Weekend warrior?

How many of you use your truck on the weekend only?....I have a company Chevy Equinox I use M-F and end up using my Taco on the weekends. To give you an idea it's a 2009 with only 50k.

Was reading another thread about bad MPGs and someone commented that driving very short distances is not good for a truck or car. Can someone explain why this is? I only use my truck about 1-2 times a week. And it's only for short distances....max trip lengths is out to camp at 30 mins.

Thoughts?

 

It's not good to run the engine, and not get it up to full operating temp.

Vehicle is running in the warm up map and running rich.

Natural condensation never gets burnt off. You will notice a white sludge build up under your oil cap.

Is 30 minutes too little? I doubt it, I drive my truck 30 minutes to work every day.

When I had my Dodge Ram 1500 with a 4.7 I only drove 10 minutes to work. By the time I got to work I never even had full heat in the winter. Then after a few years I lost all oil pressure. Motor was sludged to hell and back. I had to drop the pan, pull the valve covers, change the pick up tube, flush everything out.

 

Just checked the oil cap....you called it.....white gunk.....what should I do? Run sea Foam? Take the truck on an hour drive? How much real damage can this cause?

 

Move further away

 

My only suggestion is take the truck for some long rides to get the engine hot to burn off the condensation.

Can it cause damage? In my case with my ram it caused sludge issues. I'm sure it can in any engine. The 4.7 Dodge was more prone to sludge than others. I haven't read about any sludge issues in Tacomas.

It's not the end of the world. Keep your oil changed with good quality oil.

I've used Seafoam in the past. It's not a bad idea. I've considered a lot of those things snake oil. It however is not a cure all as I tried to save my ram with it but it was too far gone.