Advice for new taco that will be driven 5 miles a day?

Thanks for info everyone. I appreciate help!

For you guys suggestions walking or biking, you definitely haven't lived someplace like here. Lol. The amount of time to pack a bag of clothes and different shoes that if have to change into and back out of when I was leaving to go home, plus cleaning the mud and dirt off of me once I get to work everyday would be a pain. Not to mention it's winter 5 months a year here. It hasn't even been over 15 degrees Fahrenheit the last few days.

 

Shit, I used to walk to the bar at -20F, you can do it.





Or just drive the warm truck like a smart man.

 

Haha! Ya, I'm sure we all have. (Those were the days, huh?) Problem is, the closest bar to me now is a 20 minute drive on 55mph roads. Lol.

 

Yeah, it's getting to a point where Sports blowouts aren't interesting enough to watch. I've been a Raiders fan since 1983 when they won SB XVIII for the city of Los Angeles. Prior to that, I began liking the Rams as a kid when Pat Haden was QB.

BTW, I bought a new battery for my wife's Elantra. Better safe than sorry when she needs to drive her car.

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As others said, head out on a long drive once a week to get everything up to temp. The engine builds up moisture in cold starts and it needs to run for a while to burn that off. Doesn't need to be every day. But on Saturday morning go take a ride to Glens Falls for coffee or whatever. You can keep an eye on the inside of the oil cap. Once moisture starts to build up, you will see some cappuccino froth building up. Looks like a blown head gasket because it is the same thing. Water in the oil.

 

Ok. Thank you. My dakota had that happen, so I'd change the oil more often. I wasn't very nice to that truck. It had a rough life.

 

He said traffic. Just gonna throw out a guess And say never been to adk.

 

Hahaha! Ya, I said the only traffic I see are deer, bear, log trucks, and plow trucks. That's a lie though.... I see the mailman down at the bottom of the hill dropping off mail sometimes. Lol

 

Honestly, if I had your circumstances I would purchase a cheap ugly "comutabeater" just for driving that short distance to and from work. Keep the Taco for all your longer distance needs and adventures.

Driving short distances is horrible on your battery, and your oil.

Not giving your battery the necessary charge time that one normally gets over 10 or miles.

Repeated short distance driving (especially in cold weather) won't give your oil enough time to heat up properly or at least long enough to efficiently evaporate any moisture that collects naturally with any engine that goes through any kind of heat cycling. Over time this will cloud your oil, gunk up passages and change the lubricity of the oil possibly prematurely wearing out the motor.

However, it is your truck and you just want to know what kind of additional maintenance you should perform driving 5 miles a day.

I would suggest more frequent oil changes than once a year. I would suggest oil changes every two months and smart charge your battery once a week.

Or just go drive the truck for 20-30 miles in one shot at least once a week. Doing so will mostly negate the oil/moisture issue and insufficient battery charging between starts.

 

Here's an idea, get a Bobcat and build up a solid dirt ramp on either side of that washed out bridge and start jumping your truck everyday, you'll have fun and probably start jumping it 2-3 per commute therefore increasing your drive time.

 

That's the best advice yet!!

 

35’s, Prinsu rack, rear seat delete, Baroud tent, 15” woofers, Decked storage, ….and a center console tray organizer.

 

My Subaru is in a similar situation. Just go by calendar intervals for maintenance and don't overthink it. (I'm effectively changing out the Mobil 1 engine oil every 2000 miles and changing out the diff and transfer case fluids every 12000 miles.) If the climate is as bad as you say, the road salt will kill your truck faster than the short trips.

 

Buy a bicycle.

 

OP's ideal commuter vehicle would be a covered electric rickshaw lol, but he'd need a motorcycle license.