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Tips for Driving Rarely?

D

Dylan

New CEG'er
Joined
Feb 8, 2003
Messages
22
Location
Upstate NY
Hello all,

I've got a 1996 Contour GL with the Zetec, 130k miles. I have decided to take the bus to work and the gym every day because its actually pretty convenient for my current situation, and for environmental and financial reasons. So I estimate I will only be driving my car a couple times a week, down from nearly every day the past 12 years.

Is there anything I should be concerned about mechanically with the car, due to this decreased use? My battery is only 1 year old, I use Mobil 1 oil, and was thinking of putting some fuel system cleaner in soon. I live in upstate New York, so cold nights are also soon ahead.. Thanks for the help!

-Dylan
 
My car runs with Mobil-1, and while it sat in the driveway for seven months, I was sure to start it atleast 1-2 times a week. It never missed a beat:cool:.
 
Redlineracer12 said:
I like to keep my gas tank full when I don't drive my car. Less air in the tank to hopefully keep the gas from going bad longer.
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x2 That was a problem our truck had. It is a 79 F-250 with 17K original miles but it started to miss/hesitate...then not running at all. The gas tank eventually started to rust from the inside contaminating everything. Took us a little bit to figure out that was what was going on. Granted the gas tanks on the tour are not metal, but it is a good idea to keep the tank full....even for the fuel pumps sake.
 
If you fill it up you might want to consider putting a fuel stabilizer in with the gas. As far as I know it shouldn't hurt anything even if you slowly use it up.
 
cobrawannabe said:
My car runs with Mobil-1, and while it sat in the driveway for seven months, I was sure to start it atleast 1-2 times a week. It never missed a beat:cool:.
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Only wanted to add I wouldn't start the car weekly w/o driving it---if the car doesn't get to full operating temp, you'll do more harm than good.
When I store my cars for the winter, a full tank of gas w/ stabilizer and a battery tender was all I did after a good cleaning and quality indoor cover.
If you drive the car and get to operating temp a few times a week, I doubt there's much to worry about.
-J
 
might want to get a battery maintainer...I recently started using one and makes starting the car less of an event if I hadn't had a chance to run it in a couple weeks...
 
You don't need to buy all this stuff, even if it does in deed sit over time. A full tank is recomended. Also just start the car every once a week and it will be fine.
 
Harrry said:
You don't need to buy all this stuff, even if it does in deed sit over time. A full tank is recomended. Also just start the car every once a week and it will be fine.
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That's cool if you'd start it once a week but it's definitely not what I'd do with mine or recommend to anyone.
-J
 
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