964Patrick

Hi,

I know some of us use their cars on a daily basis. Do some of you regularly use your car for short drives to work? I live 4 (four) km from my work, which is close enough for me to take a bicylce to work, but also far enough to get soaked in the rain

I'd like to take my car for this daily drive, but everyone keeps telling me thats just really bad for a car, especially since it doesn't warm up. (bad for the exhaust). Why/how bad is this really?

However, Once every two weeks or so, I take her out for a 500km drive.

So, what do you think, do the downsides of this warrant getting a daily beater? Would that be economical?

Cheers!

Patrick

Christer

I may be different to some on here, as I purchased my car to drive it. 4km, or 2.5 miles is not a lot but I wouldn't worry too much about the exhaust - I find personally that due to the relatively short length of the system on a 911 that you shouldn't get any water sitting due to condensation. After 3-4 minutes of driving, my exhaust tip is too hot to touch. I would take the car if you want to - you can always take a slightly longer route home if you fancy it...

warmfuzzies

Whenever I take my car out, winter or summer I always make sure the thermostat has opened.

Yes some of you may find it difficult to beleive my car actually makes it out of the garage, but I have the pictures to prove it... ;-))

Kevin

Indycam

Condensation from repeated short drives will build up water in the case / oil . An engine that never gets hot nuff to boil off the water in the oil will get rusty .

"Once every two weeks or so, I take her out for a 500km drive."
That will do fine for getting the water out from the other short drives .

http://www.aopa.org/asf/publications/sa25.pdf
page four and five under , "how to make your engine live longer" .

jimq

I take short drives all the time. In the summer here it doesnt take long for the oil to get hot enought to burn off any condensation. I get very little "milk" out during a oil change. Any driving is better then none as far as I am concerned.

Euromagination

Every time I drive my 964 I make sure that the thermostat opens as well. Even if where I'm going isn't far enough, I make it far enough.

Is this overkill, I wonder? Am I just putting extra miles on it?

Should I not really worry about it since it gets hot every few days just because of the distance of other particular drives that i have to take anyway?

-H

Indycam

A very nice overkill .

kusee pee

I use mine daily and the commute is short (10 miles round trip). Just had my first service with the car and the oil change showed quite a lot of water sitting. Specialist said this was most likely due to the short journeys. Didn't cause any damage though. However, I've just moved jobs so a longer commute beckons...

ltbrkm3

Patrick, see my just started thread on "Milky white goo...". I think we just need to drive our cars more!
Scott

Euromagination

sweet. i find myself being overly-cautious with this car sometimes. well, a lot of times.

that said, i'll probably continue to use it this as my excuse to drive it more anyway, but it's nice to know the truth so i can not feel so bad if i dont drive it too far every single time. thnx again!


harry

964Patrick

Thanks Guys! I guess I should just be doing what I bought it for, and not worry about it - Driving!

pete000

I do 6 miles each way. I also ponder if this is really enough to get any heat in the engine. When I get to work the temp guage is just 1/4 the way up. On weekends the car gets a true warm up ! 911's seem to take a really long time to get fully warm. Like 1/2 an hour

Red rooster

Patrick,
A 4km trip done on a regular basis will kill the motor !
Its not just 911s but anything.
90% of motor wear occurs in the first mile .Goodbye rings / guides etc.
It would maybe be cheaper ,long term , to call a cab !!

Why not move further from your work !!!!

All the best

Geoff

dfinnegan

Hang on, I'm confused, if I drive a mile to work each day, or 100 miles, I still have the first "high wear" mile included. How is just a mile worse than a mile plus 99? Aside from the moisture problem described, that is.

pete000

I think they are saying

one 1 mile trip 100 times is worse than one 100 mile trip with out turning off the engine.

100 start ups with 1 mile of use VS 1 start up with 100 miles of use.

IMHO