Best advice for engine longevity?
 

Hi all,

I'm wondering if anyone has advice on the best things to do to prolong the life of an engine. Basically, thanks to poor geographical planning on my part, my home to work roundtrip is approx 120 miles a day, and I work between 5 and 7 days a week depending how busy things are. As you can imagine this adds up quickly. I'm a huge hiking fan too so on my days off I'm constantly travelling to different hiking locations. The result of this is I've done just shy of 20,000 miles since the end of November. The engine is now just over 112k and its a 2008 v50 2.0d.

Now, I would say probably 80% of my driving is up and down the M4 and I tend to cruise in the slow lane at 60mph 99% of the time, so I dont abuse the car. When I bought it it had full service history and it's booked in for it's 3rd service since being in my ownership.

Short of your regular fluid and filter changes, is there anything else I do to keep the engine in top condition? It's recently had a new clutch and DMF and the timing belt/water pump was changed on purchase. I want it to see 200k miles, which at its current rate will probably be in around 2.5 years time.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

The fact that you're doing so many miles will help. Doing lots of short journeys would do the opposite.

Following the service schedule will help and if you fancy changing the engine oil halfway between services then that won't do any harm.

If looked after properly, that Ford/PSA engine will probably get you past 200K without an issue but my suspicion is that it won't last as long as a Volvo engine, so I'd look to move the car on at around 200K. By then, it's resale value will be very low, but you will have gotten massive value out of it.

Yeah that's my plan to be honest. There aren't too many modern engines that will comfortably continue to sail past 200k problem free even with good maintenence. This is my general car cycle, keep it 2/3 years, look after it and change it near the 200k mark. This is why ill never buy a newer car as the depreciation would kill me with the mileage going up so quickly

If its an auto, look at getting the gearbox oil and filter changed. As well as diff oil.

Interim oil changes are a good way of reducing engine wear. I used to service my old 2ltr DOHC Sierra every 6.5k miles, the bore wear was minimal at 130k after it was inspected after a head gasket failure. I used to fit a new filter every other service and I was using Castrol Semi Synthetic, I was happy with the results and so was the garage it seems.

TT

Just do what you do, and service every 12k rather than extended oci. Dont labour the engine often, and dont be scared to use the revs once up to temp.

The PSA 2ltr lump is a robust unit, I used the have a V50 myself and it’s one of the most economical diesels I ever owned. As above, keep it serviced and don’t beat it to death and all will be well.

TT

Just drive it and service as per the schedule, mines on 205K now, never had an engine issue still on original clutch used on a 9 daily 9 mile commute to work (hitting 90 most days (allegedly)) and frequent trips down to Devon. Sometimes does about 15K between services :shocked:

You will have to do something special to kill a 2.0D,

As mentioned keep the revs down when the engines not up to temp.
Don't be afraid to use the rev range.

Regular servicing

If it is an auto , it is on the 50000 service schedule to change it's gearbox oil and filter this is essential for long life .

Thanks for all the replies. It's a 6 speed manual not an auto, however a few weeks ago the gearbox came off to have a driveshaft input bearing replaced, so obviously fresh oil was put in it then. Just fingers crossed it lasts the time!

Ahhhh yer fine, they’re a robust gearbox. The clutches are rubbish on em, I have no faith in Dual Mass Clutches, mine failed at 75k which seems the average for em.

TT

Yet my previous tdi P1 is on 230,000 miles on original clutch and flywheel.
I accept the dual mass flywheel has a finite life unlike the seemingly unlimited of solid, however they are not inherently short lived if treated with a bit of mechanical sympathy.

I was taught to ease the gearstick through the gate with fingertips not ram it through as if it were a pump handle as I see so many do. To get the wheels rolling before giving it a boot full of revs not dump the clutch on 4k etc. It's shock loading kills the dm flywheel springs and it's weak or broken springs kill the dm flywheel.

5 ton sprinter cherry picker constantly on stop start journeys made it to 185k before new clutch and flywheel needed.

Paul.

I'm a bit late to the thread but 70mph is no better or worse (probably better being a diesel) than 60. I'd change the oil every 10k miles personally. Other than that, the fact you're taking it on long journeys will automatically make it more reliable than most cars of the same type.

I guess you could argue filling it up with decent fuel could help? Trouble is there's so many conflicting accounts on both sides it's hard to tell.

Yes premium fuel can help as it has additives which clean, enhance burn, etc. Only beneficial if used predominantly, long-term, though. A tenner here, half a tank there, sporadically, will do sod-all.

Stepping in here , from the motor trade view point . Regular oil & filter changes at less than the manufacturer's reccomendations is a sure fire winner .

Cheaper oil changed more often is way more beneficial than using better oil to it life limits , think about the junkbuilding up in suspension .

I test cars & vans all day long that are not due oil changes & the goop i find is not nice

Agreed, I still use old skool gear shifting and avoid off the mark stresses but the DMF’s do seem to be weaker than the old school clutches. 230K... impressive

TT

Absolutely agree - anecdotal I know but I knew of a chap with a 1.9TDi Golf MK V (horrid thing but each to their own) who did about 30,000 miles a year - he was having the oil changed every 9000 miles or so despite VW's much higher recommended intervals (12500 I think?) and it's not far off 300,000 miles.

Interestingly, there's a youtube channel called CarThrottle who bought a Skoda Octavia with 430,000 miles on the clock - all because the previous owner was OCD about preventative maintenance.

Hi

The only thing I would change here is:-

I was always told an oil filter takes a while to become effective. Effectively the filter is slowly becoming more effective as it is slowly blocking up. So a filter tends to be changed when it is actually filtering at its best. But it has to be changed before it blocks and reduces oil flow or the bypass opens.

