Life expectancy of 1 liter engines

Poncke

Hi there, just wondering, coz Google let me down, what would a rule of thumb life expectancy of 1 liter car engines?

In terms of mileage?

Say engines between 1 and 1.3 liter

Jesus.

Too many variables there Horse

ironclaw

Mileage cannot be used as a measurement of engine life. You could have a car with a million miles in perfect condition versus a car with 30k miles that's ready for a complete rebuild. The critical factor is maintenance and the overall build and type of the engine in the first place. Going a step further, the history of the car and what is intended use going forward will be considerations.

I had a 99 Yaris with well clear of 200k miles on it and not an ounce of bother, but that particular block is considered one of the best in class ever made. On the flip side, a 2006 Touareg (Which features the same 2.5 turbo diesel block in a lot of VAGs) gave considerable trouble in the from of water pumps and turbo's.

CIP4

How long is a piece of string. Literally impossible to say without knowing the exact engine and year as some engines would be more prone to failure than other. Even knowing the engine it would heavily depend on how it was driven, serviced was the correct oil used so many variables. There would be know reason why a well minded engine wouldn't do 300k miles but obviously a lot of parts will wear and have to be changed over them miles. Then a car that was abused and service the engine might go before it reaches 100k miles.

Poncke

Thanks and fair comments. But what I mean is for example a Mercedes 3 ltr diesel can run 700k km without issues. I'd say a 1ltr petrol could be done around 180k km.

How do I determine if the mileage on a car is low normal or high for its age?

shietpilot

A mk1 Yaris 1.0 engine is well capable of high milage. I heard of one with 500,000 km.

The main thing that goes in them is the water pump or the timing chain if it's not serviced regularly.

listermint

Poncke wrote: »

Thanks and fair comments. But what I mean is for example a Mercedes 3 ltr diesel can run 700k km without issues. I'd say a 1ltr petrol could be done around 180k km.

How do I determine if the mileage on a car is low normal or high for its age?

Why ?

Cheensbo

The amount of space in the cylinders has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the life of an engine.


From a technical viewpoint, your question cannot be answered. And the Merc engine analogy doesn't work.



The easiest way to determine if mileage is low or high for a given vehicle is by checking the average mileage across same type of vehicle being sold at the time...


However, mileage plays very little in terms of how long an engine will last - most important factors would be: Who made it, the configuration, where its driven, who's driving it, how it has been maintained,the quality of maintenance, quality of fuel. I.E too many variables to say.

Muckie

"The main thing that goes in them is the water pump or the timing chain if it's not serviced regularly."

Water pump went on the wife's Yaris, took about 40 minutes to change, cost about €60 plus sealant to fix, great little cars to work on.

Dord

Not all cars are created or maintained equally.

Del2005

Poncke wrote: »

Thanks and fair comments. But what I mean is for example a Mercedes 3 ltr diesel can run 700k km without issues. I'd say a 1ltr petrol could be done around 180k km.

How do I determine if the mileage on a car is low normal or high for its age?

Don't worry about the mileage on the clock it's the service history and general condition that you buy a car on.

You could have a 10 year old car with 50k miles on the clock and it's never seen a mechanic and a ding on every panel versus a similar car with 250k miles and full main dealer service history and perfect body work, which car is the better buy?

Leonard Hofstadter

Cheensbo wrote: »

The amount of space in the cylinders has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the life of an engine.

Technically yes you're right, but in reality a larger capacity engine won't need to be worked as hard, so the engine will have an easier life and therefore last longer (all other things being equal).

Engines with more cylinders last longer because they are much smoother running. An straight six will last longer than an engine with five, or fewer cylinders because a straight six is perfectly balanced so there are no primary or secondary vibrations going through the engine (unlike engines with fewer cylinders), again this is assuming all other things are equal. This is one of the many reasons why most commerical vehicles use six cylinder engines (that and the fact that you can make the cylinders very large without compromising on refinement, a four cylinder engine vibrates a lot when you go beyond about 2.5 litres).

Jesus.

captainspeed wrote: »

This is one of the many reasons why most commerical vehicles use six cylinder engines.

By commercial vehicles I assume you mean HGV's?

Leonard Hofstadter

Jesus. wrote: »

By commercial vehicles I assume you mean HGV's?

Yes, sorry, I should have said HGVs. Almost all LCVs use four cylinder engines as you know.

Vowel Movement

I had a 2000 1.2 Clio with 180,000 miles with a F.S.H and it ran so sweet.

Jesus.

captainspeed wrote: »

Yes, sorry, I should have said HGVs. Almost all LCVs use four cylinder engines as you know.

