I thought I once read that short trips are more wear and tear on your engine.

My commute to work is only 0.9 miles. That means the temp gauge hasn't even began to lift off the floor by the time I'm shutting her back down.

Is this bad for my vehicle? I drive very gently when the car is cold. Even on longer trips, I baby it until the engine is at operating temperature.

Weekends are different. I may drive an hour or two on a weekend night. Does this make up for it?

Thanks.

 

I must ask, why do you drive a 0.9 mile trip?

I'm not entirely sure that's really worse than driving longer trips, as you'll be doing the cold starts anyway irregardless of the length of the trip.

I've heard somewhere that each cold start stresses the engine as much as driving several hundred miles with a warm engine, or something, so minimizing them would be ideal.

 

ive heard a few times that its bad...but i cant confirm.

however if it is bad, i dont think driving it an extended period of time later balances the short trips.

 

I only drive so that, on my lunch breaks, I can zip out into town and run errands, etc. Walking a mile to get your car kills a nice chunk of your lunch hour.

Plus, it's wicked cold out right now.

Summertime lends itself to a nice bike ride.

 

Short trips are indeed very hard on a car. Accumulated fuel and vapour in the crankcase never gets a chance to evaporate and can contaminate the oil. The exhaust system may corrode from the inside out due to accumulated moisture. You may wish to follow the sever service recommendations in the owners manual.

 

A big +1 on Mikey's comments

This seems to be especially true on our diesels with EGR valves sticking through the sooty deposits etc not getting burned off, this following through to inlet manifolds, some getting seriously choked up, DPF problems and more.

 

KerrrChing! 4 miles commumute for me at 19 mpg,

That's bad on the pocket! not sure about the Jag

 

Keep in mind also that as the motor warms up, things expand at different rates and the motor was built around having all parts at some temperature. When the motor is cold, the tolerances of the engine are different and it can affect how things move inside the engine. Some items may end up with smaller clearances (which worst case could result in restricted oil movement, say on your connecting rod connections to your crankshaft) or with excessive clearances (valve guides in the head where you have aluminum heads and steel guides).

Please keep in mind that these tolerances were taken somewhat into account as the manufacturer knows no car is fired up and maintained running until it is sent to the junkyard. SO, there is some give here.

I don't think you are necessarily hurting the car doing the daily commutes as long as you are getting out and giving the car a good run on the weekends. This will help remove any moisture that may be building up during the week. But, at the same time, you are not doing the car any good either.

 

As an Alfa owner..we have a system to compensate for this problem..it is called an ITALIAN TUNE-UP, WHERE YOU GET THE CAR OUT ON A NICE DAY AND DRIVE IT FAST FOR A RELATIVE LONG TIME. This will get the car up to operating temperatures, and blow out the c%*p out of the engine. As our spyder is an 86, and still runs like new, (my wife thinks with the roof down, even better) we are positive that it works. Just a thought, not a scientific proof.

 

Pretty much. Especially if the engine gets good and warm on the highway.

It boils off the accumulated condensation in the oil.

If your commute is 0.9 miles then so be it. You didn't buy it to park it. Although letting it warm up to the quarter mark couldn't hurt. Also more frequent oil changes.

 

The main problem you will have is carbon build up, which will block oil port holes through including the con rods. Using it at short distances once in a while is ok but all the time will definately shorten engine life.