Slightly OT: Petrol or Diesel?

[Mike Barnes]

bert :

Sure. Outside peak periods, Glasgow to Preston, or even further.

[Dave Liquorice]

North from M6 J32 (M55) is pretty much guaranted to be "quiet" any time of day and remain so right up to the M74 J8, 170 odd miles. It might get a bit busy around Carlisle if you hit the rush hour but probably not enough to have to slow down or knock the cruise off.

I regulary join the M6 at J24, set the cruise and not have to do anything other than steer and stay awake until I leave at Penrith M6 J40 91 miles later. Once north of Lancaster at 1900/2000 on a Saturday night there might be a set of tail lighst in the distance in front and set of headlights in the distance behind. Later at night I've sometimes I driven from around Lancaster to Penrith and not seen anything in front or behind going in the same direction at all.

[polygonum]

Although not done for quite a number of years - that accords with my experiences of driving up from 22:00 or so from M54, M56 or whichever road I chose all the way to Glasgow. Ready for a nice Chinese meal with all the staff leaving their shifts as croupiers, etc.

[SteveW]

Focus Mk2 1.8 TDCI: 110,000 only failure alternator while still under warranty. Out of interest glow plugs are available at less than £50 a set.

SteveW

[Reentrant]

Which should easily be offset by the VED saving over a year or two compared with the equivalent petrol model.

[Nightjar]

I'll take that as a compliment.

Colin Bignell

[Adrian]

I've just bought another petrol car. It's got 205k on, and runs like a top - it has a rep for indestructibility. The diesel equivalent has a reputation for eating cylinder heads way before 200k.

You have never seen a diesel need a glow plug? Thank you for confirming just how restricted your experience is.

Hell, I've never once owned a diesel - but I know that glows are a common failure.

[Tim+]

I've had six diesels in a row, all clocked up about 100,000 miles. Never needed a replacement glow plug.

Tim

[Clive George]

So the lifetime of yours is a bit over 100K then :-)

They do vary, and modern DI diesels use them a lot less, so the lifetime should be higher.

[Clive George]

Wossat then? Presumably not PSA.

Consumable, just like spark plugs and belts.

[Adrian]

Can we leave it anonymous? It's a bit... embarrassing.

Oh, OK. It's a Shogun.

Although I could also point to the XM's 2.5TD as being a good one for eating heads.

[The Natural Philosopher]

On te contrary I have seen many. Just never one that has failed.

I see, never owned a diesel., But 'knows' so much about them.

Thank you for confirming just how restricted your experience is.

which is what I said, before he lied and misrepresented what I'd said.

IN my total experience of diesels I have owned, and diesels people I know have owned, I cannot recall a single instance of a failed glow plug.

But many examples of cracked plugs, tracking coils and other spark ignition paraphernalia.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Not if they last the life of the engine.

Only Mercedes glow plugs have a reputation of failing. Esp the 250TD. And they are a bugger to get at apparently.

Ans: don't buy a merc diesel.

[The Natural Philosopher]

And plugs. Its a dog basically.

[Clive George]

Yup, you should have kept that anonymous :-)

Not to mention the CX and their self-destructive diesels.

[Adrian]

Ah, yes, the porous blocks.

[bert]

In message , Adrian writes

An occasional failure. 3 diesels and never had to change one. Now egr valves are a different story. Most frequent failure according to AA man who replaced mine by the roadside - well on caravan site actually.

[Huge]

It certainly wasn't intended as an insult.

[Vir Campestris]

Is that on a diesel or a petrol?

Diesels _used_ to be like that. My son's latest Astra diesel needs you to change down when you go from 70 to 60 :(

Andy

[charles]

but it is a Vauxhall, what else would you expect?