Hi,

For about a week Im going to be driving my 300D four times a day, only about 5 miles a trip. While in a car I would probably care less, since the diesel apparently needs a lot more power to start, especially if ambient temps will be 40-50, so a glow cycle will be necessary.
If Im driving 5 miles four times a day, each time over 2 hours apart, should i be worried about my battery? will that be long enough for the alternator to refresh the battery(the battery is about a year old, BTW) or should I make it a point to drive a little farther every few trips to ensure charging?
Thanks

JMH

I would drive some longer distances. 5 miles inst enough for your engine to reach operating temp.

My drive to work is 7.5 miles, and that is short enough. I usually drive my jeep to work as it reaches op. temp much sooner. Ive always been told not to short trip diesels esp.

my $0.02

I love my diesel but unfortunetely two or three days a week it only gets driven one mile early in the morning before being shut off and parked. The temp gauge only gets to the line right above the bottom line. It's sad.

Alex

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1983 300D (parked for four years)
2012 VW Sportwagen TDI Manual
2001 Miata SE
1962 Chevrolet Corvair Rampside

My 240 D is used only for short trips. My wife uses it to take the kids to school, go shopping and run errands. We live in a small town with a lot of traffic lights. Short distances lots of stop and go. Are all these short trips going to take a toll on my 240. I already change the oil every 2000 miles because of it, what else should I be doing to keep my car running right.

I live in a small town too...west of kansas city...I only live approx. 1 mile from work...I do not drive my 300d to work for that very reason...I don't think it's really good for them to be run for such short periods...I pretty much only drive mine, if I'm going to go 10 mi. or more. Instead, I abuse my new Z71 truck with the same short trip driving..but hey!..it's under wtty. so, so what I have a neighbor down the street with an early 80's 380SL...He drives the thing all the way up to the north end of town every morning to get it warmed up, and has done this for years...so, I don't know...the short trips can't be too good for them?..

sean

A week's worth of 5-mile trips won't hurt, and I think your battery will recharge sufficiently to keep you going during that time. The battery won't be completely refreshed, but it should get enough charge replenished to keep going.

If you wish to feel better about the battery you might stick a charger on it each night.

Ken300D

If you really want to get picky here....any internal combustion engine needs to get to operating temperature and steady state conditions to ensure that it operates properly. Short trips that do not get the engine to normal temperature can be a problem. I'm not sure that these are any more detrimental to a diesel than other types of engines. Block heaters for diesels can help mitigrate these problems - at least on the first short trip. Re-charging of the battery after glowing, is more difficult to overcome, but most batteries should withstand several cycles without any charging at all, and even a short trip would partially restore the lost charge.

All of this all manifests itself in a low milage vehicle that has been driven mainly for short hauls, may have just as much engine wear as a higher milage vehicle that has mostly highway miles. In rotating equipment, startups and shutdowns are usually where the problems occur. Steady state is a piece of cake.

My $.02 worth.

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1976 240D
1987 560SL
2007 E320 Bluetec
1998 C280 (now son’s car)
1982 240D Manual - Sold

My morning commute is only 3.5 miles. I have no problems but I drive around alot in the evenings though, so that probably takes care of it. Worst case scenario, Charge the battery once in awhile.

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1982 300D Turbo "Helga"
380,000 miles

This has been a topic of discussion for some time... I too drive my car, M-F, twice a day to the train station. Maybe (maybe) two miles each way. What I do to switch it up, I take the highway, get the car up to speed, 60-70 after some warming. What I like to do is make sure I drive the car enough so the oil pressure drops to its normal idle level. This is when I know the car is pretty much warm, and can be used across the rev band. I also know that its "sufficiently" warm.

This is enough to satisfy my anal retentiveness to some degree. Now, I've heard people say "your car needs 17 miles to get to proper operating temperature." Where and who said that? Why the magic number 17? Anyway, all I know is its a car.... You own it, not the other way around. If you change your oil every three, your fine.... With diesel compressions being atleast 20:1, and the high temps of these motors, its okay to drive a short distance to burn off any oil toxins that form at standstill.

