Short trip question

[EcoB00ST]

I live about .2 miles from work. So I obviously never get the engine/oil up to temperature.

Is the occasional 30 minute trip in the city as effective as the much needed 30 minute highway trip to burn off contaminants/fuel from the oil? Light traffic, no excessive idling beyond a few lights.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Anybody can walk 0.2 miles, do you mean 2.0 miles ?

If your daily commute is 4 miles round trip, then you should use severe driving condition OCI which is 1/2 normal condition. Your owner manual should give the time/mileage for OCI.

 

[Kestas]

I used to walk 0.2 miles just from parking lot to building at work.

 

[strombony]

I know people in my office who are so big that no...they could not walk 0.2 miles. Sad but true. I'm sure they could walk that short of a distance if their life depended on it, but that's about all.

 

[JHZR2]

my mother has to do the same thing. She has to carry a LOT of stuff with her, so she drives, 5 blocks. Kind of ridiculous, I suppose she should get a pull-cart and pull her stuff (except perhaps in the coldest part of winter), but she drives.

We use Mobil1 5w30 in her 97 plymouth breeze, and they take it for about 150 miles worth of driving (2x70 miles plus some other mixed use), every few weekends, and it is A-OK. Great UOAs, no oil consumption, strong running and 32-35 MPG with AT.

Im a firm believer in the highway operation... IMO, use around the city is like sustained idling. You can get the oil up to temperature, but you dont necessarily have such good airflow and load.

Also, I dont think that minutes is a good metric. Id say that mileage is really the important one, and 15-20 miles is the minimum.

JMH

 

[Saturn_Fan]

I agree with JHZR2. Our Corolla sees little use at this point. Once a week we run it at 65mph on a 50 mile round trip. Otherwise, it gets driven 2x a week for about 8 miles each trip. I have never had a warranty last much longer than three years, so we drive the beater Saturn as I am going to wring every last day out of the 6 year/60K Toyota warranty.

 

[rg200amp]

I would atleast 2-3x a week get it up to operating temp, and give it some WOT to "clear" things up. . .

 

[rg200amp]

Also, make sure you use a name brand gas(top of the line) like Shell, mobil, BP even. so your fuel system dose not get gummed up.

 

[mcrn]

You live in Fl and you can not ride a bike or walk 0.2 miles to go to work? I am not making fun but seriously unless there is some handicap or some health condition that does not allow you to walk I understand. I park so far away that it is at least a half mile to work and then up 3 flights of stairs just to get to work and then im on my feet a large part of the day. That is just abusive to your car and to yourself, unless of course there is some good reason you can't walk or ride a bike.

 

[ThirdeYe]

Originally Posted By: rg200amp
Also, make sure you use a name brand gas(top of the line) like Shell, mobil, BP even. so your fuel system dose not get gummed up.

Or just use some Fuel Power.

 

[02zx9r]

Originally Posted By: 300m2000
I live about .2 miles from work. So I obviously never get the engine/oil up to temperature.

Is the occasional 30 minute trip in the city as effective as the much needed 30 minute highway trip to burn off contaminants/fuel from the oil? Light traffic, no excessive idling beyond a few lights.


No!

if cant walk or just dont want to, i would stick with the "severe service" and change every 3-4 months with cheap or on sale dino

 

[FZ1]

PP every 4 months.

 

[EcoB00ST]

It may be .3 miles at best. But I dress in a suit and tie everyday so a 10-15 minute walk in FL heat and humidity is just not an option. I also need the car at work for the occasional bank run and lunch.

I was using the zx-7r for a while but it's having some electrical issues lately and is sitting for the time being.

With regards to the severe service, would synthetic hold up better with this type of driving. I've seen different opinions on here saying the synthetic might handle the contaminants and fuel dilution better than dino, where some say since i'll be changing it so frequently dino will do just as well. Is this true? Synthetics have come down in price enough that i don't mind spending the extra $7 to get a group III like PP if it will help me out a little.

Last question. Could there be extended OCI's with synthetic or is the short trips just too hard on it that its not worth it? Does anyone have a similar driving schedule that can go 5k on synthetic? If that held up, I think it would save me $$$ in the long run.

 

[Gary Allan]

Your car is in perpetual fuel enrichment cycle ..except for a very limited amount. You fall into a service that really has no economy to the maintenance. Normally you can reorient the user to see other, unapparent, economies ..with something like fuel consumption ..but you're into such a micro event schedule that even that view doesn't really exist (something like TeeDub's fuel equation for OCI).

The only solution that I could see is to include a ritual. You would install a pan and block heater w/timer and have it turn on 1/2hour- 1 hour before your trip to work. Now some will surely argue that this may be a wash in total expense ..maybe even a loss (sorta like purposely going for a long drive to save the oil that you could change out at a cheaper rate than the fuel expended) ..but it would offset the insult. That is, you would get something out of the expense beyond the longevity of the oil...

 

[Pesca]

In 2010, you will have electric cars which should be just what you need.

Do electric cars or hybrids exist with a plug to recharge the car at night? I know some models exist already in Europe but I think in North America, we have just cars we need an engine to be recharged.

Did you look at a hybrid? With some errants to recharge the battery, it could be an option to look at.

 

[02zx9r]

Originally Posted By: 300m2000
It may be .3 miles at best. But I dress in a suit and tie everyday so a 10-15 minute walk in FL heat and humidity is just not an option. I also need the car at work for the occasional bank run and lunch.

I was using the zx-7r for a while but it's having some electrical issues lately and is sitting for the time being.

With regards to the severe service, would synthetic hold up better with this type of driving. I've seen different opinions on here saying the synthetic might handle the contaminants and fuel dilution better than dino, where some say since i'll be changing it so frequently dino will do just as well. Is this true? Synthetics have come down in price enough that i don't mind spending the extra $7 to get a group III like PP if it will help me out a little.

Last question. Could there be extended OCI's with synthetic or is the short trips just too hard on it that its not worth it? Does anyone have a similar driving schedule that can go 5k on synthetic? If that held up, I think it would save me $$$ in the long run.


here is my uoa i posted recently of Valvoline Synpower 5W30, short trips 1.5 miles to work, 1.5 miles back home, with several trips onto the base with my tools, cable, etc.. throughout the day of maybe a mile each way if that.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/toyota-corolla-valvoline-synpower-5w30-6-250-miles.95121/