Life of car engine

WhiteWalls

Just looking at cars for sale at the minute. Cars with high mileage still looking for big money. Would it be standard that a car would do 250k miles without giving too much properly if it was looked after properly?

I think the year of the car can tell a lot in these situations.

I find there are a lot of 'high miler' saloons for sale, which are relatively new. My presumption is that they're just sales rep cars or such and have been up and down the motorways all day, every day.

With that kinda usage, I'd imagine very little could really go wrong in them, that could be blamed entirely on the wear and tear caused by motorway driving? But then I'm no mechanic, and although an engine with 200k miles will obviously have more wear than one with 100k miles, i cant imagine it being a major issue?


I have an 06 Peugeot 407, with about 215k on it (and multiple owners id imagine, so id presume lots of varied use, from start stop town driving to motorway driving). It's not really got anything wrong with it. Im sure that could change massively in the the next 40k km but at the moment it's running fine. Down to the particular car, id imagine.

pablo128

WhiteWalls wrote: »

Just looking at cars for sale at the minute. Cars with high mileage still looking for big money. Would it be standard that a car would do 250k miles without giving too much properly if it was looked after properly?

My fathers car is a 99 toyota Picnic 2.0 petrol. He bought it as a 2 year old 20k mile car. It now has just over 260k miles. Private use only, mainly from Clondalkin to Courtown where they have a place.

I gave it an engine service last week before its NCT. Which it failed. On 2 tyres. Every thing on this car works perfectly. The aircon has never been topped up, yet still works fine. It's still on its original rear brake shoes and drums. The tracking has never been done on it in his ownership, and the tyres wear evenly. Original shocks, exhaust, CV joints, ball joints, in fact it would be easier to list the new parts that have gone into it. I'm the only person who works on it BTW.

If a car is driven right, it will go forever.

WhiteWalls

pablo128 wrote: »

My fathers car is a 99 toyota Picnic 2.0 petrol. He bought it as a 2 year old 20k mile car. It now has just over 260k miles. Private use only, mainly from Clondalkin to Courtown where they have a place.

I gave it an engine service last week before its NCT. Which it failed. On 2 tyres. Every thing on this car works perfectly. The aircon has never been topped up, yet still works fine. It's still on its original rear brake shoes and drums. The tracking has never been done on it in his ownership, and the tyres wear evenly. Original shocks, exhaust, CV joints, ball joints, in fact it would be easier to list the new parts that have gone into it. I'm the only person who works on it BTW.

If a car is driven right, it will go forever.

Is there many people out there that buy a basically new car and run it into the ground then?

pablo128

WhiteWalls wrote: »

Is there many people out there that buy a basically new car and run it into the ground then?

There's the thing. He hasn't run it into the ground. It's still a perfectly good 7 seater car. There is a view in this country that means older car = worn out good for nothing banger. Back in the day when rust was an issue that might have been the case, but not really any more. The only negative on my dads yoke would be fuel consumption being a petrol, but the fact it's mainly on the motorways means it's not too bad.

WhiteWalls

When you say 'if a car is driven right it will go forever', what exactly do you mean? Do you mean not going over 2k revs, driving on good roads all the time?

I'm sure there is an element of luck with it too though, I know people who would not be rough with a car and they can still be a heart breaker

Kevin McCloud

825,000 miles on nissan terrano and its flying it.

WhiteWalls

Kevin McCloud wrote: »

825,000 miles on nissan terrano and its flying it.

A friend of mine has one of those and he got over a million miles on his so your safe enough for another while yet

Kevin McCloud

WhiteWalls wrote: »

A friend of mine has one of those and he got over a million miles on his so your safe enough for another while yet

Well it has been reported by taxi cab drivers that around the million is their life span. Google it the black cab uses the 2.7td.

WhiteWalls

Kevin McCloud wrote: »

Well it has been reported by taxi cab drivers that around the million is their life span. Google it the black cab uses the 2.7td.

I thought you were joking, thats crazy

Kevin McCloud

WhiteWalls wrote: »

I thought you were joking, thats crazy

No im serious, i know several ducato vans with 1 million miles plus and they are original engine.

curiousb

I've just bought a Subaru Outback (2.5l petrol, 2006) with about 260k Kilometres on it and it is rock solid. I got it from a Subaru dealer with a full history and it has been really well looked after, and as far as the dealer is concerned, mileage is not an issue with this car once it is well looked after.

Stella Virgo

curiousb wrote: »

I've just bought a Subaru Outback (2.5l petrol, 2006) with about 260k Kilometres on it and it is rock solid. I got it from a Subaru dealer with a full history and it has been really well looked after, and as far as the dealer is concerned, mileage is not an issue with this car once it is well looked after.

you do realise the yearly tax on that yoke is 1,080e.......

curiousb

yes, and?

lfbmick

curiousb wrote: »

I've just bought a Subaru Outback (2.5l petrol, 2006) with about 260k Kilometres on it and it is rock solid. I got it from a Subaru dealer with a full history and it has been really well looked after, and as far as the dealer is concerned, mileage is not an issue with this car once it is well looked after.

