How long is a piece of string question....engine life.

Post by **Mocki** » 09 Sep 2008, 19:37

rule 5.
never buy from anyone who wears driving gloves, or has feet smaller than the pedals they are pushing.

Post by **Syncro G** » 09 Sep 2008, 22:19

Mocki wrote:rule 5.
never buy from anyone who wears driving gloves, or has feet smaller than the pedals they are pushing.

My Dad sometimes wares driving gloves. His Caravelle he owned from new had done over 170k miles when he sold it (age 18, steeringwheel still looked very nice), new engine fitted at 168 as it was the cheepest way of fixing the waterleak which was starting to cause problems. Autobox had never been out. It let him down 3 times, 2 of them was caused by the battery expireing (we had this problem every 7 years) and once it wouldn't start to the RAC had to give the Digijet plug a wiggle - it was probubly almost 10 then but never did it again. - Lifespan has a bit of luck in it but mostly its being simpathetic and maintaining it religously!

Post by **Red Westie** » 09 Sep 2008, 22:48

Titus A Duxass
Point taken about low milage not necessarily being good but until I develop extra sensory perception I'm sticking to low milage is better 'unless you have first hand knowledge of what type of miles the engine has done in the last 20 years' shock:
My reply was a generalisation as exact driving history is ni impossible to know in most cases.

Post by **toomanytoys** » 09 Sep 2008, 23:39

"pink" G12 is only any use if the coolant has been changed on a reg basis from new.. so a complete waste of money.. unless you have renewed every metal component in the cooling system... sorry, but thats FACT... if its still all the "old" stuff.. then each time something springs a leak its going to cost a lot more to refill... Use a cheaper branded coolant.. change it every 3 years or when a leak occurs..

USA mileages.. well generally they do a lot more miles, the country is a lot bigger... just like a lot of vehicles in European countries...

Distilled water or water from naturally soft regions (NOT "softened" water) would help but again its prob down to quality of the coolant as well....

There is a theory that short trips on the wbx causes gasses to enter the cooling system and cause reactions/corosion etc... as the engine repeatedly is warmed and cooled unevenly.. rather than getting up to temperature for long periods... this could explain where a low mile engine has had trouble...

If you factor in the engine will give trouble at some point then all will be well.. but if you go "oh its low miles and it wont ever need anything doing"... you are gonna be in trouble...
Just how many 16-25 year old transits etc do you see on the road? not many.. and they prob sold a hell of a lot more of them that T25's....

Age is the biggest factor.. coolant changes (maintenance) next.. then how well its been rebuilt will be the last one...

Post by **HarryMann** » 10 Sep 2008, 00:59

1.9 DGs can do a good mileage and still be going well... 100,000 is no problem if they aren't caned senseless... 150k not uncommon.

Of course longer runs in the States and Europe affect things, like all motorway here, up until they are pushed too hard one day, or lose their water.

I think low mileage is a consideration, with overall condition and maintenance matching it. Gearboxes, drivelines ans brakes/bearings tend to be mileage dependent items - as long as the obverse isn't that its been just standing.

Post by **specialshoe** » 15 Sep 2008, 15:59

heat is what kills the 1.9/2.1 motors flat 4 water cooled motors (oh and thrashing the breasticles off them)

so if the water falls out - due to corrosion - they go up in smoke.

When they overheat the valve heads fall off and heasds crack, oil thin to water so bearings get knocked out, etc - everyones nightmare.

So the right ratio of only G12 coolant is critical - pink and pricey

Very shortly I will be fitting a separate water and oil temperature guage as the vw dash item is a bit vague - something with actual degrees would be better I think.

Good quality clean and the right amount of oil also keeps things going.

I bought a main VW agent serviced 70,000 1989 1.9dg powered van - done about 3 - 4 thousand miles a year all its life. All is well so far and I bought it based on the low (genuine) mileage and VW stamps in the service book.

This however is not all it seems to be - the steel coolant pipe had corrosion leaks repaired and the coolant system had been topped up with something other than G12 so looked like wee. So job one was new pipe and 7.5 litres of G12.

but at least the oil had been changed regularly by the VW man.

I have bought min on the assumption that the motor will go pop fizz at about 120,000, thus giving me about 50,000 to go.

Hopefully writing this will not set up some horrid 'sods law' chain of events culminating in a Remtec/Vege motor being delivered to my house.

Post by **toomanytoys** » 15 Sep 2008, 16:35

oil temperature has the biggest effect.. the cooling system when in good nick and with a good thermostat works very well... there is so much coolant that they dont get hot easily.. but the oil does.. the factory oil cooler on the 2.1's isnt that great, worse when they are pushed.. even on my 1.9 DG syncro (with factory oil cooler) I have seen 115 degC...
G12 wont fix whatever corrosion has already taken place as the steel coolant pipe has corroded and leaked already...

Post by **HarryMann** » 15 Sep 2008, 18:18

Yes, agree, think oil temp plays a big part, esp. being rear-engined without any useful airflow around the engine. Syncros will be a bit worse with their underrun protection, noting that it is less substantial though than the diesel sumpguard.