If it were my car and I had to park there, I'd start it, move it and shut it down with no warmup in your situation.

Is it completely flat? Could you roll it one way or the other to avoid half the starts as it's the starting that's going to cause the most wear. If it's too flat, maybe you could get some race ramps so you could drive up on the ramp, and then, when you had to move it, just let it roll back without starting it. Just remember with the car off, you won't have power assisted brakes.

 

Thing is I'm not turning it on off on off several times a day. Only one in the morning to move it out. And off in the night when I put it back away....it doesn't get super cold here in california like other places so is a cold start being harash just a cold start being harsh? And since I'm only turning it on and off once a day is it just as bad? I could leave it outside with a car cover for good but then is it worth it?

 

I also forgot to add that I atleast take the car for a decent drive every single week once or twice a week....if that changes anything...

 

1. Any quick start / turn off like that is bad. Colder is worse.

2. No because once a day it's better than 10 times a day doing this.

3. No car cover. Find a way for the cleaning ladies to work around ur car while still in the garage.

 

And if I can't? Then just drive it around the block and let it warm up then shut it down?

 

My dad was explaing this situation to me a few nights ago when we were cleaning the garage.

He has a bike that he uses for the summer so we can save on gas money...so it sits in the garage for months on end. He says that oil will get into all the lines like normal, but if it sits there for a long time, it will do something or other. He says if you once a month or maybe once every 2 months turn it on and let the oil circulate for about 15-20 min then everything will be set.

He told me that if you have a car or anything that has oil in it in general, if it sits in the garage for a long time, you should drain the oil all the way if you just want it to sit in the garage. SO no worries there...all you really have to do is just put it in N and maybe push it out with your foot out the door...no problems there.

just doing what he told me to do if I keep a car in a garage for speacial stuff

 

Well I don't want to store the car....just monday thru friday usualy I don't drive it. Only weekends.....now I have some people saying it won't hurt anything by simply moving it in and out....and others saying it will and its better not to turn it on at all....I feel like I need a poll or vote or something....any others that can chime in would be appreciated :]

 

don't drive it around the block everyday because you will look like a jackass... just do what playaer said n neutral that isht

 

Lol yeah your right, my neighbor drives his little truck around the block everyday and I assume he's on drugs. Anyway as you can tell my garage is really small and the car barely fits on top of that its a on a bit of a slope. So itl be easy to roll out but not in. Ugh its frustrating. I'm just going to park it outside under a cover. I hate owning things I care about too much :[

 

The only problem i can remember for extended down times on an engine is the oil off the cylinder walls completely strips itself in 2 weeks. Obviously starting the car at that point would put more wear than usual on engine components.

Modern cars and their designs will hold up to quite a bit of extended abuse and lubricate themselves in about the first second of fire up.

Gasoline itself will go bad after a very long time say like 6 months or more, it starts to turn into basically varnish. Oils wont do that so quickly and any stabilizing agent will prevent it like stabil for gas and oils.

 

From a mechanical view cold starts generate the most wear,fuel mixture is richer which washes cylinder walls,more condensation during the warm-up phase,takes a few miles down the road to evaporate and push out the tailpipe.If you put your car away for the season leave the fluids filled and if you start the car drive it for the same reasons mentioned above.Unleaded fuel begins deteriote after a month.

 

Like I said. I drive it on the weekends on good long drives. And I'm not storing the car or anything of that sort. From now on when I turn it on in the morning, I'm just going to drive it untill it warms up to normal operating temp then park it. Will this be a decent solution?

 

Don't overcomplicate things, it's just a car. If you're worried about the wear caused by a cold startup, you should also be worried about the wear caused by running the engine, or engaging the clutch to move it. What about the hinges when opening the door, or the seat, or key insertion? Can you say OCD? People will always have thier opinions, but you won't find any proven facts in this discussion. One way is not better than the other, but one way is easier.

 

I talked to my dad again...and he is a technitian...so I trust his word.

I told him you dont use it mon-fri and juts the weekends...just turn it on and move it 10 feet mon-fri

He said it's totaly fine becasue you arent doing any harm to the car at all. He said in fact it could be better since oil circulates it everyday. He says it's just like using it as a daily driver, it's not going ruin anything.

He explained it to me as if we went on vacation for 2 weeks in Hawaii or anywhere where we couldnt use our cars at all...when we come back and go to work the next day, it isnt going to harm the car if we turn it on and go...he did say it might be best to warm it up after some peroid of time...but you do that every weekend, so it's fine.

 

+1 BILLION!

Though i am OCD, and i do wonder about all those things on a regular basis . I still agree though.