I have an F-250 super duty. My current plans with it are to drive it out to where my horses live once a week. It's about 20-25 minutes each way, at mostly highway speeds. Right now, that would be a typical week for it. But I will probably use it to haul them out to trails once or twice a month (once it stops raining here), and my husband would probably use it once or twice a month as well.

Someone suggested to me that this was not enough driving to keep the truck in good condition, that the seals will not stay lubricated and the engine will suffer. Is this true? If so, what would be the minimum I need to drive it in order to keep it healthy?

 

Not everyone that owns a vehicle , drives it everyday for many miles, but they still hold up pretty well.
An important consideration is once you start it , how long does it run.
If for example, you start it one a week and run it for 5 minutes, that may not be long enough to recharge what was taken from the battery plus the engine never gets hot enough to get rid of any moisture that may be in the crankcase. Both not good for any engine.
There are crank seals, A/C compressor seals , and other internal parts that might dry out from not being used. The quality of oil is important as is how often you have it changed. Also , the quality of the gasoline does degrade over time and should have a stabilizer added if the vehicle might not need to visit a gas station for any long period of time
.All these things do have an effect and periodic running and use do more good than harm.
Sounds different , doesn't it !

 

Thank you!

 

Forty to fifty miles once a week will be healthier on the truck than several mile-long trips throughout a day everyday on an engine.
Trucks that go for a half-million or more miles are typically ones that go 300 to 500 miles every time they get started - The engine and fluids have time to warm up, stay warm, and the battery stays fully charged. Water in the oil has time to evaporate...
Also, in a heat/cool cycle, if you have aluminum heads and an iron block, those two metals expand and contract at different rates - which is hard on head gaskets.
When thinking of how long an engine will last, don't think in terms of miles, but in terms of heat/cool cycles.
As far as lubricating your seals, as long as you're using it as you described, I wouldn't worry much. Stay on top of maintenance, and give it a good wash twice a month or so, and your grandkids will likely be learning how to drive it.

 

Nice post. Watch battery charge closely (I would get a load tester if you don't have one). It is possible that a 40-50 mile drive (weekly) would not be enough to fully charge the battery (especially if it is a diesel). Since retiring, I don't drive the truck (diesel) much and I am doing more short trips than before. I like manually charging the batteries every couple of months ..... just to be sure they don't get too run down.

 

I run a couple of F350's. The older one (1996) will fire right up even after sitting for four months. She doesn't see much use anymore since I got my newer one but since she's a bucket truck, I still hang on to her for that occasional job fixing things up in the air. When she does run, it's usually for 15 to 30 minutes at a time. She'll fire any time I put a key in her.
My newer service body sees maybe 30 to 50 miles a week (I work as an engineer at our hotels; if I need more than a basic set of tools, she goes for the ride).
The boss's F150 sees the most use but seems to have battery issues - which we think is resolved now after tracing it to (of all things!) a bad ABS module. For a while, I had a dashboard solar panel to keep the battery topped up on it, but now seems to be running fine.