Re: Auto Wipers

On Fri, 18 Jun 2010 11:51:20 +0100, "David Skelton"
<skellyd8758@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


There are loads of failed BMW diesel engines due to the extended oil change, and the
way
they are driven by company car drivers.
Google 'BMW swirl flaps' and you will find out more.

Having done that, it would appear that the swirl flaps themselves and
the local actuator are not in contact with engine oil so I'm somewhat
confused how the swirlflap issue relates to engine oil.


Recirculated exhaust gasses containing crankcase oil vapours, over time clogging up the
EGR valve and building up on the flaps.

No..in a diesel, oil in the exhaust will be entirely made up of
unburnt diesel not engine oil. Any tiny amounts of engine oil will be
completely and massively irrelevant compared to the unburnt diesel oil
quantities.

Crankcase oil unable to function correctly because of contamination due to the way the
car is driven, and extended oil changes.

See above.

Also, oil baking on the turbo spindle and creating seal leaks when the engine is shut
down without an idling period after a 'blast'. Even synthetic oil will carbonise when it
gets too hot. I have seen turbo charger casings glow red hot, that is above 700 degrees
C.

Indeed but I'd suggest that isn't the fault of the oil and more the
impossible situation it's put in by an ignorant driver. I've never had
any turbo problems. My last car had a VNT turbo and used
semi-synthetic 10W40 - no oil-related problem ever. Stopping an engine
with a red hot turbo is abuse in my books. However, leaving your
engine idling in the UK can be illegal so I would not expect this
advice in vehicle instruction manuals.

Imagine a trip of 11 miles with light traffic in ambient temperature of about 8 degrees
C, would you expect the radiator fan to be running ? I found that the cooling system of
that car serioulsy restricted. The car was two years old with 35,000 miles on it,
bought
second-hand with full main dealer service history.

Yep..sounds exactly like my trip to work.

But does your radiator cooling fan run at the time when the car is not enthusiastically
driven ???????????

I would be prepared to believe someone who told me my fan never
operated to cool the engine. It never did on previous non-aircon cars
I owned - even in the traffic I have to deal with. It's not easy to
tell with the 325d as it doesn't have an engine temperature gauge and
I run the A/C all the time which uses the fan quite a lot.

If using cheap fuel,

Not in the UK.. :-(

Supermarket fuel is what I mean...

There's far too much smoke and mirrors in that debate. I treat fuel as
fuel and get it wherever and whenever is convenient and cheapest.
Supermarkets here tend to compete with local oil company franchises
and the bizarre result is that I can regularly get Shell cheaper than
Tesco round here. I've not been convinced by the cheap/expensive fuel
debate - particularly for diesel.

then the cars are more likely to smoke. Have you never been behind a
car whose driver used the accelerator as a switch ?? Full on, or nothing. It's very
frustrating driving through clouds of particulate matter.

Last time I saw much of that was years ago when some manufacturers
toyed with direct injection diesel before common rail. Economical but
smoky!!


I see it every day down here ....

Maybe I should try specsavers..

Common rail or not. They still
smoke if driven poorly, maintained poorly and cheap fuel used to fill it up.

So can petrol cars fitting those criteria. Indeed, it's petrol exhaust
that I find more irritating to my nose and lungs than diesel these
days (even before DPFs).


Not all diesels have DPFs today.
But, I agree, old carburettor engines in poor tune, or with too much 'choke' irritate my
breathing too.

What's a carburetor? Last time I had one of those was in..er..1980?
Fuel injection when the engine is cold goes for my nose.

At this point, it's your desires against BMWs claims.

BMWs claims are to enable them to sell as many cars as possible. Hence, the poetic
licence in their advertising.

There's a difference between poetic licence and lying. BMW also have a
reputation to try and protect. You don't sell as many cars as possible
by destroying your reputation as a builder. Ask, Lancia.

BMW do lie in their advertising:
In electrical engineering terms, Brake Energy Regeneration is nothing like what is
happening with BMW Efficient Dynamics.

Don't they recover energy from the alternator on some models when
braking? On mine ED seems to be an indicator that tells me to change
up a gear at 1300rpm..

"BMW also have a reputation to try and protect", yes, that is why they advise you how to
run-in their engines.
But most of their reputation is in the minds of the public due to effective advertising.
Just like VW, whose vehicles are not as reliable as people are made to believe.

Actually I haven't thought of VW as reliable for over 10 years now. In
the same way, I don't believe Merc quality has been that good for a
number of years either and Audi appear to be slipping. It's just that
owning a BMW, I do genuinely get the feeling that someone at BMW cares
just a little more than the equivalent person at other German car
manufacturers.

That is not a statement about BMW reliability, but about brand perception.


20 years ago, I knew a chap that drove his Fiat for 80,000 miles
without an oil change. If junk like that could survive such extreme
oil abuse (rust eventually killed that car) then I could *believe* a
modern long life oil in a modern engine doing 30,000 miles without
harm as long as it was done with long distance, oil-friendly driving.


Fiat actually make reasonable engines. The gearboxes and electrics fail if the tin worm
does not strike first.

They also invented common rail diesel but it would be a brave man that
said Fiat engines were better than BMW ones. As far as I know, Fiat
gearboxes and electrics are ok these days. Certainly, from personal
experience, my last Fiat 5 speed manual was a significantly sweeter
box than my current 6 speed BMW one. Aren't Fiats galvanised now too?

You are twisting my responses, I did not write that they are better than BMW engines, I
wrote that they make reasonable engines.

No. With you're reply, you implied that the reason the Fiat engine
went 80,000 miles without an oil change was because they made
reasonable engines. However, from what you've been saying earlier
about BMW engines, you don't think a BMW engine would cope with that
treatment.

The Fiats I have had had failed electronic parts and gearboxes, and rust too.

Not recently though?

I've never found anyone would do a job properly, and with due care, if they were not
watched at the time.

There's certainly a truth in there.

For the record, I am a victim of Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

I'm sorry to say I had to look that one up. I'm glad to see no
evidence of it in your writing!

Yes, because most info out there relates to kids, not mid-forty year olds. We still
learn, but differently. I delete more than I let stay in my posts.

LOL..maybe you're a bit more normal than you think.

Yes, I probably am paranoid too.

Ah ha.. ;-)

I'm am not worried about admitting mental illness. I have seen many types of 'trick
cyclists', most of whom are out of their depth.

Here's one who isn't..ride with it..some of his stuff is staggering.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o

--
Z
.

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