Rusty coolant and dead battery

You have several things going on here. 1. Rust in coolant (likely its a 4.0 or four cyl) A while back, the epa rules became so stringent about mpg that most better iron block engines had to be made thinner and from an alloy that has less zinc in it. Zinc prevents internal rust and acts like a binding agent preventing cracks from normal expansion and contraction. Flush radiator and block as well as you can and pray that larger chunk style particles don't plug up radiator. 2.Your charging system is able to keep a battery charged during normal driving, done at least once weekly. Sitting unused for long periods, even the simple memory in the radio can eventually kill it. I'd invest in a "battery tender"...Then, the computer will not loose its memory and the battery will stay in good condition. If you jumped a dead battery and got it started, the alternator may have been overtaxed and failed, as it's not designed to re-charge a battery, only to maintain it's state of charge . You need to get the system checked and squared away. 3. You need to determine where coolant is going. If there is nothing leaking externally then it's being lost inside the engine. Small leaks can evaporate on hot engine parts and not reach the ground...check hot, cold, with cap on, with cap off (don't open hot though) Rusty coolant points to possibility of insufficient antifreeze...if stored during colder months, this can cause cracks in block and cylinder head. Check engine oil for signs of coolant intrusion (coffee milkshake like residue under fill cap, white smoke from tailpipe are two symptoms) As far as being related, it all goes to kind of storage and maintenence it's getting. You can run these things 'till the body falls off if you take care of them.