Anyone with a 200k+ miles petrol car
Discussion
Royal Jelly said:
As mentioned, it isn’t the engine that’s going to stop a car in its tracks these days.. it’s the rust/electrics/sensors. Sadly the climate in the U.K. isn’t the best if you use your cars year-round.
Friends in the SW USA have cars going quite happily at 300k+. They do longer distances than brits as a general rule, but the dry climate also keeps rust at bay and perishables in better nick.
Indeed the dry climate is great to keep the body and electronics happy although wonder if it has a worse effect on the rubbers, rubber seals are an issue I'm finding on a older car (20years).Friends in the SW USA have cars going quite happily at 300k+. They do longer distances than brits as a general rule, but the dry climate also keeps rust at bay and perishables in better nick.
lufbramatt said:
I know several people that have had turbo diesel cars be pretty much written off with turbo failures, injector or fuel pump issues etc. then surely a much simpler n/a petrol with a lower compression ratio has got a better chance of doing 200K? The basic engine is pretty much the same underneath. Why are diesel engines expected to last longer?
Good point, a couple of colleagues have said good by to their newer diesels with less miles than my 3.0 petrol. Guess it's some of the old TDI and Mercedes taxis that give diesels a good impression of reliability.I guess the more powerful with small capacity and more filters are not going to fair to well.
spreadsheet monkey said:
No doubt 99% of 1.0 Ecoboosts are fine. It won International Engine Of The Year when it was launched.
...
I wouldn't put too much emphasis on these awards for reliability. Usually the engine is awarded before it's been in the hands of any customers, mostly based on clever tech. I've got a 1.4turbo that won a European engine of the year award but the first few years it was filling the forums with woe and tears, I experienced trouble too. (They fixed it few years later and replacement engine is peachy)...
Edited by spreadsheet monkey on Friday 6th November 09:39
Had a 1989 Mk1 Golf 1.8 (non GTI). I ran that from 89k to 254,000 and the engine was in great shape according the garage that serviced it. They also serviced a Renault 5 which had over 300,000 on the clock.
The Golf was written off as a Class C when somebody drove into the back of it otherwise I'd probably still have it. I bought it back and sold it to somebody who sorted out the minor damage and got it back on the road.
Last time I looked to see if it was still alive I found it somewhere in Lancashire I think with a mere 92,000 miles on the clock, according to the MOT tests.
The current owner must drive everywhere in reverse. If you see a white Mk1 Golf Cabrio heading towards you backwards, that's my old car.
If you currently own F350 DNH you might want to have a word with the garage that sold it to you.
The Golf was written off as a Class C when somebody drove into the back of it otherwise I'd probably still have it. I bought it back and sold it to somebody who sorted out the minor damage and got it back on the road.
Last time I looked to see if it was still alive I found it somewhere in Lancashire I think with a mere 92,000 miles on the clock, according to the MOT tests.
The current owner must drive everywhere in reverse. If you see a white Mk1 Golf Cabrio heading towards you backwards, that's my old car.
If you currently own F350 DNH you might want to have a word with the garage that sold it to you.
I’ve had a few petrol 6 cylinder BMW’s at that sort of miles.
E92 335i manual took that up to almost 200,000 miles it was still on its original twin turbos and shocks, original clutch was changed at 196,000 only due to a leaking rear oil seal clutch was still fine but made sense to replace.
E91 320i manual petrol up to 167,000 miles still on its original timing chain it’s pain was injector fault codes which we fixed by replacing 3 of the chips in the ecu was actually nothing to do with the injectors.
E34 525i sport 212,000 miles was bullet proof old thing probably would stil be going today but got broken for spares for it’s LSD.
E92 335i manual took that up to almost 200,000 miles it was still on its original twin turbos and shocks, original clutch was changed at 196,000 only due to a leaking rear oil seal clutch was still fine but made sense to replace.
E91 320i manual petrol up to 167,000 miles still on its original timing chain it’s pain was injector fault codes which we fixed by replacing 3 of the chips in the ecu was actually nothing to do with the injectors.
E34 525i sport 212,000 miles was bullet proof old thing probably would stil be going today but got broken for spares for it’s LSD.
This depends somewhat on engine design, and largely on how the car has been used.
