Better to drive short journey's, or not drive at all?

[CaliGem]

Crazy question, but we have a dilemma that the T5.1 cali is used daily, but only to do 5 miles each way. What is better for the engine, to run daily even on short distances (with some spirited driving), or to leave it sitting and use only for long journey's? Waying up whether to buy a run around!

 

[chockswahay]

A fair question. The Cali is an expensive vehicle to run and on short journeys will return very poor MPG. The oil will never get really warm, the DPF may well clog. If you can afford a run around I would say yes, get one. Save the Cali for the adventures!

 

[andyinluton]

It will be fine as long as it gets a decent run every couple of weeks. Far better than not using it.

If you buy another vehicle to do the short trips in that would have exactly the same problem.

 

[andyb1089]

I have a 2015 5.1. I have an old Mazda 3 petrol that I use for short journeys. I use my cali for work twice a week if not going away. My journey is 25miles each day to work. My mechanic said that don’t drive the cali like an old man. For example when it is warm use the gears to accelerate to 3000 rpm when joining duel carriageways etc that should keep the engine clean. I also put decent diesel in.

 

[WelshGas]

It will be fine as long as it gets a decent run every couple of weeks. Far better than not using it.

If you buy another vehicle to do the short trips in that would have exactly the same problem.

Not if it is Petrol.

 

[PurpleLizC789]

I was having a conversation about this last week when we took our van in for servicing at Breeze in Poole (I was questioning why anyone would want a petrol T7, given the poor fuel economy). They told me that there had been issues with the T6 and T6.1 with clogging and this was caused by short journeys where people used the van as a daily drive (assuming a short journey to work) but a petrol vehicle wouldn't have this issue.

They reassured me that what we do was ideal (we don't use the van as a daily drive and it sits on the drive for several weeks and then does a reasonably long journey when we go away, generally every 4 weeks or so).

To be honest though, I'm still a bit confused - they told me that you can't do what you used to do prior to the EURO 6 NCAP engines and just make sure that you accelerate hard to blow everything through (technical term there for me)! However, when the van does have a period in the winter where we might go 2 months without going somewhere and so we feel the need to take it for a drive, I'm not really sure just how far we need to go! We have been just taking it for a 20 minute spin down some country roads where we can get up to 50 miles per hour but I'm no longer sure if this fits the bill.

Is it engine temperature that matters? I took the van out for my 20 minute spin yesterday (as we have a gap of 6-7 weeks between trips) and made sure the engine temperature came up to around 90 degrees, which I think is normal operating temperature - is that the critical measure, I'm not sure?!

 

[lohr500]

I had no end of problems with a brand new Euro 6 Jeep Wrangler diesel a few years back caused by short journeys and the DPF clogging up. Numerous trips to two franchised dealers, including two tow truck recoveries. In part I think it was due to a poorly executed installation of the Fiat/Alfa 2.2 diesel for low volume European sales into a US vehicle. I vowed I would never buy another modern diesel unless I had no choice.

If a petrol engine had been available when we got our Cali 204 4Motion Ocean at the start of last year, I would definitely have gone for it.

I am still doing short journeys most of the time and worry about problems with the Cali. I do try to give it a longish motorway run every now and then. Covered 8000 miles in 17 months.

I am using Millers Eco Max fuel additive with each fill up and on every fourth fill I am using Shell V-Power Premium diesel. No idea if these measures are helping to prevent any future DPF/EGR issues or if I am wasting my time/money. But it doesn't seem to be doing any harm and given the relatively low cost, I'm happy to continue.

I also changed the oil a couple of months ago, ahead of the 2 year max/variable mileage service regime just in case of any oil dilution caused by the frequent short journeys and DPF regen cycles.

 

[Winston Rumfoord]

Not if it is Petrol.

Or electric.

 

[andyinluton]

So everyone above has commented about problems with T6 etc. the OP has a T5.1, I used my T5.1 for the last two years I had it doing a 2 mile each way trip to the station, it got a 10+ mile run every other week. Never had a problem with it.
I sold at 7 years old and 60k miles, in that time I had the Dof warning light come on once & that was cured with a ten mile Italian tune up.

If you’re not getting the DPF warning light come on with what you are doing, just carry on doing it!

 

[CaliGem]

So everyone above has commented about problems with T6 etc. the OP has a T5.1, I used my T5.1 for the last two years I had it doing a 2 mile each way trip to the station, it got a 10+ mile run every other week. Never had a problem with it.
I sold at 7 years old and 60k miles, in that time I had the Dof warning light come on once & that was cured with a ten mile Italian tune up.

If you’re not getting the DPF warning light come on with what you are doing, just carry on doing it!

That's the thing, we have a warning light up which I think relates to the EGR, hence the question to see how we can best preserve the use of the van long term

 

[WelshGas]

That's the thing, we have a warning light up which I think relates to the EGR, hence the question to see how we can best preserve the use of the van long term

Change the EGR + Cooler.

 

[andyinluton]

That's the thing, we have a warning light up which I think relates to the EGR, hence the question to see how we can best preserve the use of the van long term

Before going to the expense a new EGR & cooler just take it for a 10 mile run, drive in at least one gear lower than you usually would & you should find the light will go out.

 

[CaliGem]

Before going to the expense a new EGR & cooler just take it for a 10 mile run, drive in at least one gear lower than you usually would & you should find the light will go out.

It didn't sadly, we took a 2 hour trip, ran it on the motorway in high revs etc, didn't make a difference. Feels a little lower on power too.

 

[Perfectos]

As mentioned above , Orange / yellow DPF light can be switched off by Hard Driving style.
The accepted method is :
Min 20+ minutes driving above 2500 rpm (constant No dropping below at all) Motorway / Dual carriageway. (Avoid hills and increased acceleration) if the revs drop below 2500 at any point , restart the 20 minutes. Speed is irrelevant, Revs is key , it's easier to do this on a dual / motorway , but it's not speed related that counts.
At the end of the twenty + minutes, when at a suitable opportunity arises , change down the gears quickly whilst slowing, your looking to run the RPM upto 4500+ using the engine braking, whilst the engine is not under load (i.e. not acceleration) , keep changing down when the revs drop below 3000 whilst the bay an slows, the increase in revs should blow the crud out.
I've done this and actually seen a puff of black smoke behind me, looked back at the Dash, DPF light went out.

This works by heating up the crud in the DPF by constant increased RPM, (2500+) softening & loosening the excess Carbon deposits and burning them off slightly, to increase gas flow, the sudden extra High revs under no engine load assists in creating the back pressure required to push the carbon out of the DPF. The key is hard driving to the point you're not quite comfortable with the engine note.
I can't stress enough that it needs to be driven hard and at very high revs at the end of the "warm up". Hard Engine breaking & dropping down through the gears is the, after the war, up, is the "clear out".

When the DPF is particularly blocked (Orange / yellow light) it's like the engine is trying to breathe out through a straw, so it will feel sluggish.
If you don't manage to clear the Orange / yellow light , it will need costly intervention.

 

[pluc99]

Or electric.

Or a bicycle.