.

Se7enLC · **Posted:** Thu Aug 10, 2006 9:48 am

MAYBE a sunshield or car cover to keep the dash from discoloring (and to keep tree droppings/etc off it). As somebody else said, though, it's no different than driving it every day, since it'll be outside at home or at work anyway.

Other than that, I don't see why you should do anything different. you're not leaving it for 6 months, you're just not driving it as often. It's not like a motorcycle where if you leave it unattended for 6 months without planning for it you'll seize up the engine.

I've left my jeep for a week at a time before when I was travelling for work, I didn't even unplug the GPS antenna (powered by the cigarette lighter even when the ignition is off). It was a low draw and didn't make a dent in the battery charge.

chefdab · **Posted:** Thu Aug 10, 2006 2:17 pm

What about mid-term parking? Now I drive the Wrangler every day and leave the Liberty at home for my wife. She works from home so she only drives once every two to three weeks to run errands. Just before she took it over, I had an oil change, transmission flush and fill and changed the spark plugs. She put a sunshade in it to protect the dash. I plan to get a new battery before this winter hits. Is there anything else I should do? Like I said it will sit for a couple weeks at a time between uses.

Jeep Dawg · **Posted:** Sat Aug 12, 2006 7:54 am

Kool guys.
Thanks for the info and help.

I am driving the KJ on the weekends.
I did not think of th syn oil. That is a good idea.
I was going from 2 oil changes a month down to driving only 60 miles on the weekend. I hear the KJ calling me to drive it insted of the work van.

I am going to change the battery, trans fluids and all that nice crap before the winter. Make sure that the jeep will start in the winter, because it will be sitting untouched all week.

I hope the jeep still keeps going even thoe I am not driving it much any more.

Marlon_JBT · **Posted:** Sat Aug 12, 2006 10:40 am

Jeep Dawg wrote:

Kool guys.
Thanks for the info and help.

I am driving the KJ on the weekends.
I did not think of th syn oil. That is a good idea.
I was going from 2 oil changes a month down to driving only 60 miles on the weekend. I hear the KJ calling me to drive it insted of the work van.

I am going to change the battery, trans fluids and all that nice crap before the winter. Make sure that the jeep will start in the winter, because it will be sitting untouched all week.

I hope the jeep still keeps going even thoe I am not driving it much any more.

I leave my Jeep sitting out in the student parking lot all week. I do absolutely nothing to it, not even synthetic oil. It never seemed to have a problem with me.

I drive it on weekends, that's about it. I don't need to drive to work as I work on campus!

Myke · **Posted:** Sat Aug 12, 2006 11:03 am

jason thompson wrote:

I have been in that situation for 10 years and 3 vehicals and what I did was nothing
dont bother to cover it because the sun and rain is the same at your house and at work and at my house
yes I only use syn. oil and change it every 3K some times that may be 6 month and some times that may be 2 months (I drive alot around the jambo work season) the thing that I have found and dont know why ,I do know that it depends on where you live, my tire seem to "dry rot" faster than any body who drives there rig daily or more than I drive mine I get no more than 3 years befor the tread cracks at the side wall and that can make for a big boom
so just park it and wach the tires I dont keep up with the psi if it looks loe I check it and add as needed

I may be an idiot for doing it this wa but if I aint broke I dont fix it

Leaving the tires on a car will cause them to dry rot, it is suggested to take off the rims/tires or in your case you could just lift the kj and put it on jackstands if u have a garage. Takes all of 20mins to put it on 4 jack stands.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Sat Aug 12, 2006 2:59 pm

Marlon_JBT wrote:

Jeep Dawg wrote:

Kool guys.
Thanks for the info and help.

I am driving the KJ on the weekends.
I did not think of th syn oil. That is a good idea.
I was going from 2 oil changes a month down to driving only 60 miles on the weekend. I hear the KJ calling me to drive it insted of the work van.

I am going to change the battery, trans fluids and all that nice crap before the winter. Make sure that the jeep will start in the winter, because it will be sitting untouched all week.

I hope the jeep still keeps going even thoe I am not driving it much any more.

I leave my Jeep sitting out in the student parking lot all week. I do absolutely nothing to it, not even synthetic oil. It never seemed to have a problem with me.

I drive it on weekends, that's about it. I don't need to drive to work as I work on campus!

Ill be doing the same thing this fall. I cannot wait to see how long it takes to get to the 3k oil change. The longest its taken me so far is 6 months.

FreedomKJ · **Posted:** Sun Aug 13, 2006 3:04 pm

Sorry for the offtopic, but Myke, did you get a new KJ yet?

long term parking for my KJ question

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