14Q5

I recently had to leave the country for work on very short notice and now have found out I will not be returning home for 8 to 20 weeks. I had my Q5 serviced about two weeks prior to leaving.

It will be parked for the duration of my assignment. I believe with new vehicles the everything should be fine to sit for this period on time.

Has anyone left their Q sitting for a long period of time, were there any issues to deal with when getting back? (besides the standard battery boost it may need).

Thanks.

Hockeymonkey

I have had cars sitting for 5 months. Outside of a battery tender so you don't lose your settings and the battery slowly drains you should be ok. I have heard of people driving up on those special tracks so the tires don't get a flat spot.
I also have had friends drain the oil. I did neither and the car seemed ok (I often store my A4 cab for the winter). I have not had issues but being cautious wont hurt.

Xenonista

How do you connect a tender to the Q5? The jump start terminals?

NorthValley

Not on a Q5 but on another car I had I put the car up on 4 jack stands and removed the wheels while I was out of the country for 6 months. When I came back, put on wheels, charged the battery and off she went. I also have heard of draining oil etc but I didn't bother.

Redd

Had mine laid up for most of three months, and the battery was stone cold dead. When an AGM battery goes that dead, it needs replacement--not just a jump start.

So I would say you very much want to put a battery tender on it (one that has an "AGM" setting) or, VW/Audi make a small solar maintainer that you can hang from the mirror (if that faces the sun) that plugs into the OBD port to keep the battery up. This is just a maintainer, to offset the normal daily losses, not a "charger".

You can also pick up a larger (i.e. 5W or 10W) solar panel with an inexpensive charge controller and plug it in the same way. Or to the jump start terminals, or the battery terminals. Presumably the OBD and jump terminals both go through the power management chip and are the better way to go.

Or, you could simply disconnect the battery and let it sit while you are gone. Left all by itself, an AGM battery will be happy for six months. You'll just need to use the key, then drop the back seat, then clamber over to the manual release conveniently hidden by the bottom of the lift gate, when you want to get back in and reconnect the battery. (Which may require a computer reset, since the car will know there was "no" battery. Dunno.)

14Q5

So i had someone go disconnect they battery and they said the alarm went off. They were able to silence it and disconnect the battery. I wont be back from another two months so i hope there are no issues reconnecting the battery and starting the car.

Thanks for the advice.

Dalancroft

Agree with Redd -- battery tender = great piece of equipment for just such occasions. I used to own a Mazda Miata that I only drove when the weather was decent, and always kept it topped off. Griot's has an excellent one, just do your research. And yes, it hooks up to the battery terminals which with the Audi may be a bit of a PITA.

tisi_03

100% agree with a battery tender. I use them for all sizes of AGM batteries. I'd use the jumper terminals on the Q5 though. Don't try to rig something to use the ring terminals, use the large alligator clips. The direct battery hookup is a PITA and tight tolerances to run the wires, let alone putting everything back on top of it.