So most HGV's have an inline 6? There's one exception which has a beautiful note: Scania's V8

Cheensbo

Jesus. wrote: »

So most HGV's have an inline 6? There's one exception which has a beautiful note: Scania's V8


]https://www.youtube.com/v=1Bet9jmfdHU[/YOUTUBE]

I was going to respond and say most real Trucks use straight 6's. Except for those absolute whopping/whirring scania V8's. :cool:


Still, nothing compared to a CAT C12 on the exhaust brake... *Shudder*

Poncke

Right, so there is no way to tell then, and I will just go with mileage below 100K and a service history, cant go wrong

Toyotafanboi

Poncke wrote: »

Right, so there is no way to tell then, and I will just go with mileage below 100K and a service history, cant go wrong

You'd be better off buying by brand. That's one of the keys to longevity imo.

I've personally seen Toyota Starlets, Yaris and Nissan Micras with 1.0 engines well on their way to 300,000 miles and certainly in the case of the Nissans it looked like the body was going to fail before the engine would.

When was the last time anyone seen a Corsa or Polo 1.0 for example go to that kind of mileage? Rarely.

Statements like that do offend the anti Jap crew but if you want an infinitely reliable small car, buying Japanese is usually your best bet.

Poncke

I am looking at Polo and Ibiza at the moment, maybe Clio or C3 as well

So Volkswagen, Seat, Renault and Citroën

rizzodun

Poncke wrote: »

I am looking at Polo and Ibiza at the moment, maybe Clio or C3 as well

So Volkswagen, Seat, Renault and Citroën

Nope, nope, maybe and nope....

Poncke

Lol. So Japanese only? But they're so ugly.

The cars I mean

Whyohwhy?

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

You'd be better off buying by brand. That's one of the keys to longevity imo.

I've personally seen Toyota Starlets, Yaris and Nissan Micras with 1.0 engines well on their way to 300,000 miles and certainly in the case of the Nissans it looked like the body was going to fail before the engine would.

When was the last time anyone seen a Corsa or Polo 1.0 for example go to that kind of mileage? Rarely.

Statements like that do offend the anti Jap crew but if you want an infinitely reliable small car, buying Japanese is usually your best bet.

That's the truth, had a Japanese import starlet, '94,4 speed that I bought to fix up. Needed a water pump, timing belt and cv joints. Had 386000 kms on it when I bought it. Done the work and put another 110,000 thousand on it. The body went to **** before the engine, bloody thing was bombproof!

rizzodun

Poncke wrote: »

Lol. So Japanese only? But they're so ugly.

The cars I mean

If you think a Starlet, yaris or Mazda 2 are more ugly than a Polo I'm afraid you're beyond help.

ironclaw

ironclaw wrote: »

I had a 99 Yaris with well clear of 200k miles on it and not an ounce of bother, but that particular block is considered one of the best in class ever made..

One of the greatest cars ever made that and the Prius, two of the cars I would have no hesitations in recommending as a older high mileage car.

My Auntie has an 00 1.0L Yaris never any trouble.

I had a prius for 4 years and it had 234,000 Kms , no recorded problems, just one owner before me. No issues in my ownership just a few recalls covered by Toyota.

rizzodun

rizzodun wrote: »

If you think a Starlet, yaris or Mazda 2 are more ugly than a Polo I'm afraid you're beyond help.

Indeed, Even a Golf isn't anything exciting yet it's the best selling car in Ireland ? crazy !

German cars are really nice places to sit, maybe that has something to do with it. Higher spec Golfs are nice inside but the basic to mid are boring.

rizzodun

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Indeed, Even a Golf isn't anything exciting yet it's the best selling car in Ireland ? crazy !

German cars are really nice places to sit, maybe that has something to do with it. Higher spec Golfs are nice inside but the basic to mid are boring.

I have a 07 Civic ES and its a way nicer car to sit in than a friend's 08 Audi A3, the Audi would probably command a higher price though, madness IMO.

Poncke

Here's a Yaris with over a million
https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/02-toyota-yaris/10872572

Amazing

Mervyn Skidmore

Poncke wrote: »

Here's a Yaris with over a million
https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/02-toyota-yaris/10872572

Amazing

He's put up nearly a million miles since his last NCT in September. That's serious mileage no matter what way you look at it. Must be commuting to Sydney.

CIP4

Poncke wrote: »

Here's a Yaris with over a million
https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/02-toyota-yaris/10872572

Amazing

Nct disc says 115k miles obviously just a mistake in the ad. It was unlikely that the car done 80k a year every year for 13 years. Probably some going around with 300k miles if you looked I'd say.

Poncke

CIP4 wrote: »

Nct disc says 115k miles obviously just a mistake in the ad. It was unlikely that the car done 80k a year every year for 13 years. Probably some going around with 300k miles if you looked I'd say.

I kind of was being ironic