Little Used Vehicles

[Ducked]

Been a number of threads on this lately, main points/questions to emerge being:-

Q:How long can you stretch the OCI?

View 1: You can't: Not obeying the manufacturers recommendations is FOOLISH, WICKED and WRONG.
View 2: A LOT, if your usage ensures the engine gets hot enough to boil off water vapour.

I'd think an engine pre-heater would help with ensuring the engine gets hot enough on even short-trip usage, and there's a technical discussion partly about that in the Interesting Articles forum.

Since I'm supposed to be writing an English test paper I had a bit of a poke around on the internyet instead, and found this discussion :-

https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/makeshift-engine-heater.54384/page-3

Its an OCD GOLD MINE.

I suppose private aircraft engines generally have more idle time, are pricy (and have a pricy mandatory maintenance schedule), and failure is more likely to kill you, but the same basic issues seem to affect little used car engines.

Questions discussed include:-

To heat or not?

To time the heating or not?: Consensus seems to be NOT, since cycling will encourage condensation

Suggestions for combating the condensation include:-

1.Removing your dipstick after using the engine.

2.Removing your oil filler cap after using the engine.

3.Blowing purging air (possibly dessicated) through the engine and/or oil after using the engine.

4. Installing one of these

http://www.harborfreight.com/inline-desiccant-dryerfilter-68215.html

1 and 2 don't seem like very much trouble though you'd have to take precautions against dirt ingress.

3 is too much hassle, but it might be possible to do something with dessicant, even here.

 

[LoneRanger]

You are correct about airplanes that sit as hangar queens and only fly a couple hours a month or less. Aviation piston engine metallurgy < automotive engine metallurgy and so corrosion can set up easier in a seldomly operated aircraft piston engine than in a vehicle engine experiencing the same lack of use. The airplanes that have the least major mechanical problems per TBO period are often the ones that are flown regularly, say a few hours a week or more.

 

[Ducked]

I suppose so, and the metallurgy point is a good one, but my interest was not with light aircraft engines per se, since I'm never likely to have one.

If that had been my interest I'd have posted in the aviation forum.

My interest was in the application of the points discussed to little-used car engines.

In particular, would it be a good idea to remove the oil cap and dipstick after use?

That would be easy to do and costs nothing.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: Ducked

In particular, would it be a good idea to remove the oil cap and dipstick after use?

That would be easy to do and costs nothing.


No.

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: Ducked

In particular, would it be a good idea to remove the oil cap and dipstick after use?

That would be easy to do and costs nothing.


No.


Reasoning?

Or just knee jerk?

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: Ducked

In particular, would it be a good idea to remove the oil cap and dipstick after use?

That would be easy to do and costs nothing.


No.


No +1

Too easy for bugs, dust, small vermin to get in there.

 

[buck91]

Not something I would have ever considered... and now having considered it I would agree with the above. Leave it in to prevent "stuff" from entering. Would be open to hear differing opinions, though.

My Mustang has recently retired to "weekend" status, my plan is oil changes every spring or 3000 miles which ever is first. Charge the battery before winter and avoid salt at all costs. Anybody want some 245/45zr17 snow tires?

 

[bigdawg74]

Originally Posted By: Ducked

That would be easy to do and costs nothing.


Until you forget to put them back and take off down the road.

 

[CrAlt]

My pickup sees little use. Maybe run to Home depot a few times, pickup pellet fuel, or move the car trailer around for projects. Sometimes it sits for months.

I change the oil 1x a year even if it has only a few hundred miles on it. Lube the suspension and spray the underside with Fluid Film. Keep stabil in the gas and the battery hooked up to the battery tender. When I do need it is ready to go. I dont start it unless I need it.

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted By: spasm3
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: Ducked

In particular, would it be a good idea to remove the oil cap and dipstick after use?

That would be easy to do and costs nothing.


No.


No +1

Too easy for bugs, dust, small vermin to get in there.


I did say above "you'd have to take precautions against dirt ingress". This'd probably be something like a wire gause screen/plug, with a lid the catch fallout, or maybe scooter fuel filter, which are dirt cheap.

The requirement is something that gives better ventilation than what's already there without being open. Would have thought that'd be achievable.

You could go more hi-tech if you could be bothered. Maybe a little PC-fan on a timer?

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted By: bigdawg74
Originally Posted By: Ducked

That would be easy to do and costs nothing.


Until you forget to put them back and take off down the road.


Could happen, though, depending on what you put there instead, it needn't be a total disaster.

For a while I was regularly replacing my dipstick when parked with a magnetic pickup tool and hanging the dipstick off the steering column inside a drinking straw.

Can't say it'd be impossible to miss that, but if I had, perhaps I shouldn't have been driving anyway.