Moving my truck 10 feet...warm the engine or not?

[driven2services]

My garage is full of cars, and when they're all parked in there I don't have any room to work on anything. I often end up starting up my Cherokee, backing it out of the garage, and then turn it off. I know that's not the best thing for it. Would it be better if, instead of turning it right off, I let it idle for a few minutes, or take it around the block?

 

[Gary Allan]

I would think that its not the best thing for it...but I would view it "on balance" with the total service use of the vehicle. My cars all tend to do long mileage ..no short trips. All my wear from start up is very limited "per mile". I wouldn't worry about it. ...of course you could always just put it in neutral and push

 

[Patman]

I have a similar dilemma, as I often keep my car parked in the visitor's parking in my townhouse complex, to avoid shuffling our cars around since we've got a single lane driveway. So I simply start the car and drive it around the corner to park it back in my driveway, and it runs for under 60 seconds then I shut it off and it sits overnight (before it went into visitor's parking originally though, the engine was completely heated up as I always drive it at least 25 miles before this point). I figure it's better to do this than to try and heat it up a few minutes more, since more moisture will then accumulate. The best plan of course would be to drive it long enough to fully heat it up, but I don't have the 20min needed to do this at the time I move the car. So I figure the next best thing is to start it but simply run it as short a time as possible. An engine can't possibly accumulate too much moisture into it's oil in only 60 seconds, or so I figure. [ March 06, 2004, 09:30 PM: Message edited by: Patman ]

 

[mikemc]

My gut tells me that any start-up wear occurs during the first few seconds, so letting it run longer won't fix that. I would say that taking it out for a 15 to 30 minute drive about once a week or so will help burn off any moisture.

 

[TallPaul]

I have pushed vehicles 10 or 15 feet for the very same reason. Not essential, but if easily done, I prefer to push if the engine is cold.

 

[cryptokid]

from a mechanical point of view i would say you are making a big deal over nothing. but i realise that you, like the rest of us, are very anal about protecting our engines so i can totally sympathise with you on this. if youre driveway slanted? perhaps you can use gravity to move the vehicle after you push it out of the garage? if not, try to park outside when you know you will be working on a vehicle somtime in the future. the game is so start the engine as few times as possible, to if you figure you will be changing the oil in another vehicle tomorrow perhaps, then it may be best to park the cherokee outside the previous day in anticipation of the following days need for the garage. i fully realise of course, that you cant awalys know when you will need to work on an automobile, such as a broken belt or ignition problem, so then perhaps you could push the car out?

 

[therion]

I push Pain is temporary, engine wear is forever

 

[labman]

If once you move it, it is going to set there until the engine cools off, letting it warm up will cause additional wear, but not prevent another cold start. I too use pushing and a sloped driveway to avoid short start ups. You need to consider the chances of it getting away from you if you are pushing it without help. If you drive it out of the garage and let it set idling in the driveway, keep in mind the chances of a little kid coming by and jumping in. With manual transmission on a slope, I always lock the doors.

 

[therion]

quote:

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Originally posted by labman: If once you move it, it is going to set there until the engine cools off, letting it warm up will cause additional wear, but not prevent another cold start. I too use pushing and a sloped driveway to avoid short start ups. You need to consider the chances of it getting away from you if you are pushing it without help. If you drive it out of the garage and let it set idling in the driveway, keep in mind the chances of a little kid coming by and jumping in. With manual transmission on a slope, I always lock the doors.

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If a kid steals my car, and crashes it thats more insurance money for me

 

[Matt89]

I agree with the Pat, that if you are going to do a short trip, make it really short to avoid accumulation. Idling to get it "warmed up" will take a lot longer than you think (to get the oil over 212F) and will waste a lot of gas. In winter you might never get the oil really hot by idling. Running extra miles to get your oil warmed up is probably false economy for most people. More economical and environmentally responsible to dump the oil a little more often than burn a bunch of gas...