Mileage - problem?

purplecow1977

I probably know the answer already, but is there a 'mileage' amount where things generally go wrong in cars? They say that when one thing goes, it's just the beginning.......

My car has 164,000km on it. How many more miles (or km!) can I expect to get out of it if it's regularly serviced & generally looked after? Does it depend on the make?

Truckermal

purplecow1977 wrote: »

I probably know the answer already, but is there a 'mileage' amount where things generally go wrong in cars? They say that when one thing goes, it's just the beginning.......

My car has 164,000km on it. How many more miles (or km!) can I expect to get out of it if it's regularly serviced & generally looked after? Does it depend on the make?

That's very low same amount as my own car actually if it's maintained well it will do four times that easily.

toyotaavensis

purplecow1977 wrote: »

I probably know the answer already, but is there a 'mileage' amount where things generally go wrong in cars? They say that when one thing goes, it's just the beginning.......

My car has 164,000km on it. How many more miles (or km!) can I expect to get out of it if it's regularly serviced & generally looked after? Does it depend on the make?

It depends on the car and how it has been treated. For example, if the car is driven very aggressively for short journeys then it will die sooner than a car which is used gently for long trips. I wouldnt say that when one thing goes it is just the beginning. From driving the car you should have an idea of how she feels.

How much longer you will get trouble free depends on lots of things including luck. I was in a taxi with over 400K miles on the clock recently. The same drivers previous car gave up at 200K.

The make and model do matter. For two reasons some brands are better than others. Also parts prices vary between companies. A buddy with a scenic changed a coil last week. It was 23 euro. For my car they are 80-100 euro.

So if you have a car which needs a few things and they are cheap you might fix them and keep the car going but if they are expensive then it might be time to dump the car.

Have you had any bother OP and what are you driving?

purplecow1977

Thanks for replies.

It's a 05 Opel Astra.

I had to replace the engine 18 months ago (oil ran out & I fcuked the car up by driving it, I know I know, rookie mistake) but there must have been a leak that I hadn't noticed as I'm anal about checking it now and there are no problems!)

I moved in the last few months so I'm clocking up 500km+ per week.

I finally paid off the loan on her last year so I'm planning on hanging on to her as long as I can as I would have to get another loan if I needed a new car. I have it 6 years now and other than my own stupidity, it's never caused any hassle. (Fingers crossed!)

Oh and should a car be serviced after 10,000km or 15,000km? I've done 10,000km since the last service but the sticker says another 5,000km!!

toyotaavensis

I always liked the astra. I know that the focus and corolla are very solid but i like the looks of the 307 and astra in this segment.

If you replaced it with a good engine and follow the service interval I would expect you to reach over 200miles at least. 300-400K km.

Just make sure you follow the service intervals.

mickdw

Truckermal wrote: »

That's very low same amount as my own car actually if it's maintained well it will do four times that easily.

I guess from now on you will have to repair the odd additional item compared to what you would expect if running a new car but certainly I don't see that there is an amount of mileage where you should be thinking of getting rid due to a fear of large bills.
edit: Did you get the engine rebuild done by a poster from here?

purplecow1977

I like the Astra too but there's no temperature gauge which is a bit annoying but now I know what I need to look out for and check, I'm on top of things. Even checked oil etc today and even pumped some tyres!! My next task is to learn how to change a wheel correctly.

purplecow1977

mickdw wrote: »

I guess from now on you will have to repair the odd additional item compared to what you would expect if running a new car but certainly I don't see that there is an amount of mileage where you should be thinking of getting rid due to a fear of large bills.

That's good news :-)

CiniO

purplecow1977 wrote: »

I probably know the answer already, but is there a 'mileage' amount where things generally go wrong in cars? They say that when one thing goes, it's just the beginning.......

My car has 164,000km on it. How many more miles (or km!) can I expect to get out of it if it's regularly serviced & generally looked after? Does it depend on the make?

Every car can do unlimited mileage, until it's crashed or falls apare because of rust.

Only question is when it becomes economically not viable to keep fixing it.
Surely the richer the economy of country we are talking about, the lower the mileage will car be not economical to repair anymore.

bazz26

164k km is roughly 100k miles, on a 9 year old car is below average. The Irish seem to have a mental block when it comes to cars and the magical 100k miles barrio they presume they will implode.

