Advice on keeping my car "healthy"

atrixblue.-MFR-.

vaio wrote: »

Never understood this one, surely the fuel pick up is going to be at the bottom of the tank anyway so any gunk in the bottom of the tank is going to be the first thing sucked up?



I’d check the oil way more often than once a month, far better to get in the habit of a quick once over under the bonnet every time you fill the fuel tank

i dont know why people say this either vaio, surley if you have gunk in the tank when filled the gunk will be disturbed and floating around so will be sucked up regardless, when putting in additives (injector cleaner etc) they advise to put in on full tank! but dont tell that you should really fill the tank and then wait a while to introduce the additive thus giving time for the gunk to settle? plus as petrol is thinner than diesel i allways thought (warning this may sound thick) that gunk will settle in petrol tanks and either float in diesels tanks or just churn around in it as its an oil based fuel (theory based on the water mixed with oil theory water being the one that sat ontop of the oil!)

mikey72

The vauxhall has always been 20k max as far as I know, mine is in it's service book.
Audi has always been 5k, I wouldn't call that long.
Both down to faults in the engine though, not in the use of long life oils.

focae

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

And what do you think brings about "catastrophic engine failures"

I'll tell you what, failing to ensure the engine oil is clean, failing to maintain cam belt changes within, ie, less than the recomended service intervals. Servicing your car is like insurance, sure you can away with skimping once or twice, but when you get bitten, boy will you pay.

You clearly misunderstood my post. I quoted examples of causes of catastrophic engine failures which you you kindly reinforced by repeating one of them.

I am not suggesting for one minute that you should skip on recommended service intervals. Indeed, I am suggesting that you should follow them.

However, it is a complete waste of money performing intermediate oil changes on modern engines - with the caveat - as long as you aren't putting the engine under stress eg by regular towing.

focae

vaio wrote: »

Well, you might not have heard about it but Audi extended the warranty on the 1.8T petrol engine to 8 years because they sludge up if you follow the originally recommended oil change interval. Because the States have proper consumer rights it was done explicitly over there and in Germany and done informally in the UK.

http://www.autosafety.org/uploads/phpYxmWv4_AudiOilSludge.pdf

.

If you are going to quote documents to support an argument, then you really ought to read them. The document clearly states that if an owner has followed the recommended servicing schedules then they need do squat.

cyclonebri1

focae wrote: »

You clearly misunderstood my post. I quoted examples of causes of catastrophic engine failures which you you kindly reinforced by repeating one of them.

I am not suggesting for one minute that you should skip on recommended service intervals. Indeed, I am suggesting that you should follow them.

However, it is a complete waste of money performing intermediate oil changes on modern engines - with the caveat - as long as you aren't putting the engine under stress eg by regular towing.

No, I understood quite clearly and without being disrespectfull what I was actually trying to say is that a failure brought about by lack of clean oil is just as likely to be as "catostrophic" as one caused by component failure, ie Cambelt.

My view is this, I said it before or in a similar topic the recomended oil change frequency is the maximum mileage not the minimum

Or think of it this way;
Can a component on the car fail before it's expected lifespan? The answer of course is yes, and so can your oil and even more likely, your oil filter.

I'll pay the insurance on this one

vaio

vaio wrote: »

Well, you might not have heard about it but Audi extended the warranty on the 1.8T petrol engine to 8 years because they sludge up if you follow the originally recommended oil change interval. Because the States have proper consumer rights it was done explicitly over there and in Germany and done informally in the UK.

http://www.autosafety.org/uploads/phpYxmWv4_AudiOilSludge.pdf

focae wrote: »

If you are going to quote documents to support an argument, then you really ought to read them. The document clearly states that if an owner has followed the recommended servicing schedules then they need do squat.

Either you are writing gibberish or I’ve lost my comprehension ability but either way I don’t understand what you are saying.

The AoA letter says they are extending the engine warranty to 8 years/unlimited miles because they were suffering sludge problems on engines that had been serviced as per the manufacturers recommendations.

At about the same time they also specified a better grade of oil, bigger filter and reduced the oil change interval from 10k to 5k miles.

Obviously no warranty is going to apply to owners who hadn’t followed the previous (inadequate) servicing recommendations

vansboy

Ok, you'll have read all the comments on long oil changes, but what isn't mentioned (unless I missed it), DO leave the first fill until the Vauxhall indicated service interval MILEAGE (not months), as current thinking is that the engine will be run in much better than an early oil change, in previous generation engines.

I would also agree using the CORRECT oil & GENUINE filter, but at 10000miles intervals, max. You'll find Vauxhalls own lubricants at exceprional prices, as they constantly have buy 3 get 1 free, to trade users, on their 5ltr packs.

Buy Shell V Poer fuel, get the loyalty card in the filling station, register & you'll get pennies & more off a litre, if you do this http://www.shell.co.uk/home/content/gbr/products_services/on_the_road/fuels/v_power_diesel_tpkg/

Even if you don't buy V Power, do use their fuel, instead of supermarkets. Or read ALL the conflicting reports on 'cheap' fuel & make up your own mind.

You will do your car good, if you treat it to some car care products in http://www.meguiars.co.uk range.

A good start would be Halfords with 3 for 2 at the moment.

& if you read through the link above, you'll see why their products are so well thought of.

& youtube search for their links for clay bar cleaning on NEW cars & you;ll see why it'd be good on yours!!

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_230451_langId_-1_categoryId_165527

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_253057_langId_-1_categoryId_165527

VB

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_199095_langId_-1_categoryId_165609

cyclonebri1

vansboy wrote: »

Ok, you'll have read all the comments on long oil changes, but what isn't mentioned (unless I missed it), DO leave the first fill until the Vauxhall indicated service interval MILEAGE (not months), as current thinking is that the engine will be run in much better than an early oil change, in previous generation engines.

I would also agree using the CORRECT oil & GENUINE filter, but at 10000miles intervals, max. You'll find Vauxhalls own lubricants at exceprional prices, as they constantly have buy 3 get 1 free, to trade users, on their 5ltr packs.

Buy Shell V Poer fuel, get the loyalty card in the filling station, register & you'll get pennies & more off a litre, if you do this http://www.shell.co.uk/home/content/gbr/products_services/on_the_road/fuels/v_power_diesel_tpkg/

Even if you don't buy V Power, do use their fuel, instead of supermarkets. Or read ALL the conflicting reports on 'cheap' fuel & make up your own mind.

You will do your car good, if you treat it to some car care products in http://www.meguiars.co.uk range.

A good start would be Halfords with 3 for 2 at the moment.

& if you read through the link above, you'll see why their products are so well thought of.

& youtube search for their links for clay bar cleaning on NEW cars & you;ll see why it'd be good on yours!!

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_230451_langId_-1_categoryId_165527

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_253057_langId_-1_categoryId_165527

VB

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_199095_langId_-1_categoryId_165609

Change the oil and filter at 500miles, don't accept any argument

DomTom

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Change the oil and filter at 500miles, don't accept any argument

500 miles?? where did that come from

vansboy

DomTom wrote: »

500 miles?? where did that come from

From a long long long time back, when engines were expected to drop lots of swarf & odd bits of less precisely machined components, than current vehicles.

Please have a look in 'The Backroom' here....

VB