pd130 with ridiculously low miles?!

Legacy_user

I'm looking for an estate car at the moment - budget is basically as low as I can go!
I've been looking around cars with the pd engines as my mate has been running one before and it was pretty good in terms of nothing going too badly (expensively!) wrong... now I've found one with really low miles (36k on a 52 plate) apparently it's come from an island and not had high miles ever as it was a second car - but being suspicious I've asked for the mot certificate numbers so I can check the history etc and will do a full hpi check if the mots check out

anyway, what's going to be the big issues with something with so little use (assuming it's genuine miles)??

My mate pretty much ran this engine on short daily trips and did all the wrong things for a diesel but never had any serious problems (I did him an oil/filter change every year - about 4k miles)

cheers

gilbert_and_sullivan

I keep reading how bad short journeys are for cars, but given some common sense servicing...as per your regular oil changes on your mates car...then i have had no trouble whatsoever with older design Diesels over many (30) years doing comparitively stop start motoring.

Where the problems arise IMO is where people assume they can do 2 mile journeys and still leave the oil in for 20k miles.

Unless the car in question has a DPF then assuming its been serviced well i don't forsee any particular problems, possible the clutch has seem some extra wear.

Good engine this but it needs the right oil, can you check its had the right stuff?

System

well, it has a "full service history" but no details yet, If I can get any details of garages that have worked on it I'll check with them - although not sure how many services would be needed at that mileage...

gilbert_and_sullivan

the_r_sole wrote: »

well, it has a "full service history" but no details yet, If I can get any details of garages that have worked on it I'll check with them - although not sure how many services would be needed at that mileage...

You seem to be a common sense geezer, the details will either add up and you'll approve or they won't and you'll walk away...good luck with the car if you go ahead.

pulliptears

It can work ok, when I bought my 99 Clio 5 years ago it had about 19k on it. It had been an old lady car used to the shops and back. It also had FSH on it. First thing I did was change the oil etc, I also replaced the tyres as they were original to the car.

My mileage is also ridiculously low, the car still only has 33 on it now but because my mileage is so low I take precautions. As gilbert says my oil changes are done regardless of mileage and every few months I put the battery on charge just to give it a boost.

It's served me well though I have to say.

jase1

It's an older diesel and therefore I wouldn't be overly concerned by the very low mileage (unless it's been clocked of course).

If it had been one of the newer CR diesels I'd have advised to run away.

westwood68

Not as indestructible as the earlier engine on which it is based but still very robust.

With low miles on an island one thing that might be an issue is sticking VNT turbo vanes which can happen if the engine isn't given an Italian tune up occasionally.

Annoying but easily sorted:-

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a4-s4-forum-b5-chassis/107121-un-sticking-your-tdi-vnt-turbo-vanes.html

System

bookmarked that link, cheers - sounds like it could be something that I did with the fluids/filters etc I'd do straight away too...

rev_henry

Can't really add much to what everyone else has said other than to give it a good motorway run. It possibly won't ever have been above 3rd gear.

forgotmyname

Only 36k miles but they leave it running all day and night during the winter?

It should have been serviced every year with such a low mileage.

tommyjj

Bear in mind that 36k miles in short trips can equal the same amount of cold-running time as a 120k miler that has been used on longer trips.

The issues isn't as severe with modern engines and even less so with diesels, but I bought an Escort XR3i (yes.. I know) years ago that only had 30k on the clock, but the engine was completely shagged. The previous owner, who had from new, had only ever used it to drive a few miles to the shops. So it had effectively suffered 30k miles of cold running.

Check for the usual smoke when revved from cold, rattling or slack belts and the standard checks for dodgy mileage - shiny leather on steering wheel and gear lever and excessively worn pedal rubbers. If these are present, take the mileage with a large pinch of salt - it was until recently, very easy and perfectly legal to 'adjust' the mileage on car like that.