jphilsousa
Active member
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2010
- Posts
- 44
Still a few months away from buying a DP, but I'm trying to get my ducks in a row on a buying a tow vehicle. I'm kinda liking the size and prices on 7 or 8 year old Ford Fusions and Chevy Cruzes.
Remco's site, for the Cruze, says "When towing for an extended period of time, start the vehicle as often as possible and allow it to run for five minutes to prevent battery drain." Then goes on to say to follow owner's manual. The owner's manual says to pull 4 fuses but nothing about starting the vehicle.
This leads me to several questions which I'm sure that those that are experienced in the subject can answer:
1. If all 4 fuses are pulled, wouldn't the drain on the battery be nil, except for the braking system (Am planning on a Brake Buddy or RVI type system)? So there should be no need for auxiliary charging of the battery, right? A fully charged battery would be enough for running the braking system for a day or 2?
2.The fuses are labeled "Ignition/Electronic Key System", "Steering Column Lock", and 2 that say "Body Control Module". The one that says "Cigarette Lighter" should still be live and therefore available to the braking system?
3.The manual shows that the fuses are located right under a door on the dash so should be easy to get to. I have read here that there are switches available for a single fuse to keep from having to remove it but is there such a thing as a device for 4 fuses? Seems like 4 switches would be a little ungainly.
It seemed like I had a couple of other questions when going through this but they don't come to mind. I'll let you folks answer the first couple, if you will, and I'm sure I'll have followups to ask.
Remco's site, for the Cruze, says "When towing for an extended period of time, start the vehicle as often as possible and allow it to run for five minutes to prevent battery drain." Then goes on to say to follow owner's manual. The owner's manual says to pull 4 fuses but nothing about starting the vehicle.
This leads me to several questions which I'm sure that those that are experienced in the subject can answer:
1. If all 4 fuses are pulled, wouldn't the drain on the battery be nil, except for the braking system (Am planning on a Brake Buddy or RVI type system)? So there should be no need for auxiliary charging of the battery, right? A fully charged battery would be enough for running the braking system for a day or 2?
2.The fuses are labeled "Ignition/Electronic Key System", "Steering Column Lock", and 2 that say "Body Control Module". The one that says "Cigarette Lighter" should still be live and therefore available to the braking system?
3.The manual shows that the fuses are located right under a door on the dash so should be easy to get to. I have read here that there are switches available for a single fuse to keep from having to remove it but is there such a thing as a device for 4 fuses? Seems like 4 switches would be a little ungainly.
It seemed like I had a couple of other questions when going through this but they don't come to mind. I'll let you folks answer the first couple, if you will, and I'm sure I'll have followups to ask.