I’ve a car I’m not using, but want to keep. How often and how far should I drive it to keep it running well?
Every two weeks, take it out for a drive of at least 45 minutes. This should be a long enough drive to keep the battery from going dead, and to keep the motor oil from being diluted by condensation. I would suggest that you might want to utilize a trickle-charger for the battery if you don’t plan to drive it at least this often.
Even though few miles will be put on the odometer, plan on changing the oil once a year. And, don’t forget to check and correct the tire inflation regularly.
I don’t think there’s a minimum driving standard for vehicles, but I’d take it out on the weekends and just drive around for a bit, I don’t know where you’re at, but at home, we’d go out to the McDonald’s (about 20 miles away) and go back home.
Also put stay-built fuel staybalizer in gas tank
Good advice from VDCdriver. I have a 93 Caprice that gets driven usually once a week, but sometimes sits for 2 or 3 weeks. I put 30 to 40 miles on it when it is driven. I’ve been doing this for 6 years without any problems. I changed all the fluids (oil, coolant, trans, rear diff, etc) when I got the car. Note, if your car has a timing belt, change it based on time, not mileage.
Ed B.
My dad has a 1990 4runner he uses two-three times per year for 1-2 week periods which totals about 1000-2000 miles/year since 1996. It now has around 140k on it. It is still perfectly running and amazingly every single power option works. The only thing he does is disconnect the battery between uses and changes oil 1-2 times per year.