The compromise I have been taught is to change the filter on time but to do an intermediate oil change to improve the life of the engine.

Iain

Iain , I can see & understand the rationale in your comment , but me personally filter everytime for the small cost incurred . Especially when looking at cost of certain German makers engines £ 4 -6,000 inc labour .:confused_smile:

Whilst filters can trap smaller particles as they clog, the flow rate reduces. Its a no-win scenario.
Except that the new filter if of suitable quality is designed and capable of trapping the size of particulate necessary, as such they perform as they should straight out of the box.
A new filter has much more capacity for particulates than a clogged one.
A new filter does not inhibit flow.

Just a few reasons why this 'old filter is best' myth is just more 'pub/forum talk'. There is some truth there, but the reality has been somewhat skewed.

That was quite normal back then with volvos , my father's 1980 340 1.4 has done 245000 miles on it's original clutch in fact it has needed no parts at all except for normal servicing , still uses no oil .

27 to 714800 miles
 

245 GL 1989 1986cc CI (constant injection) converted to LPG at 151k.
This engine went to 500k where the cylinder pressure went down 11 bar. Volvo minimum 9 bar. It was slowing down, too slow to tow the caravan, but was still doing 5k ltr of oil.


Now a used 2326cc from Braydon Motors London for £265 while another 2.3ltr is being rebuilt, this cost £150 for ebay. The 2ltr could not be bored out as it would break through to the water ways. Shame!

In order in my opinion what matters.

1. Very clean oil always. This is achieved with by-pass oil filtration. The ordinary full flow filters to 16 micron. At quarter flow the larger by-pass filters to 2 micron. Interference at the piston ring and bore interface is 6 micron. Herein I think lies the secret to long life. Before you change the oil you send a sample to the North Wales Laboratory for a detailed analysis, this tells you change or go to the next service period. A detailed report picks up fuel, coolant, and all the metal wear rates. Generally, my change rates for the 2ltr engine was 70k. Once it was 150k.


2 LPG is clean fuel little carbon gets into the oil. No particulates, no NOX. Current cost 59.9ppl. TfL seem happy with this to. Conversion paid for its self in 2 years, but only petrol engines with hard heads will last.


3. Engine preheaters. I had the Kenlowe original but was not as reliable as the Volvo engine. There was a modification to switch on the cab heater fan when up to temperature. Hard work though.

4. Quality 0/30 fully synthetic oil.

5. Often thought a filter system on the gear box would be good as the my M47 gearbox started bulking at 5k miles.

bobistheoilguy is a good place to get information.

Regular maintenance of course. Garages don't like bypass filters.


BrianH
800 to 1000mls a week

How do you do that?

How do you do that?

Ditto,

I did a bit of reading on bypass filters and they seem pretty interesting.

The by pass oil filtration system went out in the late 1950's , why would you not want all your oil going through the filter?

I appear to be the only person thinking this but here goes:

Regular high mileage should allow you to increase the time between oil changes, the oil is hot for longer and not under stress so will last longer.

Thinking back to 1990's BMW's and the company I worked at had 4 or 5 BM's with the famous 'countdown' service indicator lights. The car's computer would monitor the number of starts/mileage/oil temperature and vary the oil change time to suit. Some of the high miles guys would get over 30,000 miles whereas the 'town' drivers would be 12,000 ish....

volvo have had an oil sensor for the last 13 years which monitors oil quality , oil temperature and Oil level in conjunction with the service light parameters of time , Mileage and how long the engine has been running .. if it deems that the oil is needing change it will put up an " Oil Service Required " message . However i have never heard of this message appearing , so it seems the regular servicing mileage of 18000 miles or one year oil changing if fine . This is backed up by the internals of the engines always bright and shining with no deposits .

Mercedes has a similar system, the problems arise when the vehicle is saying change the oil and the lease company is saying no its not done the milage between services yet. 6000 miles overdue before they relented and changed the oil on its first service..

Over the next 9 years I'm sure they regretted that attitude given the number of bits that had to be renewed including the turbo. Still it was and is their van, now written off because it needed an oxygen sensor which exceeded the spend limit.

The next owner will inherate headaches.

Paul.

Computers!!! and their algorithms
 

These computers are set up by the manufacturers. The main agents pay thousands of pounds for them and we believe them totally, don't we?

With my experience with my wife's Polo:'nothing is wrong Sir', £60 please, but she wouldn't drive it in limp mode at 20mph. What do these garages know about electronics? My laptop computer often gets confused and needs cleaning. Manufacturers need to support Main Dealers, but you pay the premium.

On board computers are increasing, exponentially. Where is this leading? Boredom is worth it, think H&S. Less deadly mistakes on the road, and of course this is essential.

I digress, very clean oil is the answer to long life in my opinion I have evidence.

Currently I deal with Don at Performance Oils. He stocks all the items I use and I have sent him a spreadsheet of the B200E engine performance from 150k to 497k by using the bypass filtration and his 0-30 Amsoil.

In the spare engine I am currently using a 5-30 fully synthetic from Tesco, as it is API L or M standard. Being lazy, not changed it for 100k, and now at 200k from installation, as I await the rebuild engine (2k pl). Special offer £6 for 2ltrs. ( Said to have 165k on the engine when purchased).


Go for the facts not the myths.


BrianH 715326k

Think I'll still change mine every year, ta :D

In my 240, that works out at fresh oil every 500 miles or so. Think the old barge is a little spoiled...

Oil is cheaper than metal.
Always was, always will be.


Salut!

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