Best advice for VERY short trips

[Alan]

Man this is easy.
Just let mom do her thing with the kids(I don't blame her for not wanting to walk)and let dad take the car out for a spin once a week to wind it out.Use a something like ST 5W30 and change it often.No big deal!I had a similar situation and saw now problem just doing the mentioned stuff.

I like the suggestion I read prior about telling the wife and kids to walk

.
Most wifes will just

you if you told them that.

 

[TooSlick]

Use the Mobil 1, 5w-20 or 0w-30 ...change the oil and filter every 5000 miles or six months, whichever comes first. You won't have an issues and the engine will last a long time.

People need to keep things in perspective - it's just a car engine for heavens sake! If he wears out that lovely Honda engine in 150k-200k miles instead of 300k-400k miles (yes, they're that good) it's not the end of the world.

 

[Market525]

Wow, this is a hot topic. To add my .02 cents worth - my wife drive a 2002 Jeep Liberty. Yearly mileage is between 8,000-10,000. We live in Maine, so many months of the year the temps are cool/cold. Though the car might get driven on a 50-60 mile trip sometime in a 10 day time frame, most days it sees a round trip to work of about 1 mile. Some weeks she might even go the entire week and only cover 30 or so miles - all little short trips around town.

I use Amsoil 5W30 in the car, and change the filter @ 6 months, and the oil yearly. I posted the last oil anyalsis in late December of last year here on the site -- the analysis came back fine. The oil could have gone longer - but I changed it anyway. Under no circumstances would I use dino oil for this extreme use vehicle.

Each to their own, I guess. But dumping good synthetic more often than necessary seems like a waste of good oil & $$ to me.

 

[oilguy3]

Just an observation....

I like how 1/2 the group suggests walking or getting an electric vehicle and the other 1/2 suggests packing heat...it just cracked me up.

 

[John_E]

Get a bicycle. I walk, jog, bike, or ride transit whenever I can reasonably do so and drive when I need to. Short trips and stop-and-go driving are murder on cars and probably cost you well over $1/mile.

 

[Thorn]

I have a bicycle, but I can't imagine my wife transporting a six year old, a two year old, a backpack and a lunchbox on a bike. Throw in some rain, wind, snow and freezing temps on occassion, and I have a much better chance of hitting tonight's $200 million powerball jackpot than I do seeing this happen, and I didn't even buy a ticket.

I appreciate the value of exercise, but it just ain't gonna happen.

 

[T-Keith]

When I was a kid we always waited at the bus stop alone. If the bus stop is 1/4 mile away then there are likely other kids there right?

I find the whole idea pretty rediculous, no offense. Does she work? Wouldn't it be easier to drive the kid to school?

-T

 

[Amkeer]

Ya, I guess some of these respondents need to spend time with a couple of young kids especially a 2 year old. Add to that an overworked wife and I can guarantee you will not be telling her to walk so you can savior the steel. LMAO!

I wouldn't dare tell my wife to walk the kids to the bus stop at 8 a.m. so that we can help the vehicle not get the use that we purchased it for. Add to that the cost of insurance and licensing fees that we don't want to justify paying for just to save a few PPM.

 

[Thorn]

In today's society, it would border on parental negligence to leave a five or six year old child alone at a bus stop. I live in a small village with just a few hundred people and a practically non-existant crime rate. My son goes to a school approximately five miles away that goes from 4K through third grade. There are a few other children who live on the other side of the highway that divides the village, and they get picked up at a different location. The older children go to a different school, so they ride a different bus that picks up at a different time.

No offense, but I am looking for oil advice. I can handle the care of my family and raising of my children without an Internet support group.

 

[Pablo]

My daughter just turned 7. We can see the bus stop from the front of the house. We live in a "safe town" (no such thing, I know).

We walk our daughter to the stop and wait for the bus. When she gets off in the PM we watch her walk home.

 

[blupupher]

While I agree walking every day is not going to happen, why not on nice days? And yes, I know, telling your wife she needs to walk is opening the door to the "What, you think I am getting fat?!" syndrome.
If not, I would think the block heater would be the best bet, and/or one of the inline coolant warmers. As said above, if you leave an hr or so before her, you unplug it and it would be good to go still. Or just make sure the plug is set that it will unplug if it is accidentaly left pluged in when she takes off. Also a weekly drive on the highway just to help burn off anything would help too.