What to do with my old van?
Discussion
Bit of a dilemma. I bought a bigger van to replace my little VW Caddy.
The problem being the Caddy has an appetite for oil, approx a litre every 2k miles. Which has never bothered me, I would have used it until it died had I not needed a bigger van. But being an honest person, I couldn't sell it without declaring this issue. If I do declare it, it's effectively spares or repair and worth FA.
Its a 2004 VW Caddy SDI (last of the MK4 Polo shape) with 151k. Apart from a crack in the rear bumper, its a very presentable van and drives brilliantly. I covered 25k in it from June 2012 until last month without a hitch. Similar vans are going for £1000-£1200 on Ebay etc.
Spares or repair I'd be lucky to get £300.
I've sourced a second hand engine for £50, through a pal of my BIL. Unknown history, taken from a van that was broken for parts.
Do I:
A) Sell it a spares or repair.
B) Hire an engine hoist and fit the engine myself.
C) Keep it as a back up vehicle.
D) Strip the current engine and investigate the fault
Option A, I'm loathed to do. As I've spent a lot of money getting it to a good mechanical condition. Its had new front and rear brakes, clutch, cambelt, exhaust all in the last 12 Months.
Option B will take the longest, as I've little free time and the only engine I've ever removed was in a classic Beetle.
Option C is doable, I have dry storage for it. I'm hoping to hire someone next year so could come in handy. But could also just sit there doing nothing!
Option D is potentially a waste of time. My basic understanding of engines leads me to believe it's either the valve stem seals, piston rings or possibly head gasket. If it does turn out to be the piston rings, I'm not too sure how confident I'd be doing a bottom end rebuild!
Any Ideas?
The problem being the Caddy has an appetite for oil, approx a litre every 2k miles. Which has never bothered me, I would have used it until it died had I not needed a bigger van. But being an honest person, I couldn't sell it without declaring this issue. If I do declare it, it's effectively spares or repair and worth FA.
Its a 2004 VW Caddy SDI (last of the MK4 Polo shape) with 151k. Apart from a crack in the rear bumper, its a very presentable van and drives brilliantly. I covered 25k in it from June 2012 until last month without a hitch. Similar vans are going for £1000-£1200 on Ebay etc.
Spares or repair I'd be lucky to get £300.
I've sourced a second hand engine for £50, through a pal of my BIL. Unknown history, taken from a van that was broken for parts.
Do I:
A) Sell it a spares or repair.
B) Hire an engine hoist and fit the engine myself.
C) Keep it as a back up vehicle.
D) Strip the current engine and investigate the fault
Option A, I'm loathed to do. As I've spent a lot of money getting it to a good mechanical condition. Its had new front and rear brakes, clutch, cambelt, exhaust all in the last 12 Months.
Option B will take the longest, as I've little free time and the only engine I've ever removed was in a classic Beetle.
Option C is doable, I have dry storage for it. I'm hoping to hire someone next year so could come in handy. But could also just sit there doing nothing!
Option D is potentially a waste of time. My basic understanding of engines leads me to believe it's either the valve stem seals, piston rings or possibly head gasket. If it does turn out to be the piston rings, I'm not too sure how confident I'd be doing a bottom end rebuild!
Any Ideas?
When had passats my 2.0 tdi 06 used a good litre to about 1000 miles vw told me that was just in tolerance. Zafira engines use the same sort amount. My last 61 plate 1.6 tdi used about 1 litre 2k but had from new and ran it in.
It's sounds fine to me, check with vw but 2k to litre is low.
It's sounds fine to me, check with vw but 2k to litre is low.
Rickyy said:
The problem being the Caddy has an appetite for oil, approx a litre every 2k miles.
A) Sell it a spares or repair.
A1) scrap it
Any Ideas?
Seriously though, older diesels can drink some oil, 500ml per 1000 miles doesn't sound too excessive for an older high mileage engine, unless it has drastically increased consumption recently I wouldn't worry about it.A) Sell it a spares or repair.
A1) scrap it
Any Ideas?
Interesting. I've never had a vehicle that used this much oil, so thought it was out of the ordinary.
I've never noticed it smoking, until the other day. I was cleaning the exterior with the engine running and it was smoking a bit on idle. But it was grey-ish smoke, I'd expect it to be blue if it were burning excessive amounts of oil. It was also the first time it had been started in over 3 weeks and hasn't been running for more than 5 minutes in 5 weeks.
I've never noticed it smoking, until the other day. I was cleaning the exterior with the engine running and it was smoking a bit on idle. But it was grey-ish smoke, I'd expect it to be blue if it were burning excessive amounts of oil. It was also the first time it had been started in over 3 weeks and hasn't been running for more than 5 minutes in 5 weeks.
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