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Short trips kill vehicles!

tRustyK5

tRustyK5

Elbows up!
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In many different ways of course. Experienced a new way today though. We bought my wife a 2015 Durango limited a year and a half ago. Decent shape, 3.6 V6 with about 190K on it. She really doesn't put a ton of miles on, so the higher mileage didn't concern me much...and everything worked A-OK.

Unfortunately her commute is about 1 mile each way. Shopping, not much further...

Her previous 02 Durango I'd have to periodically charge the battery because of the short trips all the time.

Friday after she's done work her '15 Durango won't start and stay running. It's -5F so I head over there with the booster cables but I find it cranks good enough, just won't stay running. Saturday I go back and have another look, batt voltage is 11.5V resting which is weird because it really does seem to crank OK. I look and the battery is the OE AGM unit, clearly almost ten years old. I replace that...no matter what is really wrong a ten year old battery in my wife's whip won't do.

I finally drop back and punt and have it towed to the auto shop my son in law works at this morning. An hour later I get a text telling me the exhaust system is completely packed/blocked with ice which is why it won't stay running. They dropped the middle section of the exhaust, heated it with a torch to melt out the gallons of condensation water, then added a few more drain holes at the resonator. Runs like a top again, and my Son-in-law did me a solid by covering the bill.

I'll be taking this thing to my work at least once a week going forward so it see operating temp more often. Still shaking my head...and yes it has been consistently that cold here for long enough I guess.
 
I bought an 06 ram 2500 in 2012 with super low miles, no rust on the truck except for the exhaust, it was completly rotted out from the inside. Best bet was it was never driven for very far and it stayed wet in the pipe.
 
A constant diet of noth’n but short trips just ain’t good for any vehicle - battery might not get charged sufficiently and none of the drivetrain fluids get hot enough to burn off condensation accumulation and that does bad things for oils of every kind.
 
I run the autostart on my burb for 10-20 minutes just to drive my kids a half mile to school in the mornings. It's good for me, and good for the car. I like the cold but no way am I driving a car in negative temps without at least a few minutes of warm-up time.
 
centexk5 said:
Simple solution. Don’t live where ice in the exhaust is a concern.
Click to expand...
Not everyone wants to deal with 100+ degrees and rolling blackouts.

I have 3 other simple solutions:
  1. Don't buy a Dodge. That's obviously a stupid exhaust configuration.
  2. Heated garage. They're real and they're great.
  3. Give the Durango the Carolina squat so the water rolls out.
Polymath said:
I run the autostart on my burb for 10-20 minutes just to drive my kids a half mile to school in the mornings. It's good for me, and good for the car. I like the cold but no way am I driving a car in negative temps without at least a few minutes of warm-up time.
Click to expand...
I was going to say that at -5, it's normal to need some warm up time to be sure you can see. Pretty dangerous to head out on the road without some defrost, unless it's been sitting in a garage above freezing, but then this wouldn't be a problem. But you're also probably getting 2MPG.
 
We've got at least 2 cars here that have been below freezing for weeks and haven't run for more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time. There are people in town that drive less and I've never even heard of this frozen exhaust issue.
 
I’d say you just had bad luck. I own a Durango as does a coworker and he’s in Connecticut (and with an v6 at an 180k) and doesn’t have that issue. I’ve never seen it brought up on the message boards either so I doubt seriously it’s a design issue. Sounds like a case of shit just happens.
 
Heated garage...check, except my garage is for Hot Rod project(s)
The exhaust is no different from other cars or trucks. Tailpipes go up and over the rear end. I'd love to see the parking angle that lets that drain.
The muffler does have a drain hole, but it was carboned up. Deb does warm it up for about ten minutes before driving off, but it never gets to temp with her short commute. We just got to make sure it gets a decent drive at least once a week. Other than this goofy issue, it's been a solid reliable vehicle for her.

Blue85 said:
We've got at least 2 cars here that have been below freezing for weeks and haven't run for more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time. There are people in town that drive less and I've never even heard of this frozen exhaust issue.
Click to expand...

Fast Forward to 2:22. Not our Durango, but someone else with the same issue.

 
Truckman4life said:
The only instance I'd say an electric vehicle might be a decent choice but they all suck and I'd never get one anyways and it would have its own problems in that cold.
Click to expand...

EV's suck. There are a few around here, but range and stuff is horrible with the cold we get here sometimes.
 
Rene, seems you guys arent up to date with changing your exhaust fluid. Hopefully your blinker fluid has been flushed recently.

Very bizarre. Seems like an awful lot of condensation buildup, even from short trips.

Maybe you need electric cutouts, that would help drain it right out with couple good revs, hillbilly tuneup style. Seems like strong argument to run open headers.
 
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