Commute too short

[czechsonofagun]

Wife best of all landed her dream job, AP at high school. I am very happy for her, of course, the only problem - the school is less than a mile commute.
Due to the character of the roads, there is no way she could walk or bike and I am afraid it is gonna kill the car fast.
One mile in the morning, one mile in the evening will not allow the engine to warm up properly and it will wear out the engine.

Am I suffering from engineer's paranoia here? Are short distance car runs as devastating as I always believed?

 

[MikeInEburg]

Get her a scooter or moped... Short runs are especially hard on exhaust systems - but I wouldn't loose much sleep over it. She is blessed to have a short commute!
Mike

 

[horsinaround]

Don't worry about it. Consider it a savings.

 

[RobS]

Is there a more bike-friendly route, even if it adds a little distance? A few miles a day is an excellent way to stay healthy!

 

[Egon]

Let the Kids give the car a Friday evening workout!

 

[jimmyj]

Prokop, how do you get to work? Could you trade with her a couple days a week?

One the other hand, she's going to be using the car so very little there won't be any other real wear and tear on it. Good for her.

 

[riptides]

Wife best of all landed her dream job, AP at high school. I am very happy for her, of course, the only problem - the school is less than a mile commute.
Due to the character of the roads, there is no way she could walk or bike and I am afraid it is gonna kill the car fast.
One mile in the morning, one mile in the evening will not allow the engine to warm up properly and it will wear out the engine.

Am I suffering from engineer's paranoia here? Are short distance car runs as devastating as I always believed?

Yes, Get up two hours before her, drive to DC and back. Then give her the car.

 

[LBrown59]

Wife best of all landed her dream job, AP at high school. I am very happy for her, of course, the only problem - the school is less than a mile commute.
Due to the character of the roads, there is no way she could walk or bike and I am afraid it is gonna kill the car fast.
One mile in the morning, one mile in the evening will not allow the engine to warm up properly and it will wear out the engine.

Am I suffering from engineer's paranoia here? Are short distance car runs as devastating as I always believed?

My wife landed a job last week that's only a mile and a half from home.
None of your concerns ever crossed my mind.
I guess I look at it as don't sweat the small stuff.
If it still bothers you You could always take her to work in the morning and pick her up in the evening.
Another solution is take the long way to work and back.

 

[Bird]

Are short distance car runs as devastating as I always believed?

I was always concerned about that myself; more so on the older cars than the newer ones. I think moisture in the exhaust system may lead to premature corrosion, and moisture in the crankcase would cause me to change oil more frequently. However, the fuel savings might offset the cost of more frequent oil changes and exhaust parts. And that's my purely unscientific opinion!

In 1968, I bought one of the first Plymouth Roadrunners with the high performance 383 cu. in. engine. I think carburetors and automatic chokes back then were worse on short trips than our current fuel injection systems. But with my wife driving that Roadrunner to the grocery store and schools, all short trips, about every 3k miles, I'd take it out on the highway, stomp on the accelerator, and watch the black smoke come out of the exhaust. And I had to replace carboned up spark plugs at least every 12k miles.

 

[Egon]

On my 1966 383 with four barrel carb I had to change plugs and points about every 8000 miles. It didn't have many short trips on it.

Still curse that one sparkplug!

 

[Bird]

You must be talking about the back spark plug on the right bank. I learned that it was easier to change that one from under the car. And yep, 12k miles to change points and plugs was the maximum; sometimes 8k.

 

[mjarrels]

Dang... Thats a long commute compared to my wife. She runs the snack bar at the golf course next door. Commute is two par four fairways!

mark

 

[LBrown59]

Dang... Thats a long commute compared to my wife. She runs
the snack bar at the golf course next door.
Commute is two par four fairways!

mark

I recall you posting about that a while back.
Do you ever get any stray golf balls on your place?

 

[mjarrels]

I have bushel baskets piled high like ice cream cones of golf balls in the garage... must have several thousand!

mark

 

[LBrown59]

I have bushel baskets piled high like ice cream cones of golf balls in the garage... must have several thousand!

mark

I thot ya mite have a few on hand.

Ever get a hole in one by hitting a golf ball with the mower blade

 

[irvingj]

Prokop- one other thing to consider-- as mentioned about today's injected (gas) vehicles... I find that they warm up a LOT quicker than the "old" cars did. My wife's Matrix comes off fast idle in about 2 minutes or less, and starts putting out heat in about 8 minutes, even when it's really cold out. I believe they're designed to come up to temp as fast as possible in an effort to minimize pollution.

2-5 minutes of idling before driving a mile... I bet it would come up to normal temp by the time she got to school.

(My VW TDI, on the other hand, is a whole different ballgame.... low fuel use = no heat generated, either! I use a block heater not for starting help --it does fine-- but rather for some HEAT on the way to work!)

 

[Tom_H]

Hmmm, sounds like a situation for an electric vehicle of some sort. I'm not suggesting a new Chevy Volt-though once plug-in hybrids are available, it would fit the bill. I know that there are some planned communities that have zoned lanes for little electric vehicles (called GEMcars-made by Chrysler) that are like enclosed golf carts on steroids. Don't know if that would be street legal on this particular road. Also don't know what the Chrysler bankruptcy did to this company. Is this a freeway, major highway, county road with no shoulders? Is the problem heavy traffic, no shoulders, both, something else. Would an electric scooter be a possibility in good weather? Segway?

If you did go with an IC engine, there are some things like (again) golf carts, utility vehicles like Kawasaki Mule, Kubota RTV, JD Gator, or perhaps an ATV.

I know these sound like some pretty wild thoughts, but then again, it sounds like you are looking for something other than a traditional vehicle, so hope this might help.

Links to small electric vehicles:

http://gemcar.com/

Lakewood Ranch, Florida - An Award Winning Master Planned Community

Planned Community Goes Green With GEM Electric-Car Friendly Designation - Science News - redOrbit

This is another "out there" thought: if you put an engine block heater in the engine of a regular car, put it on a timer such that it comes on and pre-warms the block for a couple of hours before she leaves for work, that might decrease the amount of time it takes for the engine to fully heat up on this short drive. Again, I know this is sort of a wild outside the box idea, but just trying to think creatively.

 

[Bird]

Tom, in February, 1990, we spent a month near Sun City, AZ (Phoenix area). And in Sun City, golf carts were legal on the streets, there were designated small "golf cart only" parking places in shopping centers, etc. We saw both gasoline and electric powered golf carts of all descriptions and brands, I think. The eletric ones that looked like a Mercedes front end would supposedly run 25 mph. I don't know what kind of speed the gasoline powered ones that looked like a Rolls Royce front end would do.

 

[LBrown59]

Tom, in February, 1990, we spent a month near Sun City, AZ (Phoenix area).

We have frends that retired and left here about 15 years ago and moved to W.Sun City, AZ

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Prokop, sounds like a good problem to me. I might think about taking the car out on the weekends for a half hour or so.
I will trade commutes if you like. 4 out of 5 days of the week, my commute is 2.5 hours, each way. The other day I can cut it down to 1.5-2 hours each way. Good thing I have a company vehicle and get paid for a good portion of my travel time.