What is the minimum I should drive my car?

Factual Questions
1

I got a new job and am commuting by bus to work now. I haven’t so much as got into the car in the first week of work. I could easily buy enough groceries to last me 2-3 weeks at a time.

So… if necessity doesn’t make me drive it more than once or twice a month, should I be driving it more for other reasons? To stop things from getting gummed up and clogged? To keep a charge on the battery?

How often and how long should I drive my car, at a minimum, for maximum car health?

FYI, it’s a 2002 Mazda Protege 5 with just under 60 thousand miles – which is already pretty low. It’s had no serious mechanical issues, though I replaced the tires and brakes not too long ago.

2

As I understand it, when a n engine is run cold, acids, gasoline and water collects in the oil and is then burned off/evaporated/whatever when the engine reaches full temperature.

Also, water will collect in a cold muffler/catalytic converter and can rust out.

15- 20 miles on the freeway.

Hopefully Rick or Gary T will be in with a more technical explanation.

3

ETA: Gotta type faster or say less …

For sure you want to get it fully warmed up when you do drive it. That might be 5-10 minutes in summer, but 20-25 minutes in a Madison winter.

As well, you want to drive enough to fully recharge the battery from the sitting & the starting. That will take longer in winter due to more loss while sitting, more energy consumption while starting, and likely more accessories turned on while recharging (heater, wipers, lights, defog, etc.).

You also want to not let the battery get as low in winter vs in summer. i.e. the car might start with a 20% full battery in summer but need a 40% full battery in winter.

I used to keep a car outdoors in St. Louis & run it every 7-10 days for routine errands, probably 20-30 minutes running each time. I never got close to having a problem with starting in winter.

Brakes will be a little flaky if not used that often. So after each start, give them a careful workout as you get away from the parking space. Again this is more likely to be an issue in winter than in summer.

Bottom line: I’d bet that with a new-ish battery you could probably get by running it every 6 weeks through your winter and every 2-3 months in the warmer weather. OTOH, if your battery is the factory original from 2002, it’s on its last legs regardless of mileage. Change it now, or certainly before November.

In the longer term, tires are gonna suffer after 5 years or so regardless of how few miles you’ve put on them. So be on the lookout for cracking, bulges, and odd vibrations while driving.

Oil changes should be done every 6 months or so even if you’ve put on only a few miles. Your owner’s manual may have info about service intervals for low usage. If so, follow that.

4

Pretty good advise here.
If you drive it every week or two and run it till fully warm (not just the coolant, but the oil also) it should be fine. 10-20 minutes of driving at a stretch should do it.
This does not mean 5 minutes to the store, shop for 30, 5 minutes to the next store, shop for 30, 5 minutes home.
Also if you are driving this few miles, you will need to change the oil based on time not mileage.

5

Some cars age differently when parked. I can’t say what it is for your vehicle exactly.
Modern vehicles have higher parasitic losses through the electrical system when parked then in the old days. Therefore, some vehicles will have a battery run low in as little as two weeks in winter. (Remember, at 32 degrees you might have half the battery as at 70 degrees.) The other factors are the seals, gaskets and lubrication surfaces that can dry up when not used. I had a Chevy automatic that I parked a few months once and when I started it, the torque converter seal leaked about two quarts in two minutes. Fortunately, then it resealed itself. Brake parts also get rusty fast.

Bottom line:
I recommend driving every ten days or so and consolidating errands to this day so the run is longer and will circulate things and heat up properly. I would not park it with the emergency brake on so it won’t rust up on you and stick the brakes. A little STP in the oil might help keep something oily on lubricating surfaces too. Do not park on grass or dirt as this promotes rust through the moisture coming off the ground. Some folks will place some moth balls under the hood to keep the mice away because unused vehicles attract mice. I don’t know if that works though.

6

Somewhere online the government had a site instructing military personnel what to do with their car when they were deployed. I don’t recall how to find the site. Their instructions were much more simplified than some posts above but since I don’t remember I won’t disagree with previous posters.

7

There’s a difference between storing your car for 6+ months and expecting to do a bit of maintenance / de-mothballing before using it again versus storing it for a number of days but expecting it to start right up and be fully usable at any moment with no prep.

8

What happens that requires the oil to be changed?

9

No matter how well an engine is made, there will be some amount of leakage past the piston rings and into the bottom end. Water is a byproduct of combustion. Unless the oil is allowed to get hot enough to turn the water to steam and allow if to be removed through the crankcase ventilation, it will mix with the oil and oxydize it, causing sludge and making the oil more acidic.

10

But of the vehicle is allowed to get up to temperature when it is driven, are the sub 3000 mile oil changes still needed?

11

Read your owners manual. They specify time or mileage which ever comes first. On my car it is 7,500 miles OR 1 year.
Trust me based on what I have drained out of crankcases yes it needs it.

12

Thanks. I haven’t looked at my owners manual but I assumed that it would say something more like 3 months or 3000 miles, which seemed a bit excessive.

13

Just make a habit of hopping on the freeway every Sunday and driving 20 minutes across town for a cup of coffee.

14

You might want to consider getting a battery tender, they aren’t very expensive, about $25, and will trickle a little juice through the battery every once in a while to keep it charged. This is what most people who store a classic car in the winter do.

Of course it is only convenient if you’ve got the car in a garage rather than running an extention cord out to where ever it is parked.

15

I bought a car (a Honda Civic wagon) in 1990 and the owner’s manual stated that the car was intended to be run daily. I ignored that advice and after only 17 years, it was a rustbucket. But the engine was fine. The replacement I got in 2007 has about 13,000 km (8000 miles) on it and I go away for three weeks every winter and I have never had any problems. I use it to go the market (under a mile each way) once a week and downtown to concerts (4 miles each way) a couple times a month. Aside from that I drive to NY or Boston once or twice a year (maybe 400 miles each way). Otherwise it sits in the driveway or, in winter, in a heated garage. It may not be best for the car, but I am not about to let my life revolve around the needs of the car. Sometimes I wonder if it would cost less to use taxis for marketing and concerts and rent cars for those trips.

16

And if parked outside they have solar ones also that plug into the cig outlet or can be hard wired if the lighter outlet is switched off with the ignition. It sits on the dashboard or rear deck usually, but there are other options.