Drive at least 17 miles... They also say you shouldn't pee in the shower... (LOL)

Perhaps the biggest danger in not running a car up to full operating temp is that you will gradually get condensation in the crankcase and a small amount of water in the oil that can create potential main bearing problems. The amount of condensation is small but can build up, especially this time of year, and you don't change your oil ofen enough to get rid of it properly either. When you run the engine up to full OIL temp (note it's the oil not the coolant that matters) it will boil off most of the moisture. I'd recommend taking your old girl (the car not your wife) out for a decent spin at least once a week. You can tell when the oil has begun to heat up when the pressure gauge drops at idle, with cold oil it stays pretty high. Another issue is that water is a byproduct of combustion and the vapor in the exhaust will condense in a cold exhaust system causing it to rust from the inside out. Again if you run it enough to heat the whole thing up the water rapidly evaporates. Given your short hops, I'm afraid you'll just have to live with the likely shorter exhaust life. The good news is the MBZ systems are pretty robust so it should take a while for them to rust. I wouldn't worry too much about the battery. Worst case if it seems to be getting a bit sluggish to start just hook up a charger for a night every couple of weeks. Better still, an every weekend run of half an hour or so should keep the battery topped up in addition to getting most of the condensation out.

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LRG
1987 300D Turbo 175K
2006 Toyota Prius, efficent but no soul
1985 300 TDT(130K miles of trouble free motoring)now sold

My drive to work has just increased from two to seven miles. (Our group moved to a facility which is company-owned, but farther away.) Anyway, my car seemed to have a bit more power right at the 6.5 mile point, as if it was urging me to get it out on the highway and drive a hundred miles somewhere. (I swear there are times when my car really wants to go on long trips.)

I feel like giving the ol' SD an oil change just for putting up with two mile trips back and forth to work (and home for lunch) for two and a half years. Now if I could only find Mobil Delvac 1 to replace the Rotella "synthetic" I've been running.

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Bob Roe
Lehigh Valley PA USA
1973 Olds 88, 1972 MB 280SE, 1978 Datsun 280Z, 1971 Ford T-Bird, 1972 Olds 88, 1983 Nissan Sentra, 1985 Sentra, 1973 230.6, 1990 Acura Integra, 1991 Volvo 940GLE wagon, 1983 300SD, 1984 300SD, 1995 Subaru Legacy L wagon, 2002 Mountaineer, 1991 300TE wagon, 2008 Murano, 2007 R320CDI 4Matic 52K, some Hyundai, 2008 BMW 535xi wagon, all gone... currently
2007 Honda Odyssey Touring, 2014 E350 4matic

I have been using my 300D for daily commutes <2mi for about five years (30,000mi+) now and have had no problems other than a radiator replacement. Change oil every 3k and use Delvac 1; just because I know this is cruel. I take it out on 100+ mi trips on weekends to clear it out; it's fun for me too.

ATLD

As a rule, if I am just going somewhere a mile or two away and i'm gonna be short, I leave my car running. Like gettina pizza, etc.

Usually, I never go somewhere under ten miles away, as a matter of fact, most of my trips are over 20 miles each way.

I echo the thoughts here about "longer trips" being more helpful. I can't stand it when the girls around here (my non-mechanical side of the family) get the wrong order when parking cars. I have to start one just to get to the other one and then have to turn it off cold. Not good.

Robert Roe: Didn't you like the synthetic rotella? Or was it just the price?

Don

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DAILY DRIVERS:
'84 300DT 298k (Aubrey's)
'99.5 Jetta TDI IV 251k (Julie's)
'97 Jetta TDI 127k (Amber's)
'97 Jetta TDI 186k (Matt's)
'96 Passat TDI 237k (Don's
'84 300D 211k Mint (Arne- Undergoing Greasecar Conversion)

SOLD:
'82 240D 229k (Matt's - Converted-300DT w/ 4 speed

This diesel forum has made me more and more concerned about short trip driving so for quite some time, I've been carrying two keys for my diesel on my key chain. One is a master key and the other one is a copy on a breakaway key ring so that for short trips, I have the option of keeping the car running with one key, and locking it with the other. Makes me feel a lot better.

Alex

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1983 300D (parked for four years)
2012 VW Sportwagen TDI Manual
2001 Miata SE
1962 Chevrolet Corvair Rampside