I have read here and elsewhere that short journeys are bad for modern cars, so I would be interested to read people's views regarding the following...
During the day a local garage has its cars on display on the forecourt. Then at night each one is driven to an secure area round the back of the showroom. The following morning each car is driven round to the forecourt again. This continues every day until each car is eventually sold.
I would imagine that this isn't doing the cars any good and should I think twice about buying a car that has been treated in this way?
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A local dealer near me does exactly the same thing. I dread to think of the damage it does to sophisticated management systems, internal engine wear, exhaust etc etc. Journeys of this ridiculously short length can do serious damage over time. Only buy from there if you know the car hasn't been sitting there for months and months.
I bought my first car from this dealer. Luckily it was an old Polo with a simple engine and had been there only a few weeks. Nevertheless, the battery was dead the morning after I took delivery!! Enough said?!
Regards
Rob E
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For the last 30 years i have done short 5 mile or less journeys to work and while i agree its not best for the engine frankly i don't care. The car is a means of transport a tool ,a convenience, to be used as such. Also i can add during no time have i sufered battery or engine failure, although being an electrician i am sympathetic to the battery and not just in the winter.
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It's journeys of less than 2 or 3 miles that really do the wear. After 5 miles most temp gauges will be at normal, and although the engine not fully warmed up, it'll be warm enough to evade any real damage.
Regards
Rob E
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I believe it is true that some, but not all, of the detrimental effects of short journeys can be mitigated by the occasional good hot run. Obviously if the wear has occured it cannot be undone, but some of the corrosive elements condensed in the oil will evaporate when hot.
Also any tendency to glazing of the bores can be reversed. Also perhaps a good burn out will clear out the cat?
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This is something that worries me about my part time job. I do pizza delivery, journeys of around 5 miles round trip typically. i leave the engine running for the 2 mins while I deliver the pizza.
Am I causing damage bearing in mind that the engine is fairly warm throughout the 8 hour shift? The car does longer journeys apart from this work.
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Dave,
No need to worry. If the car is used regularly (which yours is) then no problem at all. Plus, an engine takes a long time to cool, so gaps of a few hours will mean there's still residual heat.
Real problems are with those cars that constantly do short runs and only very rarely do longer runs, such as my Mum's car!! Nevertheless, it seems to stand up to this punishing regime, and feels re-born after the occasional blast!! It's a 96N Peugeot 106, with only 14000 miles (5000 miles covered over the last 3 years).... they're very hardy obviously!!
Regards
Rob E
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Dave:
Why leave the engine running?
Andy
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Force of habit after starting problems with the Polo and worry about starting the engine 40 times as opposed to 20 in a typical night.
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I knew someone who used to deliver pizzas (and, later on, Chinese) using his own car.
I fitted a replacement starter motor to each of the cars he used for this work !!!
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Thought so. I try to take the longer journeys and leave the engine running because well paid as the job is (comparitively) I can't afford a starter motor.
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