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  1. Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Posts
    3,938
    #11
    Quote Originally Posted by niky View Post
    Driving short distances in traffic is bad for the oil. It can cause premature engine wear if you don't religiously follow oil changes. For sensitive engines (i.e.: those with tight tolerances like the Altis, or those with pretty loose tolerances, like some old diesel engines), you might want to change oil sooner than 5000 kilometers if you always drive in traffic.
    How is driving short distances in traffic bad for the oil? Can you give us references or the technical explanation, please?

    I think that driving short distances within a short period of time is WORSE than driving short distances in traffic where the oil gets to reach normal operating temp. Am I right?

  2. Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Posts
    22,705
    #12
    Quote Originally Posted by woohoo View Post
    How is driving short distances in traffic bad for the oil? Can you give us references or the technical explanation, please?

    I think that driving short distances within a short period of time is WORSE than driving short distances in traffic where the oil gets to reach normal operating temp. Am I right?
    Any short drive is bad for the engine.

    A new engine will usually get up to temperature within one kilometer. Prior to that, the oil is cold and (usually) more viscous. With modern multigrade oils, the difference in viscosity isn't so bad... for example, a 5w40 oil has the same viscosity as a 40 oil when hot but the same viscosity as a 5 oil when cold, since a 40 oil will be too thick for proper lubrication when cold.

    So there's less wear, but you have to consider that each cold-start cycle will start everything inside the engine moving with little extra lubrication on the top of the engine, around the valvetrain... which causes metal wear.

    So whether it's in traffic or on the open road, short trips are relatively bad for your engine due to the increased number of start-stop cycles (but mitigated now by stronger starters and better oils).

    But traffic makes it a double whammy. Your engine is at idle most of the time, where it is usually least efficient... there's less valvetrain lubrication (relatively... because the pump is working less)... the thermostat cycles more between hold and cold, and there's no moving air through the engine bay to carry the heat out. It's the heat soak that actually gets to you... the lack of cooling air over the radiator and makes for hotter coolant, hotter oil, heat-soaked electronics (which eventually leads to ignition coil, IACV, cam position sensor, etcetera... damage).

    When your car is moving freely down the road, it's running cooler because of airflow through the radiator and engine bay, the engine is turning over at higher rpms, which mean more coolant and oil flow, and the higher rpms make for smoother engine running.

    Which is why I mention the Altis. Engine failures in the US were traced to the long oil change interval (in the US, the Altis has the same long interval as the Civic) mixed with conditions that the engineers didn't consider... namely the engine sitting in traffic for long periods of time, where the heat and wear turned the oil into sludge.

    Actually, the US is a good example of the effects of long/highway trips versus short trips... it's not unheard of for compact cars in the US to log over 300,000 (around 500,000) miles without an overhaul... whereas here, thanks to the heat and traffic, you'll be looking at working on gaskets within 150,000 - 200,000 kilometers.
    Last edited by niky; September 10th, 2008 at 02:17 PM.

    Ang pagbalik ng comeback...

  3. Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Posts
    407
    #13
    Very informative. Thanks Niky!

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Running Cold - Advise on short distance driving