eco diesel km’s how long to keep

[Jeeper6]

Originally Posted by FARWEST

Can see your point of view and completely understand your reasoning...but....take into account your buying 2nd hand with no genuine hard facts as to the previous owners maintenance methods, schedules or just how the services were carried out...ie: what type of oils, filters, were the old fluids actually fully drained, sump plug wiped clear of sludge n debri, plug put back in before condensation was allowed to form internally...all little things but can add up to major issues...and most importantly the actual driving method used and vehicle use....cold starts n short journeys are not good for these buses....70k may look more attractive than 170k but if the 70k was 12,000 5klm trips....that aint good...I know u get me and I know buying 2nd hand is always 'a pig in poke'...it truely is a balancing act....good luck

I prefer a diesel with a few k's on it too when buying 2nd hand. A 6 or 7 year old Jeep diesel with very low k's may have well been a shopping trolley...not good for the VM.

My last Jeep had 167,000 kms on it when I bought it...8 years old in 2022...just under 21,000 kms a year...it was a country car, and was loaded with the extras I wanted, which meant i didn't have to go out and buy them.
I paid $24k for that 2014, with easily $10k worth of bits on it. Very very sad I killed it at 194,000kms.

The 2015 I have now hit the road end October 2016, it had 105,000 kms on it when I bought it last year, which equates to around 18,000 kms a year...and most were country kms by the look, so the engine always got hot. It didn't have a tow bar so had done no towing either.

Like you Drover I expect this one to happily notch up well over 200,000kms, at 119k now still a fair way to go...I'll likely add around 20,000 kms to it doing the big lap...

[FARWEST]

Agree mate....low k's on a petrol is very kool....low k's on a diesel, with age, isnt ideal...as you say...may have been a shopping trolley n never seen open road temps, n with these buses, a genuine history of full 'burns'....I still take mine for 80klm round trip once a month if we havent 'left town' during the month....obviously...its a tiny town...no freeway/expressway driving linking suburbs and leaving 'town' is only a matter of 2-3klms to be on open highway...but....it needs a decent run to 'clean out the intake n exhaust' side of things, conduct a full burn, stir up the diffs, tansfer case and tranny oils, get the thermostat open (which doesnt happen unless Im towing...never gets hot enough...thermostat opens at 96/7C n running temp is less than 80C), put a decent charge into the well reknown overworked battery...just 'clear it lungs' basically....having been a bit of 'rev head' as a young fella, I totally understand the need to 'open em up' every now and then to keep the 'biuld up' at bay.....blow the crap out...literally....mollycoggling any motor, and in particarly a diesel engine, is very poor economics....those that are thinking otherwise, perform this visual test....next time your pulling onto the freeway....FLOOR IT !....dont just push down a bit...PEDAL TO THE FLOOR !......have a good look in the rearview mirror...if its petrol, and drive it overly careful, you WILL see rust, smoke, crap being blown out the exhaust...my advice....STAND ON IT MORE OFTEN....if its diesel, you WILL see black smoke, rust, maybe even grey smoke....STAND ON IT MORE OFTEN....very easy for me to say living where I do with no overhead speed cameras and very road traffic....but....if you nail it and it blows smoke of any colour out the exhaust, its time to think about a loooooong drive away for the weekend.

[genpk]

I have driven about 8 different diesel gc’s over the last couple of weeks ranging from sime with 30,000km to one with 260,000km (i was going to do it up)
Found i liked the higher mileage ones with country miles motor wise , the engines seemed to rev more freely however the lower km ones felt alot fresher inside, switches etc.
The higher km ones varied a bit as to how the transmissions reacted.
One 2013 my14 with 201,000kn had a great engine but i noticed every time i coasted to almost a stop and then accelerated you could hear a clunk in the rear of the car, sort of like the drive train , rear diff ? like taking up skack, not sure but off putting.Probably why it was very cheap.
Drove nice 2019 with 90k on it but to expensive!
I guess it all boils down to how long you can reliably use these engines!

[FARWEST]

Yours is sounding better by the day...lol

[Jeeper6]

...tranny temp too, around town it doesn't get much warmth at all, the shopping trollies wouldn't see 50 degrees. It takes a decent run of more than 50 kms at highway speeds to get the tranny up to operating temperature.

Agree FARWEST, a few full throttle runs won't do any harm, it helps to get rid of the varnish on bores left by sluggish coolish oil, and keeps the oil galleries clean and clear...spin the turbo up and blow the crap out of the dpf as well.

An engine always feels much more responsive after a good long run...

I like to see a good hot run before I drop the oil too...

[genpk]

The car definitely run nicer after a good run.
Ive got a holiday property about 300km in our southwest and try to get there every 3 or 4 weeks which gives the car a good blast.
As natter of interest, Had a little bit of lifter noise on startup and tried a Nulon
product , Lifter Free- absolutely great product.
Your can leave in the oil until your next oil change- car quite as a mouse!!

[FARWEST]

So I 'assume' yours is the Penstar engine genpk ?