CiniO

bazz26 wrote: »

164k km is roughly 100k miles, on a 9 year old car is below average. The Irish seem to have a mental block when it comes to cars and the magical 100k miles barrio they presume they will implode.

Not only Irish have such mental barriers for mileage.

In Poland any car with above 200k kilometres is pretty much non-sellable.
If you advertise anything like it, it won't sell.
Nearly hundreds of thousands if not millions of vehicles for sale in Poland and below 200k km mark.

In reality most of those cars are second hand imports from Germany with real mileage at least double that.
If 20% of cars for sale really have less than 200k, then I'd call it a good result. I personally think it's actually less than 20%. Rest is clocked.

purplecow1977

bazz26 wrote: »

164k km is roughly 100k miles, on a 9 year old car is below average. The Irish seem to have a mental block when it comes to cars and the magical 100k miles barrio they presume they will implode.

Ah now, that's not what I said, or presumed! But figured it's better to be informed than.... uninformed!

I thought average yearly distance was about 15,000km which would put mine at 135,000km so mine is a bit above that. Even at 20,000km, it's not much 'below' average.

The only other thing is that higher mileage = harder to sell. I know I wouldn't be planning on buying a car with >100,000km on it, but it doesn't really matter as I'm not planning on reselling!

Bpmull

purplecow1977 wrote: »

I like the Astra too but there's no temperature gauge which is a bit annoying but now I know what I need to look out for and check, I'm on top of things. Even checked oil etc today and even pumped some tyres!! My next task is to learn how to change a wheel correctly.

If you do weekly bi-weekly checks on the car it could do 400k km absolutely no problem. Just do the basics keep it serviced. And when doing your check check all fluids especially oil and coolant. Look for leaks that's it. After a while you'll get so used to doing it will become a routine. The thing is by keeping an eye under the bonnet you spot problems early and can get them sorted. Mileage is really only a number it's how the car is minded and serviced that determines everything not the figure on the odometer.

slimjimmc

According to cartell.ie you're a bit over the average mileage for a 2005, but nothing to worry about.
My car is a 2003 1.4 petrol and has 250,000 km on the original engine.


http://nmr.ie/2012/02/average-mileage-in-ireland-2012/

ian87

I know somebody who runs about 50 vehicles on their fleet. He buys maybe 10 new cars or vans a year and keeps them until they are only fit for scrap. But he will not buy VW vans. 120k miles and bang they just go tits up. Everything seems to go wrong at that mileage and they are gotten rid of. In comparison I borrowed a 03 berlingo last summer which had 300k on the clocks. Same company, same drivers, same treatment. A strange one for the company assumed to be Germany's most reliable.

Theanswers

We have transporter vans with over 480,000 miles still going. Retired a while now, but still on the road. (2005+)

ian87

Theanswers wrote: »

We have transporter vans with over 480,000 miles still going. Retired a while now, but still on the road. (2005+)

Good to hear!

toyotaavensis

VW reliability has been in the papers a few times. It aint great.

purplecow1977

Bpmull wrote: »

If you do weekly bi-weekly checks on the car it could do 400k km absolutely no problem. Just do the basics keep it serviced. And when doing your check check all fluids especially oil and coolant. Look for leaks that's it. After a while you'll get so used to doing it will become a routine. The thing is by keeping an eye under the bonnet you spot problems early and can get them sorted. Mileage is really only a number it's how the car is minded and serviced that determines everything not the figure on the odometer.

This is where I missed out before.
There must have been a leak as I had to replace the oil quite regularly but I just thought that it had been 'used'. Now I know differently!

Stavros Murphy

purplecow1977 wrote: »

I like the Astra too but there's no temperature gauge which is a bit annoying but now I know what I need to look out for and check, I'm on top of things. Even checked oil etc today and even pumped some tyres!! My next task is to learn how to change a wheel correctly.

