Sitting for a year - any suggestions?

[Philo Beddoe]

I had to relocate to Germany for work and my truck has been sitting for a year. Its been parked in a garage in northern california. I will be headed home in December for a month and hopefully will be driving it and installing gauges...etc. Its a 98.5 24v auto and had no problems before I left. I think there is about 5- 10 gallons of fuel in it.Batteries were fine when I left, I took them out of the truck. Will they be toast or can I top them off with distilled water and put a charge to them?I plan on: Fuel filter, oil/filter change, brake fluid, & coolant flush. So my question is - if this was your truck, how would you go about firing it up and running it? Should I dump the fuel which is in it or put some treatment and fresh fuel in it?lastly, i will head back to Germany for another 7 months before coming back to the US. How should I store this beast correctly next time?

[Mopar1973Man]

Park it. Disconnect the batteries. That's it.When you return you might put a 2 amp charger on the batteries. Check over all the fluids. Then fire it up. As for diesel fuel its not like gasoline where it evaporates. Diesel is a light oil product and shouldn't evaporate. So there is no real need to treat diesel fuel like gasoline which does evaporate out. As for the fluid of the truck if they are not in bad shape or close to due time/miles then there is no need to change a bunch of fluid if stored in a shop/garage. Now if it was outside I would consider the fluid change more so because of moisture collecting in the axle, transmission, etc.

[Philo Beddoe]

Thanks for the advice - Great site.

[flagmanruss]

Just a thought... remember you have preheater grids in the air intake... NO starter fluid unless you disable them. Clean battery terminals & cables well. If batteries charge, you're golden. If need replacing must be in pairs. Smart to disconnect batteries so parasitic drain does not discharge them... that would kill them! Alternatively there's a fuse to pull which prevents this. Watch that the brakes haven't stuck & dragging... mine did parked outside... I'd drive it... check fluids for level & contamination. Best thing is to bring it up to temperature & let the heat displace any moisture.

[98whitelightnin]

I wouldn't change the fluids if your gonna be gone again in a month, wait until you get home for good to change the oil. I was in Japan for the better part of 3 years but my brother and dad drove my trucks once on a while for me.

[tsmithnw]

my truck was dead for 11 months get the clutch and transfer case and about ten other thing fixed. All i did is check everything thing and fired it up. Wait I did change my oil before i parked it there was 8000 or 9000 on it so it was time.

[AH64ID]

Like others have said it's not too big of a deal. Thou I would highly recommenced letting it build oil pressure before letting it fire. I am not sure how to do this on a VP44 truck, so Micheal and company please chime in. On my CR I just disconnect the injector wiring harness and use the starter. My dad had a 3406C in his commercial fishing boat that went 9 months without starting every year, built in 1992 and sold in 2008. It never had an oil related issue (thou it dad have a faulty injection pump that is a different story). Each year before firing it he would put the injection pump to 0 fuel, and turn it over until it built oil pressure. Then he adjusted the injection pump back to normal idle fuel, and it fired instantly, every time!As far as changing the oil, it all depends. Was the oil new when you parked it? I personally believe in only parking things for extended periods with clean oil. If the oil was new then you should be fine to drive it for a month and park it for 7 more. If it was old oil to start with I would dump it before your fire it up.

[Mopar1973Man]

Thou I would highly recommenced letting it build oil pressure before letting it fire

Really simple just pull the fuel pump relay out and the VP44 will not fire.

Notes

This will set a P1689 code. So have a code reader handy to reset the code.