How often do I have to drive my TJ?

williambmac said:
Yeh, this state sucks, but I'm stuck here until my kids finish school.
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yeah I am stuck on the other side on Long island as well. #1 son was smart enough to stay in NH after graduating to teach...Daughter is at East Carolina Univ, so after them taking $36,000/year for 4-5 years hopefully she won't move back here. I want out!
 
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As far as how far you should drive I try to drive at least 30 minutes but usually one hour. I have been told short drives can produce condensation in the block so a small amount of water can get into your oil. Others here may have better intel.
 
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I try to get mine out on the highway at least once every other week, but sometimes it happens only once a month. Now that it's not regularly over 100, I'll take it out a little more until it gets cooler (50's) in the winter.
 
Wombat said:
Hey All!
  1. How often do I need to take my TJ for a run?
  2. And for how long do I need to drive it?
  3. what maintenance procedures should I put in place?
For the most part the TJ now lives in it's natural habitat, in the garage with the hood up connected to the battery charger as we now have a new vehicle (Elantra GT USA/i30 N-Line AU)

I'll be doing a few things to the ole girl like a reconditioned NV3550 that's ready to go in and a few cosmetic fixeruppers over the next few months to get it ready for our next adventure into the bush and I'm not sure how long I can leave it standing still and what maintenance procedures should I put in place when it's not getting much use.

At this point my maintenance procedures list is...
  • Drive once a week for 30 min - would prefer to leave it longer then this but not sure if it's OK to do so?
  • Change oil at 10,000 or 1 year.
  • Drain and clean windscreen washer system.
  • Slow charge battery every two or three days.
I don't wan't it to depreciate from sitting still for too long so let's know if I need to add to my list?

View attachment 279908

Thanks in advance :)
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Forum regulations require 100 miles per month unless you are deployed military.

Anything less and we have to put the word “inactive”beside your avatar and you only get half points.

That will be section 9 in the 2022 handbook. Read it, learn it, live it.
 
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My sister lives 1/2 mile from work and drives home every day for lunch, thats 4 very short trips every day. She's been doing this for years with no noticed issues with cars and they tend to keep cars for a very long time.
 
Ironman said:
As far as how far you should drive I try to drive at least 30 minutes but usually one hour. I have been told short drives can produce condensation in the block so a small amount of water can get into your oil. Others here may have better intel.
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I came here to post this exactly.

It needs to run long enough for the oil to get hot enough to fully boil all the water off and the pan and block to not still be below the dew point (not the ambient dew point but that of the crankcase), and the steam to get vented through the crankcase vent system. I wouldn't count on 30 minutes being long enough to do it. An hour should be good.
 
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AndyG said:
Forum regulations require 100 miles per month unless you are deployed military.
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UNSAT. When an armed services member deploys it is incumbent upon them to make sure that all their personal affairs are squared away. The last thing I need when my guys are down range is worrying if their TJ will start when they get back. "Have a plan" is what I yell at predeployment briefings. "Get your life insurance in order, your POAs up to date, and for FUCKS SAKE [knifehand] make sure that TJ gets a few GODAMMNED miles on it while you're gone."

Military members look out for one another. Before you head to the AOR gimme the keys to your damned TJ. It'll have fresh oil & a charged battery the day you get home.

For real though, I've taken care of a few classic cars while guys are away. I was just at a storage unit last weekend checking in on my pal's NOVA & C-10 while he's over there. It's a thing.
 
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qslim said:
UNSAT. When an armed services member deploys it is incumbent upon them to make sure that all their personal affairs are squared away. The last thing I need when my guys are down range is worrying if their TJ will start when they get back. "Have a plan" is what I yell at predeployment briefings. "Get your life insurance in order, your POAs up to date, and for FUCKS SAKE [knifehand] make sure that TJ gets a few GODAMMNED miles on it while you're gone."

Military members look out for one another. Before you head to the AOR gimme the keys to your damned TJ. It'll have fresh oil & a charged battery the day you get home.

For real though, I've taken care of a few classic cars while guys are away. I was just at a storage unit last weekend checking in on my pal's NOVA & C-10 while he's over there. It's a thing.
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I lost it at [knifehand] 🤣🤣🤣
 
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pagrey said:
Fuel is going to kill you, that'll go bad if you don't burn it unless you use stabilizer.
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I'm pretty certain there are absolutely no fuel stabilizers that help prevent problems with gasoline that has ethanol in it. I've seen a few tests of them like the YouTube videos by Farm Project (very reliable) and they all showed no help was offered by them.
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
I'm pretty certain there are absolutely no fuel stabilizers that help prevent problems with gasoline that has ethanol in it. I've seen a few tests of them like the YouTube videos by Farm Project (very reliable) and they all showed no help was offered by them.
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No fuel beats bad fuel. Ethanol is horrible stored long term.
 
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AndyG said:
No fuel beats bad fuel. Ethanol is horrible stored long term.
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X2. Ethanol absolutely wrecked two carburetors on my lawn mower despite the regular use of additives that claimed protection against ethanol. I ended up giving the lawn mower away and switching to an electric Toro lawn mower. Which reminds me, I have to drive the Jeep again to refill the tank with fresh gasoline.
 
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Just had to drain the tank on my Ford, fuel was about 14 months and it wouldn't idle at all. Fortunately the Holley 1904 is an easy rebuild but ya, fuel kills you. Carburetors are the worst, the idle circuit just can't deal with bad gas.
 
Jerry Bransford said:
X2. Ethanol absolutely wrecked two carburetors on my lawn mower despite the regular use of additives that claimed protection against ethanol. I ended up giving the lawn mower away and switching to an electric Toro lawn mower. Which reminds me, I have to drive the Jeep again to refill the tank with fresh gasoline.
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When I moved to 4800 feet from Florida ALL my small engines took a shit, the carbs were all gummed up with pink shit. I ran regular gas in them back in FL without an issue, but out here I have to use ethanol free in all of them. I run it in my 77 Mercury as well. So far the TJ has been fine on regular 85 octane pump gas.
 
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