[rohan_iitr]

Hi all,

A few months back, I have moved close to my workplace.

I use my car for the daily commute, which is 3 kms one way.

While I am enjoying being closer to the workplace, I am wondering about what could be the long term ill effects on the vehicle because of such short trips.

Also, my wife uses a gearless scooter daily for even smaller trips.

If there anything I need to be worried about as far as the health of the vehicles is concerned ?

I generally take our the car for a longish drive (>15 kms) once a week or once in 2 weeks. Is that enough to keep the vehicle in good condition ?

Rohan

[GTO]

You needn't worry too much as today's cars are built to very high quality standards and will prove reliable for a long, long time. You'll probably get bored of your car / bike and want to upgrade before it gives up on you.

That said, frequent short-trips are indeed not ideal for the car:

1. Engine doesn't reach its optimum operating temperature. Which means a majority of your odometer will be filled with km when the engine was not as hot as it should have been.

2. Your fuel-efficiency will be much lower.

3. In some cars (especially the high end ones as also old ones like my Jeep), the battery won't get charged enough.

4. Enhanced wear & tear on some other components (e.g. your starter will be used more per km than a car with long commutes).

Manufacturers understand that many of their owners would be driving short distances / less frequently, hence every recommended service interval has a time cap too (e.g. 1 year / 10,000 km).

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

I generally take our the car for a longish drive (>15 kms) once a week or once in 2 weeks. Is that enough to keep the vehicle in good condition ?

If not driven /started for a week it is more susceptible to 'rat attack' which could be a costly affair.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

Hi all,

A few months back, I have moved close to my workplace.

I use my car for the daily commute, which is 3 kms one way.

While I am enjoying being closer to the workplace, I am wondering about what could be the long term ill effects on the vehicle because of such short trips.

Rohan

Due to the disposable nature of products we use in this era including cars the original owner which is you do not need to worry about it if you do not plan to keep the car for more than 5 years. But if you do and want the engine to remain in its best health then frequent short trips are to be avoided or take a longer route on alternate days.

1) The engine will not reach optimum temperature and this is bad for fuel economy and causes more wear.

2) The battery will die a quick death unless trickle charged.

3) Low fuel efficiency. Which is not really a bother because of short distances but cold starts makes the engine run rich (to light up the catalytic converter) which normally will settle down to ideal afr when engine is hot. Cold starts and short trips means engine runs rich and cool.

4) If its a turbo car it will gradually kill the turbo.

5) Engine oil never gets upto temperature and it will not burn off condensed water bringing its useful life down.

Car manufacturer classifies frequent start stop and short duration usage as harsh conditions. Some even recommend they change the oil early for vehicles used in harsh conditions. But nowadays since most people change their cars too often this will not affect first owners but probably the 2nd or the 3rd.

[SDP]

If you get the car serviced as per manufacturer recommended duration (it's generally certain number of KMs or a certain period whichever comes earlier), except low FE, I doubt you would notice too many ill effects.
Besides your per km fuel bill, your per km service bill is going to be higher. You would have to change tyres due to age and not due to wear. So the per km tyre expenses would also be higher.

PS - in my opinion, 3kms per working day is still much better than 15kms once a week.

Edit - please do seriously evaluate if you now need a car at all. May be UBER/OLA might be cheaper per km.

[KiloAlpha]

There is a related thread in the same section:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ar-yes-no.html

Having said that, I would like to add my own personal experience of buying a used car that had been almost exclusively used for short journeys. It was a real pain in all the wrong places.

When I went to do my MBA, I bought a 18 year old Ford Fiesta that had about 60K miles on the odo. Single lady owner. Really bad decision.
The previous owner had used the car to "just pop over to the shops" every now and then. Which means the car had never really ever warmed up. It had also been serviced every 5K miles.

There was mayonnaise under the oil cap. The hydraulic tappets were a constant issue, resulting in the car randomly jerking and shutting down. I had to have the head gasket replaced (super painful on the wallet of a student) and the car would randomly overheat for no apparent reason.

It finally became OK after 2 engine oil flushes and a few long highway runs. By then, I had completed my course, got a job, had (lots!) more money, so I simply junked that car.

