I always hear people say,it's not good for an engine going on lots of short runs less than 10 minutes and every now and then,you should take your car on a 'long run'. Any idea how often and for what distance/time you should do this! Cheers
NZTools,
Jun 2, 8:28pm
Not true.
short runs mean the engine oil never gets hot enough to evaporate off all the condensation it collects. (grey sludgy build up inder the filler cap is a dead give-away)
Many people run into problems when they hit the highway for the first time in a year, and wonder where all their oil went after a couple of hundred kms
. it didnt go anywhere. All the moisture evaporated away.
321mat,
Jun 2, 8:29pm
It's the BEST thing you can do for your car. It cleans all the carbon and sh*t out of the engine, and gives the oil and chance to warm up and circulate properly.
Having owned several cars and the last 3 have done 500,000+ km each, I would seriously recommend taking your car for a nice drive once a week (at least), just to allow the engine to work as it was designed to do.
You won't regret it.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 2, 10:00pm
There is certainly some benefit, although modern cars don't benefit as much as older cars did. A properly serviced quality modern car should have very little carbon build up due to the sophisticated engine management systems we use which don't tend to allow for periods of overly rich mixtures. (note how I say "should" not always the case)
Likewise modern oils and engines don't tend to get as sludgy as they once did.
That said, there is still some benefit and one plus to the modern car is many will have a "lean burn" cruise mode which will get a chance to engage for a decent amount of time. This lean mode heats up the exhaust manifold and raises combustion temperatures a lot. So much so that the limit to how lean they can set it is usually defined by how hot you can safely get your catalytic converter.
That heating up will certainly help clear carbon build ups, just bear in mind as I said those carbon build ups are likely to be pretty minimal though so don't expect any spectacular results.
(BTW, not meaning to be contrary to the previous poster I agree with what he said)
pa2,
Jun 2, 10:04pm
just like a dog really, they like a good long run. Get one of those stretchy leads.
johnf_456,
Jun 2, 10:48pm
As above a long every now and then does the car will and even gets the rust off the disks if the car sits alot.
doug207,
Jun 2, 10:48pm
Cars can run!
Sarcasm aside, it's good to have the engine at correct operating temp, I do not like to take my bikes for short rides, want to have it warm before I ride and running at the right temp whilst riding. May have been a contributing factor to how I managed 130,000km on a Honda VT250 before I sold it.
crzyhrse,
Jun 3, 12:50am
Cold running has an enrichment mode ('choke' as it's known colloquially) which produces a lot of moisture and uses excess fuel to overcome the issue of condensation point some of which makes its way into the oil and exhaust system. Fuel and water in the oil lowers its ability to lubricate the engine and water in the exhaust causes faster corrosion of mufflers. You may have seen cars pulling away from the lights with water literally pouring out of the tailpipe.
A decent run will allow the exhaust system to dry out considerably. But how decent a run is required is going to depend on how the car is used day-to-day. In any case, there's little cost benefit unless you're already planning on going somewhere to do something, especially with today's fuel prices.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 3, 4:11am
No have not forgotten, the enrichment when cold is minimal and highly controlled. Nothing like the chokes of old which were severe and poorly controlled if there was any automatic control at all.
I am mostly going on what I am seeing inside stripped modern engines vs engines of old. Remember the channels inside the ceramic of a catalytic converter are very fine. If modern cars coked up like cars of old the cat would not last. Which is often what happens when a modern car has a malfunction that causes rich running for a period of time. You might be thinking a cat gets so hot it would burn the coke off before it built up which is partially true but in some situations short running does not allow for the cat to heat properly for months on end yet mostly those cars survive o.k. With a few badly designed exceptions.
In short you do get a bit of carbon but nothing like the cars of old.
Also, if our fuel was bad enough to make that kind of difference we would be seeing the effects in other ways like on spark plugs and we wouldn't achieve rated economy.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 3, 4:53am
Anyhow Kaz, I thought you were older than me and I remember the bad old days when decarbonising engines was common practice. Not to mention it wasn't at all unusual to hear a car "running on" due to the excess carbon on the piston staying hot enough to ignite the next engine cycle.
