Stop and go driving hurts my car?

Question

I just bought a brand new chevy express cargo van for my company and I really like the car. I am worried that the way I drive may hurt the car under the hood. I usually make deliveries of my product to locations that are about 1 mile to 3 miles apart from eachother, than about half hour to hour and a half driving to get from one city to the next. My question is (hopefully a mechanic answers), I usually park my car, unload for about 10 minutes than get in, turn the car on and put it in gear and get to my next location which is just less than a minute away, and do that like, 10 times? in a day. Will that hurt my car? are there any special maintenance issues I should be aware of?

Thanks

Answer 1

Its good that your getting a variety of driving in (city driving not freeway) to break in the engine. keep the rpms lower for the first 500 miles or so. the owners manual should have something saying this so look in there for "engine break in" (or something of that nature) for more specifics. As for the off and on im sure its ok. i mean if you can just leave it running as long as you can keep a close eye on it, but thats kinda hard to do these days.

Answer 2

I used to have a Mobile R.V. repair business with the same kind of driving habits you talk about. The stop and go driving is rated as "severe service". Step up the oil change intervals to 3,000 miles; put in the largest battery that will fit (because of all the starting and stopping you do the battery will not get much of a chance to get recharged by the alternator); and make sure it never overheats. A good engine oil and transmission oil cooler will definitely help it last longer and run cooler. It may already have them though, especially if it is is the 3500 Express Van. You will also go through brakes faster. Have them inspected often until you get a good feel on how long they last with the type of driving you do.

Answer 3

Hell for a car is stop and go. Taxicab in NYC.

Heaven for a car is long-haul freeway driving at 50 mph, high enough to hold top gear but not so high that it spends a lot of energy pushing air aside.

The taxicab will have the shortest service life (I'm talking miles, not hours, since that's how we measure vehicle life). It'll also have the worst fuel economy.

Seems like your van is gonna have a pretty good life for a working vehicle.

Answer 4

i own a repair shop and been at this for 36 years,and yes it is going to put a little extra wear and tear on things like the starter,and door hinges ,and even brakes,its not going to kill it but it will require more general service than normal vehicle would require,but it should also last as long as any other vehicle would also, if you keep up the maintenance on it,just service it real good and keep all the small things repaired on it,and you,ll get good service from it,but it is going to put more wear and tear on certain parts of it,but there's no way around it either,take care of it though,and it should last a very long time,good luck hope this helps.

Answer 5

I don't think there are any maintenance issues to worry about. I would not turn the vehicle off if you didn't have to, just let it run. Everytime you start a vehicle, it is usually dry, meaning the oil on the walls of the cylinders has run down and needs to be pumped back up, so just let it run and you will be better off.

Answer 6

The stop and go driving is harder on brakes, because you use them more and there is a little more wear and tear on the car from starting and stopping all the time. Just keep the maintenance up on it you'll be fine. They are tough vehicles.

Answer 7

nicely, it also relies upon on the type of your vehicle. once you've some thing previous or earlier damaged, or perhaps with you've been doing with a structure and engine, you may want to unbalance the equipment and regrettably sufficient you may want to truthfully finally end up with out equipment the teeth interior the gearbox, like an previous guy who ate too a lot sweats for the period of his life. This also relies upon on your seize. yet do not situation, the possibilities are extreme very low.

Answer 8

i work for dhl (courior service) and i leave my van running all day .leaving your vehicle run for that 5 to 10 minutes wont use a ton of gas and it will slow down engine wear because the most engine wear comes while cranking the engine to start it, also it will save on your starter.

Answer 9

yes stop and go driveing dose hurt your motor but it's ok cus
next time u chang your motor oil go into the auto parts store and buy a can of Eng Restore they sell it in 4Cyl 6Cyl and 8Cyl can's that will help your motor alot

www.restoreusa.com

Answer 10

You may want to use synthetic oil, it's more durable. I would not idle it for ten minutes to drive one minute. I think that would be worse for it, and use more gas.