Dillon Pyron wrote:
> Thus spake Jim Yanik <jyanik@abuse.gov> :
>
>> ChrisB <ChrisB@somewhere.someplace.com> wrote in
>> news:q7idnXKJ17itRnHVnZ2dnUVZ_tHinZ2d@giganews.com :
>>
>>> 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.

Two years ago, I had to have the tail pipe on the 1997 Civic going to
the muffler replaced because it rusted through where it bent right
before the muffler. A local muffler shop just cut the rusted section,
fabricated a new section, and welded it in.

The funny thing, even with a hole in the pipe the size of a quarter, my
car still didn't make as much noise as those Civics with the fart cannon
exhausts.