Storing my 2011 dodge ram.

[fourpoint7]

Hi everyone. I am new to this site so please bare with me. I recently purchased a 2011 dodge ram 4.7 V-8. I want to put my truck away (Store it) for winter. I want to keep it from the salt here in Indiana. I have my old truck I drive for winter- (1995 dodge ram.) My truck is stored outside with a truck cover over it. Should I take out the battery and trickle charge it over the winter? Or leave the battery in and start the truck every week? And if I do start it every week, will moisture mess up my engine? Any advice would be very appreciated.

 

[PolarisCobra]

No problem starting it up, but be sure to run it for at least 15 minutes, to get everything warm, and drive out moisture. Depending on where you store it, your biggest risk is mice getting into it and chewing things up. Parking it 'out back' someplace, on grass is a recipe for trouble. Moth balls and dryer sheets can help. Put a few traps around to see if there is any activity.

Battery in or out won't hurt the truck as much as mice will.

 

[fourpoint7]

Thanks PC. I didn't know that. I am pulling out my mice ray-guns now-lol.
Moth balls, dryer sheets and 100 mouse traps here I come.

 

[tbone63]

I put out mouse poison blocks in my garage along the perimeter, in the engine compartment, on my tractor deck, etc. every year. And every year I see a bit of chewing on them and no mice damage anywhere, ever.

 

[PolarisCobra]

Yes the poison blocks are great, unless you have pets (or little kids). Then you have to be really careful where you put them.

 

[fourpoint7]

Thanks tbone. I really didn't think about all the rodents and more about the truck...engine, battery, ect, ect. Would putting mothballs inside the cab be ok? (in a shallow plastic tray.) Or would the smell linger and stay in the cab? Thanks for all the advice.

 

[PolarisCobra]

Yes the smell will linger for a little while. Do some searching on ways to keep mice out of things, the classic car guys have some tricks.

 

[fourpoint7]

Ty.

 

[CostaRam]

I did this for 2 years and every time i woke my truck up i had serious problems with it.
Ghost errors everywhere who also rendered unusable the truck and after some weeks slowly they disapeared by it self.

It may be the problem that i am not around and cannot run the engine / drive it every now and then AND that i disconnected the battery during this 6 months.
It may be that my RAM is just a lemon with a electrical problem what shows up only mafter long time without battery, who knows...

I suggest you to staore it with a trickle charger attached to have the battery connected and always topped up.

Mica and other animals (ants for example) can be a big PITA, so you should take precautions to eliminate them before they do damage.

Chris

 

[LeesEvoX]

I did this for 2 years and every time i woke my truck up i had serious problems with it.
Ghost errors everywhere who also rendered unusable the truck and after some weeks slowly they disapeared by it self.

It may be the problem that i am not around and cannot run the engine / drive it every now and then AND that i disconnected the battery during this 6 months.
It may be that my RAM is just a lemon with a electrical problem what shows up only mafter long time without battery, who knows...

I suggest you to staore it with a trickle charger attached to have the battery connected and always topped up.

Mica and other animals (ants for example) can be a big PITA, so you should take precautions to eliminate them before they do damage.

Chris

The ECU will always pull a small current from the battery. just to keep it idle. If you disconnect the battery it will completely drain all power. So when you start it up. You will throw codes for low system voltage, and God knows what sensors, which the ECU wouldn't have had access to.

Best bet. As you said. Is leave the truck on a slow charger, should start up fine. Oh. maybe some fuel treatment also lol

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[fourpoint7]

Wow, sounds like it's alot of trouble to just store a vehicle. I was just thinking awhile ago about stabilizer for the fuel. Sounds like I should just start my truck once a week and drive it for 10 minutes but then I will be subjecting it to the salt on the roads. The truck will only be sitting for 5 months from- December to April.

 

[Wild one]

The ECU will always pull a small current from the battery. just to keep it idle. If you disconnect the battery it will completely drain all power. So when you start it up. You will throw codes for low system voltage, and God knows what sensors, which the ECU wouldn't have had access to.

Best bet. As you said. Is leave the truck on a slow charger, should start up fine. Oh. maybe some fuel treatment also lol

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My truck sits every winter with the battery disconnected,never had any codes or issues when I start it a couple months later.If you have issues when you start it after a couple months,i'd think there's an underlying problem somewhere.

 

[LeesEvoX]

My truck sits every winter with the battery disconnected,never had any codes or issues when I start it a couple months later.If you have issues when you start it after a couple months,i'd think there's an underlying problem somewhere.

Lol. Man. When I disconnected my battery to clean the throttle body. And then decided to change brake fluid. my truck threw a code for the low system voltage. And that was only after a couple hours haha.

Both battery and alternator in good condition.

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[fourpoint7]

The code corrected itself after u drove it awhile? Most of the time the vehicle will correct itself after u drive it awhile.

 

[LeesEvoX]

The code corrected itself after u drove it awhile? Most of the time the vehicle will correct itself after u drive it awhile.

I just disconnected the battery again to clear the code and it never came back haha. If I know a code is not serious, and I can address it. I wmget rid if it. Not gonna wait for the ECU to get its **** together.

My truck also has 135k miles on it, so she can get a lil grumpy sometimes

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[BWL]

My new truck hasn't been on the road in over 6 months. Start it once a month and roll it forward and back a few times. Threw a charger on the battery about a month ago. Fuel stabilizer and rodent control are the 2 things I worry about most.

 

[Wild one]

Lol. Man. When I disconnected my battery to clean the throttle body. And then decided to change brake fluid. my truck threw a code for the low system voltage. And that was only after a couple hours haha.

Both battery and alternator in good condition.

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I'd guess that was a glitch with your truck ,if you re-disconnected the battery again to clear the code,and didn't get the same code.Both of my last 2 Rams have sat all winter with the battery out of them,and neither have thrown any codes for low system voltage

 

[fourpoint7]

Thanks for the input BWL and wild one. Ya I guess it all depends on ur vehicle for the codes to pop up when u disconnect the battery. First time I started my 11/ram after I had it sitting since the middle of November and it fired up no problem. I was a little nervous at first, thought I would have to pull out the charger but nope it's running now. Just so everyone knows, I never disconnected the battery so I think I'm just going to leave the battery connected and start the truck up once a month. It's 50 degrees here in NorthWest Indiana so I'm setting mouse traps and laying out mothballs in small plastic trays. I had thought of a great idea. I occasionally go deer hunting so I got a brainstorm. I pulled out some red fox ***** and hung a few cotton drag pads under my frame. Mice don't like foxes. Hopefully that will keep the meeses from making a home under my truck. Thanks everyone for all ur help.

 

[tbone63]

I put the poison blocks behind stuff along the perimiter of the garage so the dog can't get to them. That's where the mice travel. Common sense stuff.

Trickle charger FTW.

Sea Foam is an excellent fuel stabilizer. I put it in the gas cans the minute I fill them up.

Winter storage is not a big deal at all. Cars that sit for years is the real problem.

 

[fourpoint7]

I put 5 mouse traps under my truck. One trap behind each wheel. Then put fox ***** on 6 cotton pads, spaced them throughout under my truck and twist tied them to the truck. Fox eat mice, I use it to deer hunt as a cover scent.