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Good evening everyone!

My question involves leaving my '99 STS & '04 Deville for 30 days unattended. Plan to leave for a month in Florida driving a rental, dare I say, minivan... UGH! I feel I should unhook the batteries, rather than leave them without any charging. Please advise. Do I need to add fuel stabilizer? I thought I would leave the tanks more empty than full and fill them when I return.

Thanks for your advice,

Ohio Jim

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30 days. I say walk away and enjoy yourself. I wouldnt worry about anything for a second. Hope this helps

GM FAN FOREVER

Nice, clean, luxury= fine automobile

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Good evening everyone!

My question involves leaving my '99 STS & '04 Deville for 30 days unattended. Plan to leave for a month in Florida driving a rental, dare I say, minivan... UGH! I feel I should unhook the batteries, rather than leave them without any charging. Please advise. Do I need to add fuel stabilizer? I thought I would leave the tanks more empty than full and fill them when I return.

Thanks for your advice,

Ohio Jim

I would not worry about the fuel just for 30 days... it should be fine.

I would either disconnect the batteries or get a "Battery Tender"

http://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SE-1-12S-CA-Automatic-Onboard-Battery/dp/B0000AXTUY/ref=sr_1_13?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1404957616&sr=1-13&keywords=battery+tenders

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really? for 30 days. I have never had a problem yet with any of my cars. My Deville has been parked for the last 2 months and fired right up.

To each its own but I would not think anything of it unless you know you have a battery drain problem.

Everybody has their own opinion. what you do is ultimately what will make you feel comfortable.

The only thing I worry about when I leave my caddys is what I have to drive when I am not driving them lol

GM FAN FOREVER

Nice, clean, luxury= fine automobile

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really? for 30 days. I have never had a problem yet with any of my cars. My Deville has been parked for the last 2 months and fired right up.

To each its own but I would not think anything of it unless you know you have a battery drain problem.

Everybody has their own opinion. what you do is ultimately what will make you feel comfortable.

The only thing I worry about when I leave my caddys is what I have to drive when I am not driving them lol

If mine sits for more than a week... the battery may or may not start it.

Don't ask me how I know that... LOL

But, I have had other cars that would sit for weeks at a time and fired right up... but this one won't do that.

That was why I mentioned the battery tender,

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I keep a tender on my Seville, only in the winter because as soon as winter is smelled I park it lol.

I have 3 others that I never use a tender on. I do keep multiple trickle chargers just in case though.

I also only run the largest delco battery allowed on all of my vehicles.

GM FAN FOREVER

Nice, clean, luxury= fine automobile

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I would just disconnect the negative battery cables. The owner's manuals state that if you don't plan on driving the cars for two weeks or more to disconnect the negative battery cable. No need for fuel stabilizer for just one month - cars will sit on the lot for longer than that.

Kevin
'93 Fleetwood Brougham
'05 Deville
'04 Deville
2013 Silverado Z71

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I would disconnect the ground cable of the battery if the car is to be left over two weeks. That's what my 1997 owners' manual said to do.

As a long-time motorcyclist, I would say that gasoline stabilizer is used only for storing for over six months. Since your 1999 Cadillac uses DFI and has a sealed gas tank, you probably don't need stabilizer at all.

CTS-V_LateralGs_6-2018_tiny.jpg
-- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes
-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data
-- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC
Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars.

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Everyone!

Thanks for all the info and opinions and practices! I will disconnect the Negative cables and roll on out of here....

rockfangd,

Yah, I agree.. Driving a 2014 Town and Country. Pretty well equipped. AND IT'S A RENTAL!! lol

See ya' all in August!

Ohio Jim

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I will be the first to tell you that they usually shift pretty harsh. Especially 1-2 and 2-3. I talked to chrysler about it and they state it has to do with adaptive shifting but for some reason they didnt get it right. I wonder why chryslers are common to trannys lol

GM FAN FOREVER

Nice, clean, luxury= fine automobile

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I was surprised no one suggested "storage mode" or did that option disappear in the late 90's. Its an option off the DIC menu.

I had no idea that existed. Tell me more.

Kevin
'93 Fleetwood Brougham
'05 Deville
'04 Deville
2013 Silverado Z71

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It is accesed through the diagnostic mode. I use it only for long term storage though. All it does is keep any accessory from powering up when the mode is active. I believe my 01 eldo has it but it is the old setup.

I use it every year on my seville when I store it for the winter.

If you have an owners manual it will explain about it and how to enter it.

I did not mention this feature because I dont believe either one of your caddys had it.

GM FAN FOREVER

Nice, clean, luxury= fine automobile

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From the 1997 FSM, page 8D-4:

Storage Mode

Storage Mode allows the vehicle to be stored for long periods of time without disconnecting the battery. The customer can select this mode through the DIC. The PZM disables both the low and high power relays 20 minutes after the mode is selected. Storage Mode can only be exited by turning the ignition switch from the LOCK position. None of the RFA functions are available in Storage Mode.

The customization options are in the owner's manual for each model.

CTS-V_LateralGs_6-2018_tiny.jpg
-- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes
-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data
-- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC
Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars.

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I wonder if they kept the feature after

1997 seville

1999 Deville

2002 eldorado.

Those 3 models either changed drastically or were deleted after these years

GM FAN FOREVER

Nice, clean, luxury= fine automobile

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I don't see a Storage Mode in the 2011 CTS-V owner's manual. I suspect that the sleep mode that the later model BCM/PZM enters after an hour or two has low enough battery drain so that an additional storage mode isn't necessary. The 1990's module system drew 0.05 Amps (1/20th of 1 Amp) in sleep mode, which can add up over a long time. But with current microprocessor technology there is no reason to draw anywhere near that much for a keep-alive processor and a passive sensor for door switches and such - something like a cell phone draw, including keeping the RFA receiver working. If you don't turn on the display of a cell phone, have the GPS and WiFi off, and it isn't running anything in the background, it can go a couple of days or more on the tiny cell phone battery. My old Treo 750 of yore, a better model for an RFA receiver and a keep-alive processor, could go for a week that way and still take and make calls.

CTS-V_LateralGs_6-2018_tiny.jpg
-- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes
-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data
-- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC
Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars.

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  • 4 weeks later...

WOW! You guys are amazing! I have never heard of these Storage and Sleep modes! I ended up disconnecting the negative battery cables in both cars. Everything worked fine on Saturday. Both cars started right up!

Now about that six speed and variable valve timing and ECON mode on that Chrysler T & C! Is that what the world is coming to? Nice van, however, when you are used to the Northstar power and performance, it is a shock to have to wait for all the systems to comply so you can pass someone! It appears when you are doing eighty and you want to do eighty-two, you have to wait forever for a response from the power train! I was floored by the lack of response on that power train! I think there has to be a cable sent to the boiler for more steam, then a cable to the variable valve timing, then someone has to go to the transmission for permission to drop down a couple of gears! I was laughing quite a bit during the 20 plus hours of driving each way! Sometime I would tap the cruise up a few mph just to see how long it would take for a reaction... Tell me Cadillac, the standard of the world will NEVER go that route...! lol

Ohio Jim

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hate to say it but wouldnt be surprised. Fords are the same way now also. You say giddyup, it says when I feel like it lol.

Glad all went well though

GM FAN FOREVER

Nice, clean, luxury= fine automobile

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hate to say it but wouldnt be surprised. Fords are the same way now also. You say giddyup, it says when I feel like it lol.

Glad all went well though

I drove a few new cars while I was looking for the 2011 Platinum.

I felt the same way about some of them... LOL

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