Is a long run good for your car?

[Andy Northface]

I had put this in the 850 section earlier,but I wondered what some of you lads think as well....I'm off to Blackpool in an hours time.About 140m there and the same back to pick family up.I do this every 6 weeks or so. My car always "seems" to run better for a while after a long journey,why is this? is there any truth in the myth " blasting the cobwebs away on a long run" ?
Thanks Andy

[brodgar]

On a long run EVERYTHING is on operating temperature, the fluids,
the metals.

I had a bmw 316 in the 70ties it would only purrrrrrrrrrrrrrr after 150miles
but than it was really purrrrrring

[andy_d]

imho yes
a good long run at a steady speed does "blow the cobwebs" out
not so sure on a "good long thrash" tho,

i guess its the engine getting to temp, staying there, and blowing the build up of "gunk" n stuff out that the heat for that time loosens from all the bits n nocks n bobs in the engine (sorry bob if the engines too warm,but you have it better than will,, "fire at will"...)

[Andy Northface]

Yes,I meant a steady motorway speed of between 65-75mph ( my personal cruising speed ) Thanks. :)

[andy_d]

motorways are slower up there then ,,to go with the flow here you'd be looking at 80/85, or 0-20 on the m5/m6 junc, or the m42, or "oh dear" on the m6toll....

[Andy Northface]

motorways are slower up there then ,,to go with the flow here you'd be looking at 80/85, or 0-20 on the m5/m6 junc, or the m42, or "oh dear" on the m6toll....

Coming back from Scotch Corner I always give it a good 80-90mph blast! :)

[emmdee]

A long run did my 960 auto the power of good. Didn't do me much good, though. My left leg used to go to sleep on long trips, e.g. Essex to Edinburgh via Newcastle. :(

m.d.

[JamesV70R]

Yes, I think it does. After 3 weeks of only "town" driving I did 2 x 240 mile runs and the car feels a lot better for it.

[Toplights]

:thumbs_up:

[Anadinolin]

Did a long stint to portsmouth with a friend n his mrs...my car felt so much more perky after that...i normally give it hour long runs at the start and end of each day...makes a change to do 100+ miles in one go and gets the extra grot that needs that little extra time to blow out :)

[The Hooded Claw]

Did a long stint with a friend n his mrs... it needed that little extra time to blow out :)

EDITED for ACCURACY & My FILTHY mind !!!! LOL!!!!! ......

[kebab10]

EDITED for ACCURACY & My FILTHY mind !!!! LOL!!!!! ......

As above and yes it does do it good

[xc70jason]

It's getting a good de-coking but,not of the cola kind.A good run blow's all the crap out so,if you do quite a bit of town driving thing's will start to coke up again so it's off for another blast.It's a good excuse to get out from under the good ladies feet for an hour or so :chatterbox:,lol.

Jason

[GMad]

All I ever do is long runs....
The last five cars I've owned have all done in excess of 200000 miles, before being thrown away and replaced (all of them were still runners).:thumbs_up:

[princepugh]

Long run with some engine load, yes - long run bimbling in 5th gear at 50mph, maybe not. Ever heard of an Italian tune up? :-)

[Andy Northface]

Long run with some engine load, yes - long run bimbling in 5th gear at 50mph, maybe not. Ever heard of an Italian tune up? :-)

Oh yes! I reguarly give my car a good thrash through the gears! ( warmed up properly of course!:thumbs_up: )

[JamesV70R]

I know I've already posted here .. but I've got 3 days worth of "long runs" coming up ...

280 miles Sunday, 200 miles Monday, 200 miles Tuesday evening. Basically 700 miles in 3 days. That'll make the car feel better I hope! Might even chuck in a bottle of injector cleaner too. (And of course, with someone else paying my fuel on Monday ... Vpower!!!)

[AndyPants]

My 760 appears to love (very) long runs, its the only time it ever gets over 25mpg :lol: I drove it 315 miles down south in July and it managed 34mpg!!!

(Regular) Short runs can cause various issues. I believe its also good way to rot out your exhaust inside-out too if it never warms up properly to get rid of the condensation.

