Thus spake Jim Yanik <jyanik@abuse.gov> :

>ChrisB <ChrisB@somewhere.someplace.com> wrote in
>news:q7idnXKJ17itRnHVnZ2dnUVZ_tHinZ2d@giganews.co m:
>
>> Greetings all,
>>
>> I was just wondering what additional maintenance needs to be done on
>> vehicles that are hardly driven? I was just sitting here and thinking
>> about it and I believe I put 4,000 miles on one car and 3,000 miles on
>> the other car in one year's time.
>>
>> On one vehicle, my Mustang, the miles were mostly long trips in excess
>> of 100 miles. On the other vehicle, my Civic, the miles were mostly
>> from short trips with an occasional 100+ mile trip. As the price of gas
>> went up, I left the Mustang at parked and started driving the 1997 Civic
>> more.
>>
>> Regardless, I keep hearing that it is just as bad to not drive a car as
>> it is to drive a car and was wondering if I needed to do anything above
>> and beyond the regular maintenance that I perform on my cars now?
>>
>> -Chris
>>
>
>WRT your Civic,you will find rubber seals drying out/becoming brittle from
>lack of use. Rust will form on steel parts not kept lubricated by use and
>then their abrasiveness will grind on other seals,making them fail sooner.
>
>short trips don't "bake off" moisture that builds up in your oil,then you
>get "mayonnaise" forming;a sort of white goop/sludge made of water and
>oil.So,you need to change oil more frequently/use a synthetic oil,and drive
>the car long enough to fully heat up the motor periodically.
>
>brake fluid also absorbs water and then corrodes the cylinders and
>pistons,making them more abrasive and wearing seals faster.

My sister had to replace the muffler in her 90 CRX at about 40K
because it was 15 years old and her average commute is about 15
minutes. Which agrees with you comments. She did do the oil every
4-5 months, but she did that herself, so it wasn't too pricey. But
the muffler rusted through.