Quick Move, or Drive around the block a few times? (1 Viewer)

[Jeffwouldgo]

Our kids use a good portion of our driveway while playing. Which means sometimes we have to move our cruiser out of the way. I hate the thought of doing any unwanted damage to the engine.

So the question is.... should we turn it on, move it 15 feet and shut it off?
Or let it sit a minute, drive around the block a few times and then park it?

Or am i just worrying too much?

 

[Markuson]

Our kids use a good portion of our driveway while playing. Which means sometimes we have to move our cruiser out of the way. I hate the thought of doing any unwanted damage to the engine.

So the question is.... should we turn it on, move it 15 feet and shut it off?
Or let it sit a minute, drive around the block a few times and then park it?

Or am i just worrying too much?

Worrying too much.
It can sit for a good long while.
Mi e sat for months after my injuries.

When you do start it up, throw it in and out of 4Lo...but that’s something we all need to do once a month or so.

 

[Jeffwouldgo]

It doesn't sit long, I just worry about quick start up and shut offs. I didn't know if things needed to be warmed up a little or causing wear to the motor.

 

[Sandroad]

I think the mechanicals will be fine. You might want to either charge the battery or drive it a few miles every couple weeks to keep the buttery healthy. Frequent on/off could discharge the battery too much.

 

[PDoyle]

Driving it a few miles every couple of weeks isn't working for my LX. I jumped in it last night to go pick up groceries and the battery was doornail dead.
It was in the garage so I put a charger on the battery. I could hear some clicking sound in the dash. The charger was telling me it was putting out only 6 volts. I pulled the cables off and charged the battery direct and that solved the problem. Bolts for battery are 10mm.
How do those small trickle chargers work for newer cars?
maybe I'll trickle a couple times a week now. My battery is probably 4 years old.

 

[afgman786]

Our kids use a good portion of our driveway while playing. Which means sometimes we have to move our cruiser out of the way. I hate the thought of doing any unwanted damage to the engine.

So the question is.... should we turn it on, move it 15 feet and shut it off?
Or let it sit a minute, drive around the block a few times and then park it?

Or am i just worrying too much?

I get your concern.. it just doesn't feel like. But I highly doubt you'll cause any serious damage if you're doing that just to give your kids space and then also driving it around regularly other days.

 

[Battleship]

Or am i just worrying too much?

I think about the same thing. I figure if you just do it occasionally, no big deal. It'll be on one of your warm up drives that somebody nails your truck.

 

[hankinid]

Our kids use a good portion of our driveway while playing. Which means sometimes we have to move our cruiser out of the way. I hate the thought of doing any unwanted damage to the engine.

So the question is.... should we turn it on, move it 15 feet and shut it off?
Or let it sit a minute, drive around the block a few times and then park it?

Or am i just worrying too much?

You won't get unwanted damage to the engine, assuming you drive it for normal trips off and on.

How do those small trickle chargers work for newer cars?
maybe I'll trickle a couple times a week now. My battery is probably 4 years old.

Trickel charges work on newer cars...the charger has no idea how old the car or battery is. I've got a Schumacher trickle charger on a large Kubota tractor, a Battery Tender on a smaller tractor, and both the LX and Cruiser are prewired for a NOCO Genius charger. No problems with any of them.

 

[bloc]

Running the engine longer won't reduce the very very small amount of damage caused with each start while the oil system doesn't have pressure. If anything, it increases it, as you are running the engine longer on cold oil.

As long as it is getting good and warm somewhat frequently (every couple of weeks) to burn off condensation and combustion byproducts that make their way into the oil you should be golden.

 

[ga12r1]

Overthinking. “Normal” people all over the country have these in Tundras and I guarantee they aren’t babied. The 5.7 isn’t made of glass, it’s not that fragile.
Ih8mud can make people (me included) crazy.

 

[RET2]

Overthinking. “Normal” people all over the country have these in Tundras and I guarantee they aren’t babied. The 5.7 isn’t made of glass, it’s not that fragile.
Ih8mud can make people (me included) crazy.

Amen!!

 

[PDoyle]

You won't get unwanted damage to the engine, assuming you drive it for normal trips off and on.



Trickel charges work on newer cars...the charger has no idea how old the car or battery is. I've got a Schumacher trickle charger on a large Kubota tractor, a Battery Tender on a smaller tractor, and both the LX and Cruiser are prewired for a NOCO Genius charger. No problems with any of them.

Prewired ?

 

[KLF]

Prewired ?

Yup. I have a NOCO Genius 2-bank charger buried behind my grill, beside the driver's side headlight. I use it once a week to top off the AGM batteries, although lately I've been using it a lot more since I only use the truck once a week. It was a royal PITA to get it mounted, had a fab a custom bracket.

 

[PDoyle]

That looks sweet. The LX looks like it has a ton of room in that area.
What size battery did you install?

 

[ckkone]

Some of these threads .

 

[hankinid]

Prewired ?

A NOCO cable is attached to battery + and -. It exits out the front of the grill, so I can plug the charger in easily and move it to different machines as needed...it's primarily a winter setup. Cables come with the charger and you can buy extras from NOCO. The Shumacher (sp??) and Battery Tender are permanently mounted and plug into 110 outlets, so all that's needed is an extension cord.

 

[tbisaacs]

Yup. I have a NOCO Genius 2-bank charger buried behind my grill, beside the driver's side headlight. I use it once a week to top off the AGM batteries, although lately I've been using it a lot more since I only use the truck once a week. It was a royal PITA to get it mounted, had a fab a custom bracket.

View attachment 2261343

+1 for an onboard trickle charger. I only needed a single bank.

 

[KLF]

That looks sweet. The LX looks like it has a ton of room in that area.
What size battery did you install?

There is a lot of room in there, but it was very challenging finding a way to mount it. I didn't want to drill any new holes, as they would invite rust. The bracket turned into a lot of work, more than I bargained for. I called NOCO and asked about how waterproof those units are and they said they are primarily build to be on boats, and can run submerged. Still, I didn't like the idea of rain hitting the thing at highway speeds, so I then made a splash guard out of a piece of scrap plexy I had in my stash. I wanted to be able to see the status lights while it's plugged in, which is why I chose plexy. Bent it with a jig and torch.

My batteries are a group 31 in the stock location (Slee tray) and a group 34 in the other side in a highly modified Slee 2nd tray.

@tbisaacs no cords hanging out of my grille. Much more convenient:

A NOCO cable is attached to battery + and -. It exits out the front of the grill, so I can plug the charger in easily and move it to different machines as needed...it's primarily a winter setup.

This is how I will be going with the Miata next fall.

 

[KLF]

Some of these threads .

I have an idea... don't read them.

 

[PDoyle]

Plexi was a great idea. Looks professional. I'm going to need a battery so thanks for the info.