How often should I drive my car?

[crazygrrrl]

I recently got a 4-banger for my daily commute and I'm saving my Firebird for weekend drives only.

My question is, how often should I drive my car? And also how many miles should be driven to keep my car "healthy"?

I'm wondering if a 40 mile drive per week (on Saturday and Sunday) is enough to keep my bird in good shape, or should I drive the bird on Sunday and also once in the middle of the week?

(I hate driving the bird in my daily commute because of all the big rigs carrying gravel and all the rock chips I get when someone cuts in front of me).

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[img]graemlins/burnout.gif[/img]

[jhkcam]

Yep. I'd say a good forty miles per weekend is enough. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] Thats pretty much my mileage a week sometimes when i'm back in college (home for break right now). As long as you can drive it once or twice a week for a while, you should be fine. Its the 'weeks at a time' that aren't good. [img]smile.gif[/img]

-Justin

[*K*night Rider]

Ive always heard running it 20 minutes every 2 weeks is all you really need to do.

[xjarayax]

haha blaghsfsaf sig test

[*K*night Rider]

sam, yousa crakhed

[JAM]

The amount of miles does not matter. What does matter is that you get all your fluids up to normal operating temps. I would sugest doing that maybe once a week, maybe every 2 weeks.

If you are driving it every weekend then you should be ok. Your car will heat up for sure going 40 miles like you are doing.

Try not to worry to much about what can happen to your car. You got a bird, so enjoy it!

:D

Hope that helps.

[SCv6]

You may want to consider puttin in some sort of seal treatment into you fuel or oil to keep your seals wet also. I think this would help lots with keeping it in running order.

[r&ksport]

I have done this exact same thing (weekends only) for 2 years now with basically no problems.

The only thing I have noticed is the indicator on the battery has turned black (needs to be charged) because it has gotten colder here.

Also during the winter I would disable the alarm system. When it gets cold, the charge on the battery is slowly lost. Our alarms act pretty funny on a low charge batttery. I have been awakened twice around 3am because of this.

[crazygrrrl]

Thanks for all the advice, guys!!!

I don't think I need to worry too much about cold temp storage here. It doesn't go below 40 in the garage, even in the coldest morning.

I'll turn off the alarm and just keep my doors locked, and I'll put some heavy silicone grease on the weatherstrip so everything will stay nice and lubed.

What kind of seal treatment (brand) would be good? Is it needed on a 2001 model?

Thanks! :D

[apiccola]

Be sure to cycle the A/C compressor at least 10 minutes each week. This circulates the oil in the AC lines/compressor vanes, pulls any existing moisture into the descicant, and helps keep the seals from dry rotting. The worst thing you can do to your A/C is not use it.

[CamaroRob97]

you don't have to turn on the ac to do that. Using your defroster uses the ac pump also. They did this so they won't freeze and stuff durnig the winter.