More reading from the internet:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=858401
https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/p...ex.htm?t=49858

[mpksuhas]

For petrol cars, one issue is with condensation inside exhaust pipe. For longer runs, heat inside exhaust pipe will make sure condensation evaporates.

However, after shorter run you will find condensation still inside exhaust pipe even after reaching your destination. Over a period of time, this will cause rusting of your catalytic converter and exhaust pipe.

NB: Do check out Italian Tune up online.

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by GTO

1. Engine doesn't reach its optimum operating temperature. Which means a majority of your odometer will be filled with km when the engine was not as hot as it should have been.

I don't think this holds true for Bangalore traffic now. And yes, fuel efficiency will drop down and I suppose that's true for any Bangalore vehicle.

[Jeroen]

Various members have already chipped in with the various effects short drives have on a car. You need to bear in mind that all these effects are present in any car regardless of how often and how long it is driven.

So any engine will wear on every cold start. Period. That is just how it is. Whether you take a five minute drive or a five hour drive, those first five minutes will have identical wear and tear on the car and engine. On both drive those first five minutes will have poor fuel efficiency etc.

Short drives just add a few more additional issues, such as condensation and vapor that remains behind in exhausts and oil.

The starter and battery are of course prone to potential issues. Alhough, on a proper maintained car you would be surprised how long it will all last. Well maintained engines fire almost immediately on starting, so yes it puts a drain on the battery, but for a very short time, easily topped up again. Especailly as you do drive longer distances in the weekends. If you havent experienced any problems with the battery yet, you should be good. If you do find the battery cant cope, a simple trickle charge or a portable battery booster in the boot should solve all problems.

All this wear and tear are absolute minute on a case by case (i.e. per short drive). So we are looking at a cummulitive phenomena. And as GTO pointed out, cars are designed with short drives in mind as well.

So to some extent it is all a bit of a theoretical debate. Yes, on any car forum you will find similar threads with similar cautions.

Driving a car for a 10 hour long drive but with a wonky thermostat resulting in the cooling liquid 15oC too low is likely to cause more wear and tear than 120 short 5 minute drives.

As pointed out, the best remedy is just to make sure your car gets proper maintenance. And as for any drive, long or short, go easy on the throttle until the engine is properly warmed up. If your drive comes to an end before that happens, that's just the way it is. Driving 10 times around the block, only to get the engine properly warmed up, doesnt make any sense to me.

Think of it like this: You are a member of a car forum, so you have some interest in cars. Most punters out there are not and just use their cars as they see fit and never worry. By far the majority of them, as long as they maintain their cars, will never experience any undue problems.

So the long term effects are there, in theory, in practice, if properly maintained, you are not very likely to have too much of an issue.

Jeroen.

[SmartCat]

My A-star is goes through engine start/stop routine atleast 5 times a day. The car runs around 4 kms during each start/stop trip. So far, no issues in the past 3 years. I intend to change the battery (preventive maintenance) soon though .

[tharian]

Apt thread for an example of such a car that we have at home.

We have a 2005 Swift run 55k kms till date which is used Mon-Sat by my dad 1km each way, 4 times a day and around ten kms on Sundays.

It was used just on Sundays for the first of couple of years and had a delayed first or second service too. It also did three highway trips in the first few years too.
The last couple of years has seen it ageing, not because of the short runs it does daily, but more to do with wear/tear.

Parts replaced in the recent past:-
Clutch plates,
Rear dampers,
Rear wheel bearing,
Engine Thermostat,
AC Overhaul which was done early on,
Tyres were replaced due to age and cracks

This apart due to non-use of certain parts like the manual winding windows and the rear boot, the winding machine for two windows and the rear boot struts had to be replaced.

But, I have noticed the engine is coarse especially during cold starts and is quite noisy for a petrol. Once warmed up, when I take the car for good spin once a month, it is quite smooth.
The car gets the annual service on time and there are no other issues with the engine or exhaust system.

[rohan_iitr]

Thanks for all the useful replies.

Even though my commute is only 3 kms one way, it takes me 10-15 minutes, thanks to the pot-holed roads and Bangalore traffic.

