Wife changed jobs - 2 mile commute. OCI?

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Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: MobilinHyundia
[censored]! I used to warm up my vehicles too.... It is a total waste of fuel. Engines warm up much faster when driven.


How you gonna warm up your engine driving it for only 1 mile ?


I swear, our Camry can have heat coming out of the vents just leaving the driveway. Fast warmup vehicle. OP's truck, I doubt it. In that case I would think a Saturday drive of 20 or so miles to get it warmed up and charged up is good. Maybe make the weekly shopping trip or something. Not sure that the old school 350 cares.

But two miles would be a nice walk or bike ride, weather and road conditions permitting.
 
Use cheap dino and change every 3k - you love to change oil anyway. You live in FL, so even cold is warm. Her 10 sec warmup is like a guy in Toronto warming up for a minute. Not a big deal.
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: thunderfog
No.

Terrible waste of fuel. Use that money for cleaning the engine if you feel the need or shortening the OCI, and save a little bit of the environment in the meantime. Contrary to popular belief, you don't need to be able to eat off your internal engine parts.


The most economically feasible way to keep an engine clean is to get it up to operating temperature on every trip and to change the oil regularly. Very little fuel is used during idle under a no load condition.


This is preposterous. How do you stop the fuel-oil contamination by letting it idle for 10 minutes? That's the worst time to let an engine idle, bar none. You're getting way more contamination of the oil the way you are suggesting than just driving it the two miles to work.
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: MobilinHyundia
[censored]! I used to warm up my vehicles too.... It is a total waste of fuel. Engines warm up much faster when driven.


How you gonna warm up your engine driving it for only 1 mile ?


First gear at 4000 RPM all the way to work.
 
Originally Posted By: Charlie1935
First gear at 4000 RPM all the way to work.


LOL!
crackmeup2.gif
 
Just make sure every once in a while the vehicle gets out for a good spin and up to normal operating temps to burn off any [censored] accumulated by the short tripping....done!
 
Originally Posted By: Scum_Frog
Just make sure every once in a while the vehicle gets out for a good spin and up to normal operating temps to burn off any [censored] accumulated by the short tripping....done!


Exactly. Once every week or two, just take it out for a 30 min highway run.
 
Originally Posted By: jmb3675
I was trying to decide the same thing for my Grand Cherokee. It has been the short trip vehicle lately. I have been taking it out for longer drives every couple of weeks to keep the battery charged and try to get the oil to temp. Because it was hard to start with 10w-30 last winter, and now the short trips I plan to use conventional 5w-30 and will likely change it every 3000 miles. Partly because of short trips and I hear the 4.0 is hard on oil and mostly because it has a 3000 mile oil change reminder that is easy to see and follow.
I only let mine idle in the winter so it is warm and I don't have to scrape the windows.


That is what I would do. Every once in awhile take it for a little extended drive to get everything nice and hot to burn off some of the moisture that will inevitably build up. Also, for the battery's sake.

I'd also probably stick to a conventional and short 3k OCI. Heck that will still probably only be once a year..or less. But I would still change it once a year..for peace of mind.
 
Originally Posted By: ccap41
Originally Posted By: jmb3675
I was trying to decide the same thing for my Grand Cherokee. It has been the short trip vehicle lately. I have been taking it out for longer drives every couple of weeks to keep the battery charged and try to get the oil to temp. Because it was hard to start with 10w-30 last winter, and now the short trips I plan to use conventional 5w-30 and will likely change it every 3000 miles. Partly because of short trips and I hear the 4.0 is hard on oil and mostly because it has a 3000 mile oil change reminder that is easy to see and follow.
I only let mine idle in the winter so it is warm and I don't have to scrape the windows.


That is what I would do. Every once in awhile take it for a little extended drive to get everything nice and hot to burn off some of the moisture that will inevitably build up. Also, for the battery's sake.

I'd also probably stick to a conventional and short 3k OCI. Heck that will still probably only be once a year..or less. But I would still change it once a year..for peace of mind.

Don't drive it just to burn off moisture, what a huge waste of resources and time. Drive if you have to go somewhere, combine trips. I'd just change it every 3k even if it took 5 years. It's not exactly a new Porsche.
 
Trade it in for a Leaf, Volt, Prius, Insight...

