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#1
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Is It Bad To Let Car Sit?
My repair shop said that it was bad to let my 1972 250 sit. They said to drive it about a hour a day. I drive it about 1 hour to 2 hours every three or four days. This is because my job is just 10 minutes from my house.
Will this hurt anything?
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Shea See All My Mercedes-Benz Cars And Other Cars (Click Here) Visit http://www.cform.net/ |
#2
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Well, its all relative.
What does he mean, better? How much better? 10%? 20%? Clearly, there are other components which wear with use. Tires, bearings, transmission, engine, starter, just to name a few. It sounds like he is suggesting you put from 2 to 4 times more miles on your car for any given time period than you currently do, which is going to wear out those parts, in general, 2 to 4 times faster. Is there going to be that much more benefit from driving it every day for one hour, to offset the increased wear, not to mention your loss of time and cost of fuel? In my opinion you are doing just fine.
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MB 1986 190D in my past MB 1987 300E on the street MB 1994 'Smoke Silver' E420 in my driveway 1999 Mazda Miata in the fun stable 1964 E-Type Jaguar Coupe- Sold 1970 E-Type Jaguar Coupe- Sold 1968 Corvair Monza Conv. with Turbo Transplant- Sold 1986 Merkur Xr4ti- abandoned various mundane American autos If I'd known then what I know now... Hell, I'd probably still have done it anyways. |
#3
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An hour a DAY? Are you kidding? I don't drive ANY of my cars an hour a day total, let alone all of them!
I suspect what he means is drive it for an hour when you do drive it. Better yet, as far as I am concerned, is to never drive it unless you get it completely warmed up -- engine temp up to normal, full output from the heater in the winter, etc. This is 20 min or so, not more. Short distance driving will kill it from acids in the oil and exhaust, and condensation in the interior. You only need to drive it once a month or so. Any longer sitting, and the torque converter will start to leak down, and the excess tranny fluid will overflow and leak out. Messy. Sitting for extended periods causes water to build up in the brake fluid, causing corrosion, rots the tires faster, and in general lets all the field critters make homes in strange places (such as the air filter housing). Rotors will rust, causing brake problems, and so forth. Not that I take my own advice, mind you -- the 280 isn't licensed yet (hope to get that taken care of this weekend) and the 220D has been sitting all summer waiting on a caliper rebuild I've been putting off. Drive it when the spirit moves you, but make sure you drive it long enough for it to get completely warmed up each time. Peter
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1972 220D ?? miles 1988 300E 200,012 1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles 1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000 1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs! |
#4
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My 108 gets out of the garage every few months, I start it up every so often just for fun, warm her up and shut her down, she still has some expensive gas in the tank, over $2.00 a gallon, if that tells ya anything. It takes about a week of daily driving to really shake her down, and purr......never any problems.
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Tim 300CE 280SE 4.5 Sandals (size 11) |
#5
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I had a 1963 lincoln convertible that I had to replace the muffler on because I never let it run long enough to get the condensation out of it. I also kept fouling plugs for the same reason. I think the trick is not so much to drive it every day as to get it to a good running temperature when you do drive it.
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"BECAUSE KNOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE" G. I. JOE. |
#6
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Take her out on the highway twice a week, 30 mins. each time and everything will be grand.
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Brandon 2008 S550 1957 Dodge D100 1967 VW Microbus 21 Window 2001 Suburban 2004 Beach cruiser bicycle -----------------GO DUKE!----------------- "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here." Patrick Henry 1776 |
#7
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Vintage Mercedes six cylinder engines MUST be exercised well if they are not going to sit dormant all winter. If you just start it and let it idle (even up to normal operating temp) you will foul the plugs out. It's got to at least be revved or simply driven to keep everything clean.
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Regards, Aaron |
#8
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If you plan to use the car so infrequently that a tank of gas lasts for months, then I would suggest that you use a gas stabilizer to prevent the fuel from developing a gummy characteristic that plays hell with carb jets, injector nozzles, etc.
If you use such a product, run the car long enough to consume untreated gas remaining in the fuel lines. |
#9
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I have several cars that sat in my garage for years while I worked abroad. Sitting did not hurt them.
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