Is it bad for the engine if you don't turn your car on for a long time?

[jcboy]

Originally Posted by Altitude

Not always. My Yaris has abnormally low miles and I drive it every day.

I guess he forgot the word "generally".

but yeah, if you drive it everyday and you have unusually low miles it means you are doing really short trips. short trips are not as good for the engine as average length trips. the cyclic temperature shifts from cold>hot>cold isnt good for any material actually. it's called thermal fatigue. in engines it's thermo-mechanical (there's stress combined with temperature change)

[gollygirl1]

Originally Posted by jcboy

I guess he forgot the word "generally".

but yeah, if you drive it everyday and you have unusually low miles it means you are doing really short trips. short trips are not as good for the engine as average length trips. the cyclic temperature shifts from cold>hot>cold isnt good for any material actually. it's called thermal fatigue. in engines it's thermo-mechanical (there's stress combined with temperature change)

Yeah, I had the same thought too, but you put it better!

[bronsin]

Originally Posted by jcboy

the cyclic temperature shifts from cold>hot>cold isnt good for any material actually. it's called thermal fatigue. in engines it's thermo-mechanical (there's stress combined with temperature change)

Probably why cars that drive 4 or 5 hundred miles a day last so many miles. They only warm up once that whole time whereas cars like mine warm up ~100 times...

[Altitude]

Originally Posted by jcboy

I guess he forgot the word "generally".

but yeah, if you drive it everyday and you have unusually low miles it means you are doing really short trips. short trips are not as good for the engine as average length trips. the cyclic temperature shifts from cold>hot>cold isnt good for any material actually. it's called thermal fatigue. in engines it's thermo-mechanical (there's stress combined with temperature change)

I'm certainly no expert on the matter. But a car driven 100 miles per day for two trips would experience the same number of cold/hot/cold cycles as one driven 10 miles over two trips. I don't think the length of those cycles would matter.

I think YarisSedan's explanation is more accurate in that a car that doesn't get driven everyday will suffer more wear.

[jambo101]

In my sportscar days i'd park the car/s for 5 months during the winter with nothing more than filling the tank to prevent condensation and removing the battery for the winter, never had a problem starting the car/s in the spring.
IMO a couple of weeks isnt a long time, a year is a long time.