Things have changed a lot.
johnf_456,
Jun 3, 4:56am
Those days are long gone even for most 80's cars how old are ya!
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 3, 5:07am
Not as old as I feel! (not talking maturity, talking achy joints) The thing is the "take it for a long run" thing is a very old technique and despite my typically long winded waffle pretty much all I was meaning was that it dosn't work the wonders it did back in the days of old.
Anyhow, plenty of Morris Marina's and the like still running around in the 80's and even early 90's that still suffered "running on" etc. (although I agree cars manufactured in the 80's were pretty good, even the carbs were pretty sophisticated by then) Thankfully though at least the days of grinding valves on BMC cars etc are a long time gone now.
BTW, my first car was a 32 Austin 10 (engine N.o 300 chasis 401 she was really early). Though I am not as old as the first car would suggest.
No doubt you remember leather clutches, starter-generators and exposed valve gear aye John.
johnf_456,
Jun 3, 5:11am
True that, you feel older here giving those dam multiplia's death like its oxygen. A good example of that is those old laser / 323 in the 80's man those things just go and go.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 3, 5:13am
LOL, I just edited to give you some stick, but you popped back too soon! Everyone feels young driving a Multipla, perhaps you should try one!
johnf_456,
Jun 3, 5:14am
No thanks I think I'll pass on that one, my friends would disown me. lol. I'm not that old to remember generators being common, I know what they are but not common when I was born.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 3, 5:17am
You can't be as old as I thought then. I was actually meaning starter-generators which were really early. It was one unit that did both jobs, you spun it up then manually crashed it into the ring gear with a foot pedal. Once started it remained engaged and spun as the generator. Pretty clever really but not that efficient.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 3, 5:19am
They were a decent car too, I always liked the the quiet smooth ride of Fords of that era. I think people have forgotten just how nice and quiet/smooth it was to travel in a MK 4/5 Cortina, we have gained an awful lot but also lost a little along the way too.
johnf_456,
Jun 3, 5:19am
I still feel old, you can never be young enough as you wish sadly. Ah I know the ones you are talking about.
johnf_456,
Jun 3, 5:21am
Yup still a few about to, but just rust killing them one by one, but done well considering they are 25 years old now plus. Smooth, cheap, reliable cars with electronic ignition as well. No adjusting those dam points on the ignition, not only that they are great to learn the basic of motoring on.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 3, 5:25am
Same reason I like the MK1 Punto's much the same situation but with the bonus of galvanizing so the scourge of Italy is going to be hanging around to haunt us for a while yet! You don't get that big car ride in the Punto though, but then you do get go kart style excitement instead.
Speaking of Fiat, I never worked out why other manufacturers didn't have externally adjustable points like on the early Panda etc. All you did was connect your dwell meter, start the car, insert an allen key (with shock proof pliers. learnt that the hard way) and twist until the desired dwell was shown. Over and done with in under a minute.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 3, 5:26am
Nice chatting john, got to run, getting the call.
johnf_456,
Jun 3, 5:27am
Same, nagging other half eh
purple666,
Jun 3, 5:32am
Don't remember those in particular but remember these Cork Clutches 3 brush generators
Having never owned a car less than 10 or 15yrs old I have always made sure they got a good run every so often. Great idea to get everything up to temp and keep it there for a while
bmwnz,
Jun 3, 1:55pm
The troubles I've had with consistent short runs have been: Oil sludging (requires engine flush) Turbo waste gate seizing (Mitsi Cordia). New waste gate fitted under warranty. Misfiring (Fiat 124 Sports Coupe). The NZ agents at the time ('70s) recommended that you drop the car into 3rd and just boot it for 5 minutes to clear the misfiring. That was actually a fun cure.
ferrit47,
Jun 3, 5:15pm
It always is a great idea when you take your car out on along trip but short trips are fine.
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