Going to be moving soon and work will be a little closer to home(read 3 miles one way). I was wondering would I need to drive my car 10 minutes or 10 miles at least once a week to burn off all the condensation in the oil, exhaust, etc.
I’ve seen a couple different posts saying one or the other and was wondering what others say.
10 minutes isn’t long enough. Once every two weeks or so take the car for a longer drive, a half-hour or more, with some highway travel in the mix, to thoroughly warm up the engine and drive train and dry out the exhaust system.
Thank you for reading the posts. If you use a block heater in the winter (if it’s winter where you are going to live), the car will already be partially warmed up when you start it, so the condensation will be minimal. On the weekend I would take it on the freeway or country road and put a few fast miles on. A good excuse to spend some quality time with your significant other and get out of the house. My wife loves shopping so she burns off any vapors going to her favorite malls.
If you will now drive only 3 miles each way to work, this will lead to excess moisture diluting your oil and damaging your exhaust system. If I were you, I would take the car out for AT LEAST 30 minutes of highway driving each week in order to evaporate the moisture and to help to keep your battery charged.
EDIT: And, get into the habit of changing your oil on the basis of elapsed time, rather than odometer mileage. If I were you, I would change my oil every 3 months.
As Docnick pointed out, your weekend errands will take care of your fully warmed-up needs. Highway speed is not essential to clear everything out. Take that into account before scheduling regular fuel-wasting runs.
I already change it every 3~4 months as it is. right now the one way is about 7 miles and I average about 6~7k miles per year. I have a remote starter, not a block heater, I may look into that sometime I get money saved back up(closing costs, etc eating up funds).
I had considered taking my grocery shopping to Delaware(about 20 miles away) when the weather permits it. Since I won’t be getting a new car like I had hoped(not THIS spring anyways), I need to keep my Civic healthy enough to keep me going for a few more years.
This being a car forum and all, I feel a little odd saying this, but: What’re the bus routes like in your area?
I’d imagine if you live in an urban area, the bus may be fairly convenient. It’s just three miles. Heck, if the weather’s nice, you could walk it to work! Get a li’l exercise, and save yer car for the long rides.
Honestly I would not even worry about it. If you have time to burn or really places to go then drive it once per week for a distance. Just change your engine oil more often (eg 3mo/3000 miles) and your car will likely last quite a while anyway by time not miles. My aunt on Nantucket has a 16+ year old Subaru vehicle that lives most of its life like your car will if not shorter trips. It runs perfectly fine without any mechanical repairs to the motor ever, just pure maintenance.
The bus is kinda like a taxi, you pretty much need to call before they come to pick you up. Now if I was moving to someplace like NY or even Columbus, I’d consider it, but it’s just not worth having 2 cars and trying to pay for the bus where I’m moving to(4 miles away)
You need to do the scheduled, routine, maintenance on a TIME basic, not mileage basis. In your Owner’s Handbook, or repair manual, the periods will be shown in months. If it has a timing belt (especially) it should be changed at something like 96 month intervals. Check your maintenance schedule.
The timing belt/water pump was replaced this past summer, so I’m good on that