Short journeys

[Dan_C]

The age old question, are short journeys bad for petrol engines? I know they are for diesels but is driving for less than 5 minutes regularly doing the engine harm?

I work from home, so most of my journeys are short-ish, the supermarket is 1.5 miles away and going the quick way takes around 5 minutes. This isn't really long enough for the engine to fully reach optimal running temperature? 

I used to take it on the motorway once a week frequently but unfortunately haven't been able to do so in nearly 6 months. Last week my engine flooded and struggled to start presumably because of too much cold air restricting the spark plugs ability to ignite.

I can go the long way to the supermarket which would be around 10 miles and take 20 minutes, this would involve some dual carriageway at 50mph. I've done this a few times a week as its got really cold recently to help engine run for a bit longer.

Is the only true way to just take it on the motorway once a week for say 30-60 minutes at 70mph? How long should I drive it for to fully warm up the engine?

[Guy Heaton]

I wouldnt worry too much.  My mother in law has a 2001 Pug 206 with 30k on the clock and she only ever drives short distances in it.  It's still going strong.

[Dan_C]

This is a 2007 Fiesta that's done about 90k!

[cjay1]

i dont think its that bad just make sure you keep up with maintenance and you should be ok. 

[TomsFocus]

Quick answer is yes...  Short journeys are bad for any engine.  Plus the battery, exhaust, and even the oil needs to get up to temp and burn off any condensation otherwise it starts growing mayo in the breathers and rocker cover etc.

But realistically it's probably not worth your time & fuel taking it for regular motorway runs.  

If you do want to then 30 minute round trip with some fast roads should heat the engine sufficiently.  Ideally wide, twisty B roads as cruising motorways is surprisingly gentle!

[Dan_C]

2 hours ago, cjay1 said:

i dont think its that bad just make sure you keep up with maintenance and you should be ok. 

oil is changed once a year, only do about 5000 annual miles. Sparks were changed 6 months ago and the battery is all good.

[Dan_C]

2 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Quick answer is yes...  Short journeys are bad for any engine.  Plus the battery, exhaust, and even the oil needs to get up to temp and burn off any condensation otherwise it starts growing mayo in the breathers and rocker cover etc.

But realistically it's probably not worth your time & fuel taking it for regular motorway runs.  

If you do want to then 30 minute round trip with some fast roads should heat the engine sufficiently.  Ideally wide, twisty B roads as cruising motorways is surprisingly gentle!

See thing is the temperature gauge needle just about goes to the middle once I've parked up in the Tescos car park. But that's not a proper indication of engine oil temperature anyway.

I used to play in a band that did shows outside of London most of the time so a lot of M25/M1/M3/M4/M23 journeys each weekend! Sadly I don't play in it anymore so its mostly short journeys.

[TomsFocus]

12 hours ago, Dan_C said:

See thing is the temperature gauge needle just about goes to the middle once I've parked up in the Tescos car park. But that's not a proper indication of engine oil temperature anyway.

I used to play in a band that did shows outside of London most of the time so a lot of M25/M1/M3/M4/M23 journeys each weekend! Sadly I don't play in it anymore so its mostly short journeys.

The coolant temp isn't a live gauge anyway, it doesn't display the real temp, just designed to sit in the middle unless there's a fault...it's meant to reduce drivers anxiety.  I'd be very surprised if the oil temp even hits 50c on a gentle 1.5 mile trip, I have an oil temp gauge in my current car and drive about the same distance to the supermarket albeit in a diesel.  

There are loads of cars that only do short journeys though, would think that's especially true in London, it's just something to be aware of rather than something to worry about.  Engine longevity isn't an issue as it'll never do high mileage so you just have to accept that some things (battery etc) will probably need replacing more often on a low miler than say tyres which would wear out quickly on high milers...