I had a cambelt failure on my Formula Renault two years ago, requiring a full engine rebuild, and they discovered broken piston rings when they opened it up - this would be after about 5k miles, but the usage would have been very hard for its whole life. On the other end of the scale, I've known plenty of normal petrol road cars to go beyond 200k without any issues at all.
I had a cambelt failure on my Formula Renault two years ago, requiring a full engine rebuild, and they discovered broken piston rings when they opened it up - this would be after about 5k miles, but the usage would have been very hard for its whole life. On the other end of the scale, I've known plenty of normal petrol road cars to go beyond 200k without any issues at all.
97 Calibra V6. 142k. It has been absolutely fine in the engine apart from the following:
Both head gaskets
main bearings
crank needed a regrind
Typical Vauxhall oil leak from rear crank seal (Even after getting the best one I could find during engine rebuild!)
fuel lines
water galleries clogged with rad seal rubbish
rocker covers warped (replaced with metal ones, shonky 90's plastic are notorious for warping)
HT leads
Radiator
AC condenser
AC pump
inlet manifold gasket
auxiliary water pump
all new water hoses
heater matrix flush
usual service items
Clutch (not required but 50% worn and the box was off, daft not to change it)
Supposedly these engines are reliable!
This is an exception though. The previous owner had abused the car quite badly and service history appeared to fall off a cliff when they had it. By contrast, my mum's Mini Cooper has just ticked over 140k and in our ownership has only needed an engine mount (my own fault, didn't check where the jack was and jacked car up on engine!), thermostat housing and a little plastic tube for the heater matrix engine wise.
Both head gaskets
main bearings
crank needed a regrind
Typical Vauxhall oil leak from rear crank seal (Even after getting the best one I could find during engine rebuild!)
fuel lines
water galleries clogged with rad seal rubbish
rocker covers warped (replaced with metal ones, shonky 90's plastic are notorious for warping)
HT leads
Radiator
AC condenser
AC pump
inlet manifold gasket
auxiliary water pump
all new water hoses
heater matrix flush
usual service items
Clutch (not required but 50% worn and the box was off, daft not to change it)
Supposedly these engines are reliable!
This is an exception though. The previous owner had abused the car quite badly and service history appeared to fall off a cliff when they had it. By contrast, my mum's Mini Cooper has just ticked over 140k and in our ownership has only needed an engine mount (my own fault, didn't check where the jack was and jacked car up on engine!), thermostat housing and a little plastic tube for the heater matrix engine wise.
V6todayEVmanana said:
Having a chat with a mechanic and he mentioned that if my petrol engine made it to 200K miles that would be exceptional and I am very lucky.
He expected the big end or piston seals to fail on a petrol car by then.
So was curious if anyone has reached this milestone and if so what major engine work was required.
I know in other threads there are mega mile diesel hence the focus on petrol.
Hello!He expected the big end or piston seals to fail on a petrol car by then.
So was curious if anyone has reached this milestone and if so what major engine work was required.
I know in other threads there are mega mile diesel hence the focus on petrol.
Yes, my trusty Toyota Avensis SR is currently on 262,000. It's the legendary* 3SFE engine which is 2.0 fuel injected. In that time it had a clutch at 185k (I think it would have lasted another couple of years) a couple of timing belts and some brake pipe. That's it. It's never once stranded me - it refused to start once at a petrol station because I left the lights on so had to self bump start it (a doddle) and is absolutely one of the family.
Engine wise, it's had nothing. Nada.
Here it is in a fleet shot from earlier this year, along with my base spec Ford Sierra. (That's on 154k!)
Mobil Oil once ran a 325i to a million miles. This was a long time ago now.
Video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHmMlU8Q-V8
Video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHmMlU8Q-V8
Mobil Oil once ran a 325i to a million miles. This was a long time ago now.
Video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHmMlU8Q-V8
Video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHmMlU8Q-V8
My 2005 XJ8 is now on roughly 218300 miles. I'm pretty sure it's still got the original engine. It doesn't seem to lose any oil at all between services and seems to have been regularly serviced throughout its life, which is perhaps key! My friend and I took it on a big European trip last year, going as far as Romania and it didn't miss a beat. This year I was planning on taking it on a tour of Northern Europe, but alas, cancelled due to Covid restrictions; maybe next year.