If you don't me asking,how insurance company reacted to subaru ? Did they increased your premium.I'm asking because I was looking to buy subaru legacy and insurance told me its not insurable. Thanks

curiousb

lfbmick wrote: »

If you don't me asking,how insurance company reacted to subaru ? Did they increased your premium.I'm asking because I was looking to buy subaru legacy and insurance told me its not insurable. Thanks

My last car was a Subaru Legacy twin turbo jap import and I did have problems getting quotes. Eventually went with Crean & Crean brokers who got me a quote from Petronas for about €650 fully comp. When I changed to the Outback last week, same brokers got me a quote of €415 fully comp with Alliance so I jumped at it. That also includes breakdown assist! The Outback is a lot cheaper as it is not a turbo model.

lfbmick

curiousb wrote: »

My last car was a Subaru Legacy twin turbo jap import and I did have problems getting quotes. Eventually went with Crean & Crean brokers who got me a quote from Petronas for about €650 fully comp. When I changed to the Outback last week, same brokers got me a quote of €415 fully comp with Alliance so I jumped at it. That also includes breakdown assist! The Outback is a lot cheaper as it is not a turbo model.

That just brilliant. I was looking to buy non turbo subaru legacy and AIG told me they don't insure and will not transfer my current insurance to subaru.

Leonard Hofstadter

WhiteWalls wrote: »

When you say 'if a car is driven right it will go forever', what exactly do you mean? Do you mean not going over 2k revs, driving on good roads all the time?

I'm sure there is an element of luck with it too though, I know people who would not be rough with a car and they can still be a heart breaker

To me, it means working the engine hard and making use of its full potential - but only when it is fully warmed up. When you're starting it from cold first thing in the mornings, baby it; try to avoid anything above 3,000 rpm (in a petrol engine) or anything below 1,800 rpm (because low revs can cause the engine to labour and that's not good either), but as the engine progressively warms up then you can make increased use of its performance.

For what it's worth, the engine is NOT fully warmed up when the temperature gauge has hit the middle, that only means the coolant is up to temperature. Oil takes double the time to fully warm up, and it's only when the oil is fully warmed up should you make full use of the engine's performance.

A well maintained engine should have no difficulty running at high speeds and high revs for an extended period of time. Obviously, running a car close to the red line is not going to be good for its long term health, and neither is rallying it between sets of traffic lights good either, but running a petrol engine at say 4,000 - 5,000 rpm on a motorway for hours on end won't do it any harm at all - apart from the long term effect on your wallet because of the higher fuel consumption:D. In fact, it's very good for the engine to be run at high revs for an extended period of time every so often as it keeps the cylinders and valves free of carbon deposits, which reduce the engine's performance and fuel economy. If an engine suffers from too much carbon build up, it could eventually lead to catalytic converter failure, which would need to be replaced to get the car through the NCT. An occasional thrashing of the engine will keep all the other engine emissions (such as the CO and HC emissions they test in the NCT) down, too.

By far and away the most important thing you can do to get the engine to clock up as many miles as possible is servicing; make sure it's serviced exactly on schedule (or in the case of newer cars with their ridiculously long intervals, at least once a year or 20,000 km - no car should go more than 20,000 km on the same oil no matter how many long life additives are in it), and always make sure it gets high quality oil. Some garages will shortcut and use mineral oil (as it's slightly cheaper), but I would always pay the extra for the fully synthetic stuff. Oil is the lifeblood of any engine, you wouldn't drink dirty water so why would you let an engine have dirty oil in it because you haven't serviced it on time? Look after your car, and it will look after you.

Seweryn

captainspeed wrote: »

Some garages will shortcut and use mineral oil (as it's slightly cheaper), but I would always pay the extra for the fully synthetic stuff. Oil is the lifeblood of any engine, you wouldn't drink dirty water so why would you let an engine have dirty oil in it because you haven't serviced it on time? Look after your car, and it will look after you.

Well said. And by using mineral engine oil, you are not saving any money. Let's put the engine longevity aside, the improved fuel economy from say 0W40 vs 15W40 oil (especially if you do shorter trips) will pay for itself. I don't remember using mineral engine oil in anything other than a lawn mower.

Stella Virgo wrote: »

you do realise the yearly tax on that yoke is 1,080e.......

More interesting stuff usually cost a bit more to tax, but still this has very little to do with the life of an engine .

curiousb

Seweryn wrote: »

More interesting stuff usually cost a bit more to tax, but still this has very little to do with the life of an engine .

Very true. By being willing to pay more for the tax I pay a lot less for the motor, suffer a lot less depreciation and have a more interesting car!

Markcheese

Kevin McCloud wrote: »

No im serious, i know several ducato vans with 1 million miles plus and they are original engine.

And they're a comfortable van a well ... Don't think the gearboxes have as good a rep as the engine though ... Know a few people who lost 2nd gear ...

Markcheese

Kevin McCloud wrote: »

No im serious, i know several ducato vans with 1 million miles plus and they are original engine.

And they're a comfortable van a well ... Don't think the gearboxes have as good a rep as the engine though ... Know a few people who lost 2nd gear ...