Storing my Solara for the winter

[coal miner]

I went to Florida for the winter & put my 06 solara in a good garage. I didn't disconect the battery & it sat there for 6 months. In reading the owners manual page 117 down at the very bottom it said to leave the headlite switch on automatic when storing your car for a week or more. Ah Las, the car did start but the battery was very weak. But it did start. I mentioned this in a previous thread & that person said the headlight switch should be put in off position. But in my 06 owners manual it said leave it on automatic? Any input on this? Just fire away. I would have loved to put one of those small battery "TENDERS" on the battery but my garage had no electricity. The battery tender is just the ticket when storing your car for a long time. Keeps the battery as fresh as a daisy and without trickle charging it to death either.
All comments welcome? What does your owners manual say about this headlite switch? Its good to be back in Jersey again. Coal Miner

[TacomaTim]

Hello. When we store our 2000 Solara Convertible in cold storage we disconnect the battery. In this case it doesn't matter what position any switch is in as there is no current draw from anything. You'll have to reprogram the radio and clock but in my eyes this is the best way to store it. Welcome back to the north

Tim

[coal miner]

Thanks for the input. The manual days never disconnect your battery as it could cause the cars computer to lose many of its functions & even worse change the calibration for your fuel injection. In the manual it says in 3 or 4 differnt places not to disconnect your battery. HuH? Coal miner

[PXLpainter]

Hey Coal Miner -

I call BS on the battery disconnect. Actually, it's good to occasionally disconnect for a 1/2 hour or so at least to reset the ECU (computer) so that it will re-learn your current driving style and adjust for both performance and gas mileage.

I have an aftermarket 3rd party "piggyback" tuner box hooked up, as I also have a tunable SRI (Short Ram Intake) and custom headers/exhaust. It needed custom tuning to run correctly and get the best balance of performance/mileage.

Any time I do something new to my car, I disconnect the battery about an hour and let it reset everything to re-learn how the car is functioning. This would also be wise if you are relocating to a higher elevation for an extended period of time as well.

Just a little insight on that at least. Leaving it off for the winter is probably the best thing you can do for your car.

Cheers,
Jeff