I will not be driving my 2009 TCH for about 6 months, and looking for tips on vehicle preparation. I would fill the fuel tank, and install gas stabilizer, but any other suggestions?

Thanks
Rick

 

Have a friend drive it 20 minutes every week

 

Haroldo is right, have some one drive it for about 20 minutes ever week or two. I've heard of TCH's being parked for 6 months and the hybrid battery surviving, but not everyone is lucky. Toyota doesn't recommend letting the car sit past 3 months.

I've parked mine for a month, and other than the 12Volt battery being low, all was well. I doubt the 12V battery will survive much past a month if it is not disconnected.

 

Thanks for suggestions but the vehicle will not be driven and not licensed so any tips?

Thanks

 

In that case you will want the hybrid battery to be charged as high as reasonably possible. Before you park it, turn off the A/C and drive it, doing a series of light braking slow downs until the battery is showing all but one bar of charge.

IE: speed up at a moderate rate (over 45mph) and slowly brake down to around 20mph, repeat until you have all but one bar of charge showing (preferably all bars, but I image all but one bar showing would be high enough).

Or if you have a long hill (around a mile around a 5% grade) near your house, brake lightly while descending the hill and you might also be at or very near to a full charge at the bottom.

The point is to park the car with the hybrid battery at a full charge, or nearly full charge. This will improve your chances of still having a decent charge when you return after 6 months. FYI, if you just idle the car in park, the hybrid battery will run down to 1 bar before it charges. And it will only charge up to around 3 bars before the engine shuts off. That is why you have to drive it to bring the hybrid battery to a high charge state.

You could disconnect the 12V battery, the self discharge of AGM batteries is low enough that the battery should be fine after 6 months.

I use a battery float charger so I don't have to reset the radio, and clock when I get back. I use this http://www.harborfreight.com/automat...ger-42292.html as it only floats the battery to 13.2V, low enough to prevent any out gassing. Keep in mind a battery tender will not charge a discharged battery, it only puts out a very slight charging current (around 0.1 amp) that tappers off as the voltage approaches 13.2V.

I know the manual says not to use on AGM batteries, but I think they are overstating the risk. AGM batteries like to float at 13.4V, and this charger only floats at 13.2V. So the battery isn't kept at 100% charge. If I disconnect it, it also discharges (slowly over months) and isn't kept at 100% charge. That is better than having it go flat, or heavily discharged if left for only a month or so when left connected to the vehicle. I've used it on mine for several times I've left the TCH parked for 4 or 5 weeks, and always came back to a well charged 12V battery. I just replaced my TCH AGM battery a few months ago, not because I was having any problems, but simply due to the battery being over 7 years old.

 

Op, there have been multiple posts of your nature here and at toyotanation.
I don't think anyone came up with bullet proof recommendation. Best so far is have someone drive the car every month to month and half, to recharge traction battery. 12V is easy, simply install battery minder.
I am not that familiar with TCH electronics, but there is a lot of devices that will stay up if you do not drive that car. Clock, security, ECM, etc. But virtually all of them run off 12V battery as a back up one, so battery minder will take care of that.
Personally, at gun point not to have a buddy or else to show up and drive her for me, I'd have pulled out every fuse for non vital devices. Leave powered only ECM. But one way or another, traction battery will lose most of its charge.
There is likely to be a main fuse, that cuts power off completely, but then you taking major chance on ECM throwing fit after you connect power back on.
No one came up with a method of home charging traction battery yet.