Touran 2006 2.0TDi 140PS

How many average folk would want to leave a car standing unused for 20 years, and then be able to use it though?

Today's cars in the main are safer, faster, cheaper to buy, cheaper to run, less polluting, more comfortable, and much more reliable than many from only a couple of decades ago.

I can still remember with surprise and a measure of disbelief, reading of owners in the motoring press claiming their car had covered 100,000 miles on the same engine. Chances are they had at least one top-end rebuild in that time, and oil changes at least every 6,000 miles.

Today, oil changes can be up to 20,000 miles, and you would expect to get

Chris

How many average folk would want to leave a car standing unused for 20 years, and then be able to use it though?

Today's cars in the main are safer, faster, cheaper to buy, cheaper to run, less polluting, more comfortable, and much more reliable than many from only a couple of decades ago.

I can still remember with surprise and a measure of disbelief, reading of owners in the motoring press claiming their car had covered 100,000 miles on the same engine. Chances are they had at least one top-end rebuild in that time, and oil changes at least every 6,000 miles.

Today, oil changes can be up to 20,000 miles, and you would expect to get

Chris

I know they are much better 'in some ways' but if I had to drive something across a desert then I would pick something fixable, with points and a carburettor, cables instead of wires and sensors, cam chain rather than belt etc. I haven't used my landrover for at least ten years, but I would lay money on being able to drive it within an hour if I needed to. I doubt very much that something modern could do the same after the same rest.

Toyotas seem rather more popular in most deserts :-)

PJK wibbled on Sunday 06 June 2010 12:57

Thank you again Peter.

Joe's fixed it in 24 hours - just got it today. Had a chat with Joe - he's very knowledgeable - so anyone else in that part of Kent/E Sussex can consider this another recommendation. About a mile from High Brooms station and 1/2 mile from the start of the main town, so getting there/back without a car is practical...

The actual problem, specifically was a jammed throttle valve. That engine is fully drive by wire, so there's a motor on the throttle valve and something seized it shut which is why it wouldn't start. New unit (though he did manage to transfer the EGR over to save buying that bit).

He said he's not come across one of those failing. On my car the more common expensive problem is when the air con packs up in his experience. Other than that, he said he hadn't noticed any major problems that I should worry about. So he's got all my future servicing...

We both wondered how long the dealer fitters would have taken to diagnose this issue... (No fault codes).

this must be one of the few diesels with a throttle valve, last one I saw was a bedford tk.

a full description and analysis of failure is here:

ever watch 'ice cold in alex' as a child? land rover is my equivalent!!!

Mrcheerful wibbled on Friday 18 June 2010 20:39

'Scuse my ignorance (I've only worked on petrol engines): wouldn't not having a throttle flap impare engine braking? I know the primary power control on a diesel was always by control to the injector pump, but I guess I assumed they all had throttle flaps.

That is most interesting. At least I know where it is now! It's not a cheap unit either. Must get some abuse with the hot exhaust gasses being run into it, even allowing for dilution with cold air.

traditionally diesels have an open intake manifold (hence no inlet vacuum and the need for a pump for the brake servo) compressing air to a very high pressure is really hard, which is why diesels are very hard to turn over and have very good over-run decelleration. Diesels suck incredibly hard, which is why it is very difficult to stop one by choking off its air supply (and dangerous if you use an extremity !) Which is probably why these throttle valves get stuck shut so firmly! From this fault alone I would conclude that if I owned one then I would be religious about the quality of fuel and oil used to avoid it occurring. So no missed oil changes or cheap oil, and use top branded fuel.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Chris Whelan saying something like:

Depended on use. Circa forty years ago it wasn't unknown to get 100k+ from an Escort van engine - the 1.3, not the 1100, it was over-stressed. On the road every day, regular oil changes and, crucially, the same driver.

Twenty years later, it was quite common to get 200K+ from an Escort diesel van (1.6), with a different driver every day and irregular oil changes. I knew of several that had done a quarter of a million miles before being auctioned off. The DI Transits were the same.

Easily, assuming fairly regular oil changes.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Mrcheerful" saying something like:

With T-plates across the front of the chassis, of course.