Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[ukdave2002]

I was talking to a mate who runs a private hire firm this afternoon; they mainly do airport runs with Ford & Pug diesels.... talking about maintenance he was saying they get through loads of brake disks, steering joints, tyres, general servicing etc...but don't expect any engine or gearbox work before a car has covered 250,000-300,000 miles, and will be usually 7 or 8 years old, at which point the car is generally worth less than the cost of the work so its driven to the local breaker who pays them about twice what the scrap weight would be, he laughed that the irony is that most drivers fit seat covers and mats, so the interiors are usually perfect when the car is scrapped

What a mad world we live in !

Dave

[Rick]

Sounds like a waste, can you imagine doing those mileages with Bedford CA minibuses, or Ford 400Es on the airport run?!

RJ
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[ukdave2002]

[Ellis]

In 1991 I remember a young stonemason who lived locally proudly showing me his new van, a 13 month old white Ford Escort diesel. It looked like new with 17k on the odometer. There wasn't even a stonechip on the bonnet.

He told me that the actual mileage was 117k not 17k in 12 months. It had been used by a courier for ITN collecting newsreel films from Granada, HTV and Central TV and delivering them to a storage depot in the London area, a journey it did every night, M6 and M1 and back.

There was no wear to be seen anywhere even on the seats and the engine sounded as sweet as a Ford 1.8 diesel can. Needless to say it had a copy of it's maintenance schedule.

The cambelt had been changed every 30k and he had it changed soon after he bought it.

Regular daily use at optimum engine temperature on long runs suited the engine well.

After only 10 months stop and start local use,carrying heavy loads and short journeys despite regular oil changes and 14k miles the engine was knocking it's main bearings and consuming oil.

He had no option other than to buy another engine.
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Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[V8 Nutter]

Back in the mid sixties a friend bought a Ford Pilot, he managed to contact the original owner, who claimed he had done 250000 miles in the three years he had owned the car. It had been serviced to the book and only the normal consumables had been replaced. Most of the miles had been long distance business trips in Europe, without a single breakdown. When my friend bought it, it had changed hands several times and no longer had the original engine.

Another friend bought a Pilot about the same time, a one owner car with 40,000 on it. It had only been used for short journeys and driving in town.
The engine was absolutely shot.

[Roger-hatchy]

OK not a car.

I had a Volvo F7 from 14 miles, when the company sold it it had done 750,000 miles, was on it's second clutch and apart from tyres etc. the only thing replaced in the time we had it was a top hose.

My 850GLT Volvo had 237,000 on the clock when I parted with it and still had a good engine and gearbox.

[lowdrag]

I am selling my old merc which I bought nearly 13 years ago from a local family, and it runs as sweetly as the day I bought it at 250,000 and is now run in since I no longer add oil between services. And the E-type, since the last engine rebuild in 1998, has done 85,000 and still uses no oil. It uses it - the front crankshaft seal is doing the rust protection job so well-known to Jaguar owners - at the rate of a litre per 1000, but there is nary a puff after coasting down the Alps and then touching the throttle. But I well remember my Morris 1100 company car that used a pint every 200 and which the dealership advised me was "within tolerances". God bless the day I went over to German machinery!

[colwyn500]

I would guess that the increased engine life we have these days is due significantly to chemistry. There are so many clever alloys making up the engine parts and the oils and fuels we use and these allow finer tolerances to be made between moving parts.

Filtration of oil and air is a big factor and the relatively dust and dirt free roads we use. My pre-war Austin has no air cleaner and only a fine gauze in the sump to remove any bits of debris from the oil.

Many of us have much less stop/start driving, on long journeys at least.

The superb engine management that ensures that engines are always burning fuel at the correct ratio to air and with perfect timing must play a big part. There is no real fuel wastage to run down the cylinders and to disrupt lubrication.

Having said all this, I think our old cars are gaining benefit from some of these improvements and my Austin has never sounded better with the pistons, valve-train and crankshaft still in place after at least 50 years since the last rebuild. (I have only done about 15,000 miles since restoration of the body and a decoke. in 1992 )

[V8 Nutter]

Re lowdrags posting about his Morris 1100, see my posting in classic and vintage adverts for some explanation.