There's one of these outside with something intergalactic on the clock, deffo more than 390k kilometers. I like em. They do cack their ecu's on occasion though, but bbreman can sort them cheaply enough. Good car IMO.

purplecow1977

What's an ECU? :-0

Bpmull

purplecow1977 wrote: »

What's an ECU? :-0

The engine control unit. It's effectively the main computer for the car it controls all the electronics. I wouldn't get to worried about them if there was something wrong with it you'd get lights on the dash actually of there was something majorly wrong with it the car wouldn't even start that's how much control it has over modern engines. If you want to learn more about your car. You could always buy a haynes workshop manual for you model year. You can get them online or in halfords micksgarage.

BMJD

100k miles used to be the benchmark for when a car would self-destruct, nowadays I reckon 200,000km is the point where high mileage moves over to astronomical mileage, that is also where to look for bargains once you do your homework.

knotknowbody

purplecow1977 wrote: »

Thanks for replies.

Oh and should a car be serviced after 10,000km or 15,000km? I've done 10,000km since the last service but the sticker says another 5,000km!!

You need to check what the owners manual says about service intervals, don't trust the sticker the garage put on it, they can get it wrong sometimes.

You won't do any harm by servicing it early, except to your pocket, I service my own cars and always try to do them a bit early, if I can, I work on the theory that the last miles before an oil change are when the oil is at its most degraded so it will provide less protection for the engine.

Stella Virgo

bazz26 wrote: »

164k km is roughly 100k miles, on a 9 year old car is below average. The Irish seem to have a mental block when it comes to cars and the magical 100k miles barrio they presume they will implode.

applies to everything in this ****hole country........

knotknowbody

BMJD wrote: »

100k miles used to be the benchmark for when a car would self-destruct, nowadays I reckon 200,000km is the point where high mileage moves over to astronomical mileage, that is also where to look for bargains once you do your homework.

I wouldn't call 200000km high at all, that's only 120000 miles any modern car should do 200000 miles without too much issues, my Avensis has 210000 miles on it and I consider her low miles, it depends on the car bigger cars are usually a bit more durable but 200000km is certainly not astronomical.

purplecow1977

knotknowbody wrote: »

You need to check what the owners manual says about service intervals, don't trust the sticker the garage put on it, they can get it wrong sometimes.

You won't do any harm by servicing it early, except to your pocket, I service my own cars and always try to do them a bit early, if I can, I work on the theory that the last miles before an oil change are when the oil is at its most degraded so it will provide less protection for the engine.

What's the general 'time' or 'distance' that is recommended for car services? I used to think it was 10,000km but maybe that was 10,000miles?

I hadn't realised it differed too much from car to car.

BMJD

knotknowbody wrote: »

I wouldn't call 200000km high at all, that's only 120000 miles any modern car should do 200000 miles without too much issues, my Avensis has 210000 miles on it and I consider her low miles, it depends on the car bigger cars are usually a bit more durable but 200000km is certainly not astronomical.

I know that, but from looking on donedeal, carzone, etc., there tends to be a notable drop in asking price for cars over 200k.

Bpmull

BMJD wrote: »

I know that, but from looking on donedeal, carzone, etc., there tends to be a notable drop in asking price for cars over 200k.

There's 199k km on my parents octavia I better tell them to get rid of it before it reaches the 200k km mark :pac: I was always of the opinion that high mileage cars would be rough out to drive but I drove that octavia for 500km last week and tbh if you taped up the odometer and put people in it most would think there was 50k km on it. The engine just purrs away and not a rattle out of it. After driving it I know for a fact it's good for the same mileage again.

I know this video was posted on another thread but I think it would be good for the op to see it if there still in doubt over the mileage on Their car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbgTmJ-nDCg

fullstop

purplecow1977 wrote: »

I like the Astra too but there's no temperature gauge which is a bit annoying but now I know what I need to look out for and check, I'm on top of things. Even checked oil etc today and even pumped some tyres!! My next task is to learn how to change a wheel correctly.

Yep, this is a bug bear of mine. Had one of these a few years back and the coolant pipe sprung a leak on the motorway. Of course, with no temperature gauge I had no idea. Apparently there is a sensor which cuts the engine...this also failed. The engine seized and cost me €3k in repairs. :mad: Would never buy another Astra after that.