I'd change it out twice a year.

Install block and pan heaters. Set an outlet timer for an hour before she leaves for work.
 
Originally Posted By: bigt61
Originally Posted By: ccap41
Originally Posted By: jmb3675
I was trying to decide the same thing for my Grand Cherokee. It has been the short trip vehicle lately. I have been taking it out for longer drives every couple of weeks to keep the battery charged and try to get the oil to temp. Because it was hard to start with 10w-30 last winter, and now the short trips I plan to use conventional 5w-30 and will likely change it every 3000 miles. Partly because of short trips and I hear the 4.0 is hard on oil and mostly because it has a 3000 mile oil change reminder that is easy to see and follow.
I only let mine idle in the winter so it is warm and I don't have to scrape the windows.


That is what I would do. Every once in awhile take it for a little extended drive to get everything nice and hot to burn off some of the moisture that will inevitably build up. Also, for the battery's sake.

I'd also probably stick to a conventional and short 3k OCI. Heck that will still probably only be once a year..or less. But I would still change it once a year..for peace of mind.

Don't drive it just to burn off moisture, what a huge waste of resources and time. Drive if you have to go somewhere, combine trips. I'd just change it every 3k even if it took 5 years. It's not exactly a new Porsche.


I'm not saying to make a completely wasteful trip but I don't know anybody who doesn't have at least a 20 minute drive/commute for something once every few weeks at a minimum. I'm just saying take this vehicle for said trip.
 
Last edited:
Bike/walk. "Round trip for two miles" as in a mile each way? That's a 12min walk or 4min ride. It would take no longer to ride a bike than drive.
I'm less than two miles one way and ride unless I know I need to run an errand right after work in the other direction. Its great to see how long between gas tanks I can go.
 
Originally Posted By: zrxkawboy
Originally Posted By: Scum_Frog
Just make sure every once in a while the vehicle gets out for a good spin and up to normal operating temps to burn off any [censored] accumulated by the short tripping....done!


Exactly. Once every week or two, just take it out for a 30 min highway run.


This is what I am thinking. If you use the truck for other reasons throughout the week/ weekend and get it hot on the highway, a 5k run of quality conventional will be fine.
 
If her truck is strictly used for the short commutes, then this is one of the few remaining situations where the 3 month/3000 mile OCI is still relevant.

Otherwise, maybe investing in a moped or 150cc scooter would be a good option? I know when I was interviewing for a job that was that close to my home, I was trolling CL for a cheap scooter and found that for $500 I could get a nice Honda Elite scooter.
 
"Trade it in for a Leaf, Volt, Prius, Insight..."

Been there, done that. We had a 2003 and 2005 Honda Hybrid....both had nothing but mechanical problems & only got 39-42 around town. Traded it in for the 2008 Compass which gets 32 mpg. No issues so far. Done with hybrids.

AS for her riding a bike, it ain't gonna happen anytime soon. She always drives thru Starbucks on the way to work....part of the morning coffee routine.


I should also mention that, yes, the truck does get driven at least one day on the weekend for church service....which entails about a 20 mile round trip.

Sounds like we're all good. Thanks for the info; always interesting feedback.
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
How you gonna warm up your engine driving it for only 1 mile ?

Merk, in your climate and that of the OP, you need to worry about warming up as much as I need to put on a space suit to shield me from the winter elements between the house and the garage.
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: thunderfog
No.

Terrible waste of fuel. Use that money for cleaning the engine if you feel the need or shortening the OCI, and save a little bit of the environment in the meantime. Contrary to popular belief, you don't need to be able to eat off your internal engine parts.


The most economically feasible way to keep an engine clean is to get it up to operating temperature on every trip and to change the oil regularly. Very little fuel is used during idle under a no load condition.


A much better solution than just letting the car idle in the driveway for 10 minutes every day would be to take it out on the highway every so often and open it up for 5-10 miles or so at highway speeds. Do this once in a blue moon and you'll use MUCH less fuel and time than idling for over 3 hours a month.
 
Use your fave oil/filter combo every 3 months or 3000 miles,whichever comes first. I'd recommend GTX,Valvoline,or Pennzoil (in specd weight) and a Fram TG or AC Delco filter.
 
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