Just wondering how often I need to move my car in these days.
In: Chemistry
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It depends on a lot of factors like what the fuel composition is, the temperature and the exact materials in your gas tank. But usually you should be wary of fuel that have been sitting for over six months. It might not necisarily have gone bad but there is a possability. But even if there are problems with the fuel most cars can deal with it and it will often clear up if you give it fresh fuel. A bigger issue if you want to store cars for longer times is that the engine relies on the oil for rust protection and when the engine is not running parts of it will not get oil and it may rust. How long this takes depends on the engine, your local climate (especially humidity) and how you store your car. If you live in a dry dessart then you should expect the car to fire right back up after being parked for forty years (after changing the oil and fuel) but I have also seeen extreme cases where engines have been stored outside and partially dismantled near the ocean allowing salty humid air from the sea get directly into the cylinders and ruined them within only six months.
In any case we are talking timeframes of months before your car will suffer from being parked for a long time. You should of course be extra carefull checking the condition of your car after being parked for a few weeks. However there is little extra damage done by parking a car that would not otherwise have been done driving it. In fact only using your car for short rides to make sure it moves may damage the car even more then just having it parked as the engine needs to get up to temperature in order to run clean. When the engine is running cold it will usually start to sot up which can eventually stop it working at all and require parts changed. The solution is to get it up to running temperature for a while as this will burn the sot away cleaning the engine. So you should not take your car for short joy rides if you do not need it for a few weeks but rather just leave it parked.
While there are other concerns than just fuel if you are letting your car sit for long periods of time.
Things like fuel stabilizers exist if you are planning on letting a car sit for a while and haven’t drained the tank.
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