Bpmull

fullstop wrote: »

Yep, this is a bug bear of mine. Had one of these a few years back and the coolant pipe sprung a leak on the motorway. Of course, with no temperature gauge I had no idea. Apparently there is a sensor which cuts the engine...this also failed. The engine seized and cost me €3k in repairs. :mad: Would never buy another Astra after that.

I had an astra and I did find it slightly annoying that it didn't have the gauge. Although I thought they had a high engine temp warning light unless the temperature sensor was gone on your one too.

fullstop

Bpmull wrote: »

I had an astra and I did find it slightly annoying that it didn't have the gauge. Although I thought they had a high engine temp warning light unless the temperature sensor was gone on your one too.

Yeah well I was told by Opel that there is a sensor, but there was no light, nothing. I thought I heard a clunk about 5 minutes before it died but there was a lorry in front of me so I thought it was from that. Quick trick I learned from it all was to turn on the hot air regularly as if there was hot air, there was coolant.

Bpmull

fullstop wrote: »

Yeah well I was told by Opel that there is a sensor, but there was no light, nothing. I thought I heard a clunk about 5 minutes before it died but there was a lorry in front of me so I thought it was from that. Quick trick I learned from it all was to turn on the hot air regularly as if there was hot air, there was coolant.

Good point about the hot air alright makes sense. I checked mine for coolant every week or so. I can only imagine how much of a sickener it was to loose an engine and 3k. Just one of them unlucky things you couldn't really do anything about. And the thing is even if the car had a temp sensor. That gauge only measure the coolant temperature so if there's no coolant the gauge would probably drop if anything not rise. As it's the engine temperature sensor that would show the high engine temperature. That would cause the warning to go of in most cars not coolant. So it was probably that sensor that was gone in your car.

CiniO

Bpmull wrote: »

Good point about the hot air alright makes sense. I checked mine for coolant every week or so. I can only imagine how much of a sickener it was to loose an engine and 3k. Just one of them unlucky things you couldn't really do anything about. And the thing is even if the car had a temp sensor. That gauge only measure the coolant temperature so if there's no coolant the gauge would probably drop if anything not rise. As it's the engine temperature sensor that would show the high engine temperature. That would cause the warning to go of in most cars not coolant. So it was probably that sensor that was gone in your car.

Had the same when I was 17 years old.
Borrowed my dads car and accidentally hit a rock with radiator (I was doing some offroad).
It broke and lost all coolant, but as it was completely dark I didn't notice.
I drove for next 15km and engine died.
There was no temp gauge - only a light which was meant to lit when engine is overheating. It didn't.
No coolant - no warning light.
Dad didn't borrow me his car for next year.

purplecow1977

fullstop wrote: »

Yeah well I was told by Opel that there is a sensor, but there was no light, nothing. I thought I heard a clunk about 5 minutes before it died but there was a lorry in front of me so I thought it was from that. Quick trick I learned from it all was to turn on the hot air regularly as if there was hot air, there was coolant.

And also oil!

I thought my heater was broken and it was freezing in November.

Turned out there was no oil but no warning light came on. Well, I lie. A red light did eventually came on but I was only a short bit away from work so though 'oh I'll make it' but..... sadly, it didn't and it was a very very VERY expensive mistake!

purplecow1977

Bpmull wrote: »

Good point about the hot air alright makes sense. I checked mine for coolant every week or so. I can only imagine how much of a sickener it was to loose an engine and 3k. Just one of them unlucky things you couldn't really do anything about. And the thing is even if the car had a temp sensor. That gauge only measure the coolant temperature so if there's no coolant the gauge would probably drop if anything not rise. As it's the engine temperature sensor that would show the high engine temperature. That would cause the warning to go of in most cars not coolant. So it was probably that sensor that was gone in your car.

Another time, my coolant tube had a leak so similar thing happened - red warning light so I stopped driving immediately (had learned my lesson!) and again, smoke/steam coming out from my engine. I thought 'this is it, you wally, you've let the oil run out again' but it turned out the tube had a leak so the coolant was all gone.

That cost me €80 (on reflection I think he 'did' me (silly woman and all that) but at least I got it fixed).