Awesome! 
It's lovely to see a car like that used properly and living a nice long life.
The furthest I've gone is 155k in a couple of cars (one 2.5L I6 petrol and one 2.0L I4 diesel) and 145k in another (2.0L I4 Turbo petrol) - at that point neither of the petrols used a drop of oil between services, and the diesel only used a little. If a car is treated well and well made (that was two BMWs and one Toyota), there's no reason why it can't get high mileage.
It's lovely to see a car like that used properly and living a nice long life.The furthest I've gone is 155k in a couple of cars (one 2.5L I6 petrol and one 2.0L I4 diesel) and 145k in another (2.0L I4 Turbo petrol) - at that point neither of the petrols used a drop of oil between services, and the diesel only used a little. If a car is treated well and well made (that was two BMWs and one Toyota), there's no reason why it can't get high mileage.
DrSteveBrule said:
Had a 1989 Mk1 Golf 1.8 (non GTI). I ran that from 89k to 254,000 and the engine was in great shape according the garage that serviced it. They also serviced a Renault 5 which had over 300,000 on the clock.
The Golf was written off as a Class C when somebody drove into the back of it otherwise I'd probably still have it. I bought it back and sold it to somebody who sorted out the minor damage and got it back on the road.
Last time I looked to see if it was still alive I found it somewhere in Lancashire I think with a mere 92,000 miles on the clock, according to the MOT tests.
The current owner must drive everywhere in reverse. If you see a white Mk1 Golf Cabrio heading towards you backwards, that's my old car.
If you currently own F350 DNH you might want to have a word with the garage that sold it to you.
Ooo nearly, we had F370 UNH.The Golf was written off as a Class C when somebody drove into the back of it otherwise I'd probably still have it. I bought it back and sold it to somebody who sorted out the minor damage and got it back on the road.
Last time I looked to see if it was still alive I found it somewhere in Lancashire I think with a mere 92,000 miles on the clock, according to the MOT tests.
The current owner must drive everywhere in reverse. If you see a white Mk1 Golf Cabrio heading towards you backwards, that's my old car.
If you currently own F350 DNH you might want to have a word with the garage that sold it to you.
I got to 215,000 miles in a K-series Rover 216 GSi in 1998 (yes, I know but it was cheap and quite low insurance/big engine for a 17 year old new driver) before the cambelt snapped as I changed gear. I thought the engine had just cut out, so rolled down the hill, changed down and engaged the clutch to bump start it. The noises from the engine bay definitely got my attention.
Dropped a scrap yard engine in it that I found for £120 and it ran to 250,000 miles before it lunched a head gasket and I took that as a sign it was time to buy a proper car.
Dropped a scrap yard engine in it that I found for £120 and it ran to 250,000 miles before it lunched a head gasket and I took that as a sign it was time to buy a proper car.
Good to see some people still look after their cars and get them to big mileage!
My Octavia VRS 1.8T is on 210k now. Was on 72k ish when I bought it. AFAIK it's on the original engine, gearbox, clutch and turbo.
Other than routine servicing the only engine work it's needed was the rocker cover gasket.
My Octavia VRS 1.8T is on 210k now. Was on 72k ish when I bought it. AFAIK it's on the original engine, gearbox, clutch and turbo.
Other than routine servicing the only engine work it's needed was the rocker cover gasket.
My Saab 9-5 Aero is on something over 210k miles. It's been using about a litre of oil per 600 miles for about 100k of those! Hence it gets a dynamic oil change - probably contributing to it's longevity! Still on the original clutch too, I think, since I bought the car in 2010 on 119k miles. Still goes well
I had a 2.0 petrol Mondeo as a ‘stopgap car’ after a huge MoT failure. Cost me £400 when it was 11 years old with 183k miles. I ended up running it for another 3 years and I scrapped it on 218k miles purely because it had too many non-mechanical issues that just weren’t worth fixing. But the engine was sweet.
I never serviced it or put much more than fuel in it purely because I always intended it just to keep me going until I replaced it with something better. And I’m not particularly mechanically sympathetic either
I never serviced it or put much more than fuel in it purely because I always intended it just to keep me going until I replaced it with something better. And I’m not particularly mechanically sympathetic either
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