I often hear people say that short journeys are bad for car.
What is the reason behind it? What distance is considered short?
Thanx
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A short journey is when the oil and water do not get up to normal operating temperatures or when the battery is not topped up to full charge after a start.
Condensation/mayonnaise tends to occur during short journeys and this blocks vents etc.
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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Also, it takes about ten minutes for the Catalytic Converter or Converters to be fully warmed up, so don't use the GPS Navigation System, go the long way round! :)
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I know it sounds lazy but I used my car to go to work which was less than 5 minutes away but being a computer technician I used the car to trasport loads of heavy equipment around the place. Anyways, I found that moisture built up in the exhaust caused by condensation of the hot gases meeting the cold metal and corroded the exhaust from the inside. After getting through two exhausts in just over 14 months, I made sure that after a couple of short journeys I drove the car for about 10 miles to get everything warm and all moisture out of the system.
Have now moved on from that job and am sitting in traffic on the M25 for over 40 minutes every morning and evening!!
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Yeah short journeys will exhausts, my dad was forever changing them on his Punto. My Fiesta is running so much better now we do 20 miles a day in it. Starts much better in the morning too. At one point I was doing 10 miles a week in the car, this caused the oil to turn to sludge and it took a while to turn over in the mornings because the battery had little charge, now it starts instantly.
I will probably get an 88 degree thermostat fitted just to make sure its heating up properly :).
The other issue is short city journeys, which is what I use my car for, this wrecks everything. Having said that my dads Escort which has done 96k is still on the original clutch and it is showing no signs of slipping, yet its done at least 50,000 pure city miles.
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"I will probably get an 88 degree thermostat fitted just to make sure its heating up properly :)."
I`m not taking the bait today :)
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Its a reincarnated Lada man,there is a room where they keep them and let one out occasionally to wind us up.
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Diesel cars stand short journeys far better than petrol.
Many petrol efi systems overfuel when engine is cold and nest petrol collects in inlet manifold. Hence car parking/moving parked cars when cold means restarting problems for many.. depends on the system. Rover 820 was bad. BMW E30 (320i) and E36 (318/316) seemed unaffected..
SWBO regularly detstroyed petrol engines and exhausts due to short journeys less than 1.5 miles... diesel lasts much better...engines and exhausts. (not scientific .. over 25 years but designs have improved a lot)
madf
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Diesel cars stand short journeys far better than petrol. Many petrol efi systems overfuel when engine is cold and nest petrol collects in inlet manifold. Hence car parking/moving parked cars when cold means restarting problems for many.. depends on the system. Rover 820 was bad. BMW E30 (320i) and E36 (318/316) seemed unaffected.. SWBO regularly detstroyed petrol engines and exhausts due to short journeys less than 1.5 miles... diesel lasts much better...engines and exhausts. (not scientific .. over 25 years but designs have improved a lot) madf
This is generally better since the advent of Lambda probes. '80's Fi cars used to overfuel like mad to make them run well when cold. The Lambda feedback limits this, although the Lambda is ignored at startup until certain conditions are met - which as you've observed, probably varies by manufacturur.
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Starting from cold accounts for up to 80% of engine wear owing to unburnt fuel droplets washing oil from the cylinder walls. So for a given odometer reading the engine of a car which hasn't had a lot of short journeys will be in better condition.
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L\'escargot.
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I agree. The other issue with lots of cold starts is that it takes a few seconds for oil pressure to build up after a cold start which means the top end of the engine is only lubricated by whatever oil remains on the components from the last run. More cold starts for a given mileage = more top end wear.
Modern low viscosity oils have improved things, but those first few minutes of running are where most engine wear occurs. Certainly I know of a Peugeot 306 XSi 8 valve which has done 200,000 hard driven miles on its original engine and still goes well and sounds as sweet as anything. The reason? Proper servicing and the fact it's never done a journey below about 25 miles in its life. Literally.
Cheers
DP
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That 306 XSI has the bullet proof XU10J2 lump, I had this same lump in my 405 & stuck 70K miles on it over 5 years, apart from servicing, the odd oil leak plus needing a starter & alternator replacing around the 100K miles mark the lump was fine & I managed to get around 27mpg out of it too.
June 1995 onwards XU10J2's are even better with the ECU & cylinder head modifications.
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