Not Driving Much

[Ranger_Vet68]

Just need some suggestions here. I don't get out much to drive my '03 Z4 3.0i. So what I do is once or twice a week I just fire up the car and keep it running for a bit and then shut it down. Yes, granted it needs to be driven for the sake of the tires......Any suggestions on what I could do more??

Thank You.

[DEG]

"More" would be to hook it up to a battery tender, that way you don't have to worry about firing it up every few days. I have the tender from BMW...works great and keeps my battery fresh.

[pungo]

You're be better off not starting it up 1-2 times a week and let it idle without driving it since you're just building up carbon in the combustion chamber and valves. You'd be better off taking it out for a drive once a month. And yes, keep a battery maintainer on it.

[wdb]

Originally Posted by pungo

You're be better off not starting it up 1-2 times a week and let it idle without driving it since you're just building up carbon in the combustion chamber and valves. You'd be better off taking it out for a drive once a month. And yes, keep a battery maintainer on it.

^^^^^ This. Battery tender + occasional drive; I'd add that the drive should be at least 30 minutes to ensure that the exhaust system blows all of the moisture out and that all of the systems get a chance to fully warm up.

Mine probably won't see a 30 minute drive for a couple of months due to salt on the roads, so I filled it up with non-ethanol gas plus a bottle of stabilizer just before parking it. That worked fine for me last year and I'm hopeful it will work again this year.

[Ranger_Vet68]

Great. Thank you all for the info.