Wondering if sitting with few quick starts degrad

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My car sat for 4 months with just periodic starts to move it from time to time. Like 30 seconds to a minute each time.
I had just changed the oil with full synthetic and drove it a few hours to dallas where it sat for 4 months. The oil looks as clean and new as it did when i put it in but how would i know if it oxidized or somthing in that 4 month time span?
Ive since had somone drive it back down here 3 hours. Hope i dont need to dump it out?
Thanks in advance for any input.
 
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Originally Posted By: Ohle_Manezzini
Trolling.gif

suggesting somthing or do you just like emojis so much? Lol
 
Originally Posted By: Ohle_Manezzini
7h highway on the oil, plus what half on cold run?

Degrated non potest.

There have not been any cold days on it
 
As a youngster I worked for a man with a substantial car collection. The one ironclad rule was never start the car unless you can drive it for 20-30 minutes.

The 3 hour drive probably helped flash off moisture, etc., but just starting it for a few minutes is likely worse than just leaving it alone...
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
As a youngster I worked for a man with a substantial car collection. The one ironclad rule was never start the car unless you can drive it for 20-30 minutes.

The 3 hour drive probably helped flash off moisture, etc., but just starting it for a few minutes is likely worse than just leaving it alone...


That's how I was told to do it as well. If you start it drive it half an hour, or find a spot where you won't have to move the car at all.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
As a youngster I worked for a man with a substantial car collection. The one ironclad rule was never start the car unless you can drive it for 20-30 minutes.

The 3 hour drive probably helped flash off moisture, etc., but just starting it for a few minutes is likely worse than just leaving it alone...


Absolutely correct.
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
As a youngster I worked for a man with a substantial car collection. The one ironclad rule was never start the car unless you can drive it for 20-30 minutes.

The 3 hour drive probably helped flash off moisture, etc., but just starting it for a few minutes is likely worse than just leaving it alone...


That's how I was told to do it as well. If you start it drive it half an hour, or find a spot where you won't have to move the car at all.


That's my belief as well..(either 30 minute of running or not at all)...

As far as the OP, I would think that his oil is fine for further use.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
As a youngster I worked for a man with a substantial car collection. The one ironclad rule was never start the car unless you can drive it for 20-30 minutes.

The 3 hour drive probably helped flash off moisture, etc., but just starting it for a few minutes is likely worse than just leaving it alone...

Good advice!
 
Since the new Dollar General was built nearby frequent short trips had my oil change message come on about 3000 miles early. Kids friends houses are short trips, too.

Follow your oil life monitor and if the interval is too short switch to regular oil or even Walmart Supertech Synthetic.
 
The oil does not oxidize by just shooting around. I agree with others, do not just start the engine to for a minute. The engine and exhaust need to get up to operating temp for maybe 15 minutes.

I would not dump the oil.
 
Oil should be fine. Think of all the new cars and trucks that sit on dealer lots for 6-24 months looking for an owner. And those vehicles get frequently moved around on short starts, especially in snow-clearing states. I doubt they do any extra oil changes because of those short start and stop cycles. Today's cars handle these short cycles a lot better than the cars of the 1960's to 1980's.
 
To answer your question yes, running it only 30 seconds degrades the oil somewhat (fuel, moisture) but won't hurt anything in the short run. Just take it on a half hour to an hour's drive on the highway, there is absolutely no need to change it.
 
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Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
As a youngster I worked for a man with a substantial car collection. The one ironclad rule was never start the car unless you can drive it for 20-30 minutes.

The 3 hour drive probably helped flash off moisture, etc., but just starting it for a few minutes is likely worse than just leaving it alone...


So, 6 months without moving parts by firing, wouldn't make corrosion a problem? Cylinder liners and other steel parts? What about 1 year or 2? Most people don't put engines in preserve condition, specially sitting cars of non collector owners. Aircraft owners use to hand rotate prop every week, but car is harder to do it. So a quick firing would be better than nothing to coat parts with oil and clean the corrosion that already took place. I'd say, start the thing at least once every other month or you could get the pistons glued in a high moisture environment.

That's, IMO.
 
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Thanks for the responses. I knew that fuel gets in the oil if its not allowed to get up to temp from reading on here. I just didnt know how long it might be for it to render the oil volatile or what have ya. I think ill heed most of yalls adivce and leave the oil in. I will probably only keep it for 5k though instead of the reccomended 7500. Seems like a reasonable compromise and its a cheaper autozone store brand anyway so not like im dumping some fancy expensive brand to soon.
Fortunatley i will be keeping the car home with me now and can take turns driving it and another one i have.
 
Originally Posted By: Ohle_Manezzini
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
As a youngster I worked for a man with a substantial car collection. The one ironclad rule was never start the car unless you can drive it for 20-30 minutes.

The 3 hour drive probably helped flash off moisture, etc., but just starting it for a few minutes is likely worse than just leaving it alone...


So, 6 months without moving parts by firing, wouldn't make corrosion a problem? Cylinder liners and other steel parts? What about 1 year or 2? Most people don't put engines in preserve condition, specially sitting cars of non collector owners. Aircraft owners use to hand rotate prop every week, but car is harder to do it. So a quick firing would be better than nothing to coat parts with oil and clean the corrosion that already took place. I'd say, start the thing at least once every other month or you could get the pistons glued in a high moisture environment.

That's, IMO.


My son's car sat between 6-9 months when he deployed w/o issue. Three of those times it was parked less than a 1/4 mile from the Pacific ocean. Other than needing a jump the car started right up. We did do some prep prior to putting it up, which included a fresh oil change and a heavy dose of UCL in the gas with a stabilizer, and a few other things. I have a feeling a UCL will keep any combustion chamber rust at bay,l everything else is coated with oil when you shut it down.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
As a youngster I worked for a man with a substantial car collection. The one ironclad rule was never start the car unless you can drive it for 20-30 minutes.

The 3 hour drive probably helped flash off moisture, etc., but just starting it for a few minutes is likely worse than just leaving it alone...


I pretty much go by this myself. If I am not going to use my car, I don't start it unless I have to.
 
As I understand it the problem is that with a start and idle the engine will have residual moisture build up. So each time you do that you can add moisture!

Plus your vehicle has a lot of other parts besides just the engine that need use. Transmissions, driveline/differential(s), brakes, etc.
 
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