The temperature guage manages to reach and settle at the half-way mark by the time I reach the destination.

The car is driven in a very sedate manner. There is no high revving involved.

I am not too concerned about the low FE, or the premature wear of battery or starter motor, because these are swappable items.

As pointed out by some members, there is the issue of condensation and vapour in engine oil and exhaust. I saw some videos on youtube on this issue and hence got alarmed.

Will it help if I use synthetic oil instead of the regular mineral oil ?

I get the car serviced only once a year. (I never exceed 5k kms in one year)

But under severe usage conditions, Hyundai recommends 6 month service interval. Does it make any sense ?

My car is 9 years old now. I do not have any sentimental attachment to the car. But I do want to keep it in proper condition so that it could provide me trouble free service for another 4-5 years.

Rohan

[vigsom]

^^ There won't be many using their cars less than what I do.

Over the last 20 years, my average usage has been just about 4000km a year. Except the Padmini, I have owned only Japanese cars from the Suzuki and Toyota stables.

My experiences and suggestions to keep the car ship shape for longer :

1.the engine coolant reaches its optimum temperature (typically 50-55% of full range) in just over a km of driving. I would assume that would almost bring the engine to its operating temperature.

2.Use a semi synthetic engine oil and change every year under such sub optimal usage conditions.

3.Drive the car for at least 5kms twice a week rather than, say, 100km on the weekend. That will keep the machine "roused" and keep the battery in good health.

4.Use as less water as possible to clean the car. This would delay corrosion.

5.I have cleaned all my cars myself - no safaiwalas so no issues on what water and what cloth is used.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by vigsom

1.the engine coolant reaches its optimum temperature (typically 50-55% of full range) in just over a km of driving. I would assume that would almost bring the engine to its operating temperature.

2.Use a semi synthetic engine oil and change every year under such sub optimal usage conditions.
.

Actually the coolant temperature is not a good measure for the engine operating temperature. At least not initially. Its really the oil temperature that typically lacks behind the coolant temperature from a cold start.

Very few cars have oil temperature gauges. Rule of thumb, take another 5 minutes being carefull on the throttle after the coolant temperature is at normal temperature.

If your car has an oil pressure gauge very often the registered pressure at engine idle is a good indication of the oil temperature too. For instance on my Mercedes the oil pressure at cold start and when the engine is properly warmed through and through is well over 1 bar difference. Not exact, but a good indicator.

When it comes to engine oil, always stick to the manufacturer recommendations. Read what the owner manual says and get that oil.

If you have been running of mineral and or semi synthetic for prolonged period, dont change to synthetic, especially not on older cars.

Always make sure to change out the oil filter at every oil change and make sure you get a good quality oil filter. Whereas as long as oil complies with the manufacturer specification you cant go wrong, there are a lot of very crappy oil filters out there. The oil filter will last less time/km then your oil. As long as you change them at the recommended intervals you are good to go, unless you drive a lot in very adverse conditions. E.g. extreme dust for prolonged time.

Jeroen

[Aroy]

I might as well as chip in. My Alto K10 is used predominantly for short trips, most less than one km round trip and that too every other day or so. Since I bought it in August 2010, I have clocked 16K km, and that includes one round trip to Ambala, about 500km, and a few trips of 50km+ every quarter or so. The only thing that I have changed is battery last year. Rest is perfect. The tyres have 80% tread left.

Yes very short trips and low mileage reduce the FE dramatically, average of 10-12 km/l. So every six months or so, I take a long drive of around 80 to 100km round trip on a highway. I choose a National Holiday when there is practically no traffic and I can maintain a speed of 90 to 100km/h. After the run the engine note changes and the FE improves. In short, a tankful of petrol that usually gives 350 km becomes 450 with the highway run so in effect the ride was free.

Modern cars are quite rugged and unless you live in a corrosive atmosphere there is not much deterioration due to low running, only age related stuff - rubber, plastics and small dents that you keep accumulating in urban traffic.

I get my car serviced at MAAS and every service costs around 2,500 inclusive of all consumables - oils, radiator fluid, etc.