Short trips (10-15 minutes) and long periods of disuse.. how harmful are they?

I have recently obtained a job with the State, and am now working from home the vast majority of the time.



While this is awesome... my 2015 TDI Golf Sportwagen will now be relegated to grocery-getting on the weekends with the only occasional longer trip.


I've heard tell that diesels in general, and VW diesels in particular don't do terribly well with multiple short trips of under 15 minutes, and really don't care for being undriven for two to three weeks at a time.


What is your experience? What's the best way to take care of my TDI Sportwagen, given that I really don't commute any longer?


-HK

On the weekend (at least everyother one) - take it out for a good drive so it warms up completely. No car likes to be not driven very much (or any vehicle - i.e. motorcycles) - so I would reccomend doing this no matter what vehicle you're talking about. You don't need to drive like a crazyman, just a normal, brisk drive so it gets warmed up properly. 30 minutes to an hour is a good minimum, longer can be better.



One thing you DO need to worry about - how old is your fuel that is in it right now ? If you have fuel from August / September / October, and now we're getting into winter - I would seriously consider putting in an antigelling product (such as PowerService White) along with a fillup with current fuel. There are several good products out there, Powerservice White is pretty widely available and is rated for ULSD. I'm bucking this same issue on my 2000 NB that really hasn't gotten alot of driving since we got to KC in August - I take it out every so often to keep it running well.

The diesel that's in there currently was put in Oct 4... I put in 20ml Archoil with each tank, and I -think- that has anti-gelling properties. At least, the Powerstroke diesel guys seem to think so.


It's funny, isn't it? I had a long commute and got a really nice super fuel-efficient car. And then wind up getting a job that has no commute whatsoever. Guess the Sportwagen and I will be together a long time, with so few miles on it!


Any other suggestions? Battery tender, perhaps? Anything else that'd help it weather the times I'm not driving it around?
-HK

I keep a Battery Tender on my motorcycle when I'm not riding, but haven't much on any car. I really think if you just drive it like I suggested you should be fine.

I now have a really short commuter - 15 if I'm slow. Seconds, that is. Yes, I work from home.

So, if I'm going to the store, or any other kind of shopping, it'll get a good drive in, but otherwise, a couple of miles to the gym (at the building where I used to work) or when I did work there- it just wasn't enough. And if the warm-up woes weren't enough, if I drove it just to and from work, in 2 weeks I'd have a dead battery. My counter is to make sure the drive home from work is the scenic route, and takes at least 10 minutes, and that seems to do it. It is working pretty well; I've been at this stage for about 3 years and it is working well.

You'll want to ensure you have an alternator that is putting out at least the proper voltage - you want 13.7 or higher, and 14.2 seems to be about ideal. The warm up is for various reasons, and to me the most important is if the oil is up to temperature, then combustion products such as water vapor that have condensed to liquid in the oil will have a chance to vaporize again and escape through the CCV.

Another reason for me this time of year is that without constant driving, the brake rotors will rust like crazy with the salt on the roads. They will do that anywhere there is sufficient moisture available (basically anywhere on planet earth where you're going to be driving), but up here where there is iron termite fertilizer liberally applied to the roads in winter, it is an order of magnitude worse than what you'll see in TN.

Anyway, good luck, drive it, and enjoy the views.

Cheers,

PH

I think making sure it starts and completes a regen when required will be your biggest issue. No way to do this other than to monitor it and ensure you drive it when one is needed and keep driving until it completes. They usually take about ten minutes from start to finish. Monitoring or learning when these are happening is the biggest part. If you don't do this I see dpf issues in your future.

do a search, this toipic has been done to death. no reason to start a new thread.
yes and no

Mongler98 said:

do a search, this toipic has been done to death. no reason to start a new thread.
yes and no

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Pff, what, you've never gotten the search terms wrong and turned up no results?


Sheesh, you couldn't even be arsed to offer a suggestion.

Look up the term regen or regeneration. I doubt you will have any issues with fuel or battery or anything else if you are driving it once a week or so. But if it can't complete a regen it will clog the dpf and stop running at some point. This would need a forced regen to clear and/or dpf replacement ($$).

Probably better not to post negative stuff as you never know who may help you. There is a lot of knowledge here. Short tripping and regens have been covered pretty well and many times. A search should have provided you something to go on. Look down at the bottom of this page. It will always list 5 or so similar threads for any thread you are reading.

Lightflyer1 said:

Probably better not to post negative stuff as you never know who may help you. There is a lot of knowledge here. <sic> A search should have provided you something to go on. Look down at the bottom of this page. It will always list 5 or so similar threads for any thread you are reading.

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All I'm saying is that Mongler98's post was the electronic equivalent of an old geezer waving his cane in the air and wheezing 'Get offa my lawn' to an honestly asked question. They went out of their way to write a ****-post *****ing about some new guy not using the search properly instead of simply moving on to something they could contribute to in a useful fashion.



Hell, they could've even said: "You know, this has been done to death already. Here's a few search terms that could've shown you what you needed, if you were having trouble."

You know... like you did. That was actually quite helpful, useful, and appreciated. It engaged an established member of the community with someone who clearly doesn't know diesels as well as others. With a polite rapping of the knuckles for not using the search properly, you provided information on how to do it right.


That was far more useful than simply pissing on an honestly asked question.

HakkenSlash said:

All I'm saying is that Mongler98's post was the electronic equivalent of an old geezer waving his cane in the air and wheezing 'Get offa my lawn' to an honestly asked question. They went out of their way to write a ****-post *****ing about some new guy not using the search properly instead of simply moving on to something they could contribute to in a useful fashion.



Hell, they could've even said: "You know, this has been done to death already. Here's a few search terms that could've shown you what you needed, if you were having trouble."

You know... like you did. That was actually quite helpful, useful, and appreciated. It engaged an established member of the community with someone who clearly doesn't know diesels as well as others. With a polite rapping of the knuckles for not using the search properly, you provided information on how to do it right.


That was far more useful than simply pissing on an honestly asked question.

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Just put him on your ignore list, he spouts off random posts that have no useful information (and/or wrong information) in them pretty much all the time. The only reason I haven't is because I find his babbling humorous, and I know I know better.

Your only real concern is making sure the DPF regen gets accomplished as it likes once in a while. You can monitor this with some electronic devices if you know what to look for, you can also pay close attention to how t he car is running, or you can just take a nice highway trip once in a while. It really won't be a big deal.

They happen about every 200 or so miles +/-, maybe more often if you are really short tripping. Torque app may work for monitoring. VagDPF app works on my car but has stopped being supported so it may or may not work for yours. This app if it is working is pretty good for what it does. Of course VCDS works too but much more problematic to use all the time. If you pay attention the engine will idle slightly higher when under regen conditions. 800 vs 1000 approximately. If the fans are running when you shut down you interrupted one. You should probably take a longer drive the next time you are out to let it complete. There are posts here about both of those apps and how to use and what to look at and what values mean.

Dannyboy said:

My commute is only 20 minutes and about 13km which also had me worried. Ive just finished installing a webasto on remote because Winterpeg gets pretty cold 5 months of the year.As the guys have said don't worry about It, just bring it for a good drive on the weekend. I make an excuse to the misses that car requires it when I want to go ice fishing

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Your commute should be just fine. My commute is 30 mins but 40km one-way with 80% at highway speed. Gets nice and warm.

BTW this is for either of my TDIs that I drive.