[Andy Northface]

(Regular) Short runs can cause various issues. I believe its also good way to rot out your exhaust inside-out too if it never warms up properly to get rid of the condensation.
Yup,makes sense.:thumbs_up:

[940Graeme]

I would say a definate YES. The 940 rarely gets to do long runs, (partly cos I can't afford the fuel to do them, and party cos I don't need too!), but I have definately noticed that when I do venture further than Tesco's and give it a good motorway run (never more than 70mph, of course), it runs better on idle and warm start and gives better MPG for a good couple of weeks or more.

My thought on the 940 2.3 lpt engine is that this gives the PCV system a good chance to clear itself. It is supposed to be generally "self cleaning", (the point of the oil trap), but can never clear itself properly if a car is only used on short low temperature runs.

Just me opinion and observations, but a good motorway run certainly seems to "clear the tubes" on mine.

[t5_monkey]

I reckon long runs from time to time do a car good.

After all a car is designed for mixed use, so that's what you should give it in an ideal world.

I cruise at 68 (gps) to get good mileage - I only open it off if i get a wally tailgating me :)

[RobbieH]

Hmm, 1796.9 miles to the Alps and back over the last couple of weeks. Average speed 60mph :D but with a few quicker sessions, especially in the Alps :tongwink:

I think that blew the dust off :cool:

[david philips]

on long runs as allready said everything gets up to tempture it does not do the car any good or harm, the only thing it does is show up any fault you may have in the cooling system,and guys look out for the speed, points are not very nice

[Andy Northface]

on long runs as allready said everything gets up to tempture it does not do the car any good or harm, the only thing it does is show up any fault you may have in the cooling system,and guys look out for the speed, points are not very nice

Yup, you are right,insurance companies love it if you say " oh yes,I have 3 points "! You can almost hear the cash register tinging! :)

[XC60MY12]

Long run with some engine load, yes - long run bimbling in 5th gear at 50mph, maybe not. Ever heard of an Italian tune up? :-)

Is it similar to a Croydon facelift?

[XC60MY12]

Oh yes! I reguarly give my car a good thrash

So that was you in Fawlty Towers?

[volvo always]

I think long runs do a car the world of good. A few weeks ago we had relatives over for a week and toured the Killarney area Lakes, Torc waterfall, Kenmare, Ring of Kerry and the Gap of dunloe. We then toured all of the Dingle Peninsula. Inch Beach, Dingle, Slea Head Drive, the beaches and did the Conor Pass. Plus local trips. From picking them up to dropping them at Shannon Airport we covered 785 faultless miles in my 240GLT auto estate with 5 adults. Cost 180 euro in petrol so not too bad considering driving up mountain passes. It seemed to like the trip!

A few Pictures of the trip!!

Gap of Dunloe.
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/volvo2402/Holiday030-3.jpg
Gap of Dunloe.
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/volvo2402/Holiday010-1.jpg
Gap of Dunloe.
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/volvo2402/Holiday004-1.jpg
Inch Beach.
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/volvo2402/HolidayIreland005-2.jpg
Torc Waterfall.
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/volvo2402/Holiday003-1.jpg

James:thumbs_up:

[Clan]

If you cant afford a service a long high speed run is almost as good :-) The spark plugs get hot and almost clean themselves and all the fuel and water is evaporated off the oil in the sump .. The suspension dampers take a long time to warm up , so does the gearbox and axle if you have one .. , and when the interior is warm all through it seems to make the car quieter .. the grease in the wheel bearings gets warm and re-distributes itself , so all in all yes , it does a lot of good ..

[Daim]

A long run is also good to get a proper fuel consumption!

Short distances and mid range drives tend to cause a higher consumption (especially short distances!) and can make a car very inefficent.

When I use my mum's S80 2.0T (B5204T8) it runs rather rough and seems as if it isn't running correct. As she only drives about 14 km a day (about 9 miles!) she has an average fuel consumption by display of something like 12l/100 km (should be 25 mpg - still not bad). When I used it last time to head to England (had 3 passengers and luggage, not enough space in my C30) I had a steady Autobahn speed of 130 km/h (about 80 mph). The fuel consumption on 100 km went down from 12l to only 7.9l - which would make about 35 mpg. An increase of 10 miles. Of course, that was an expcetional run from Bremen through Germany and Holland.

With my C30 I like to open the throttle here and there and get the engine and cat up to a nice temperature (when the exhaust crackles when turning the engine off, work has been done correctly :D)...

[Andy Northface]

@ Clan. That makes a lot of sense,cheers!:thumbs_up: