MK5 Golf GTI
All Things Mk5 => Mk5 General Area => Topic started by: Mikee on January 26, 2012, 04:11:06 pm
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Kinda worried as last week I found mayo under the oil cap and after speaking to 4 diff mechanics and taking it into seat I've been told its cos I only do short journeys.
My car was registered 3 years ago next month and it's only done 8k
I only drive 300 miles a month and use the Audi for everything else.
Any thoughts?
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Yes, when I had my Porsche they used to talk about this all the time as one of the biggest reasons for faults.
Short journeys will kill the battery, sitting still for a long time can turn the tyres into 50p shapes, also things will seize up after a while.
Why do you need a car you don't use, drop it round mine and I'll look after it for you!!!!
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8k in 3 years :signLOL: it's a car drive it :driver: its not some rare super car it's a golf drive the thing
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8k in 3 years :signLOL: it's a car drive it :driver: its not some rare super car it's a golf drive the thing
Lol it's not a Golf it's a Leon. I've only had it a year it was mega low milage when I got it.
I just don't get the chance to drive it at the weekends cos we have an A3 sportsback for the dog lol
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8k in 3 years :signLOL: it's a car drive it :driver: its not some rare super car it's a golf drive the thing
That's pretty much what they said to me (apart from dropping it off to you)
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Oh, it's a Seat!
I would just leave it in the garage then. :wink:
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Oh, it's a Seat!
I would just leave it in the garage then. :wink:
Haha I neede a cheap banger for work ;)
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Go fill the tank worth v power and don't come back until it's empty :driver:
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Go fill the tank worth v power and don't come back until it's empty :driver:
I never have the time mate :(
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If you can't drive it why have it? I know it nice to have a nice car but if your never going to drive it why have it :confused: cars are for driving and enjoying. Get it sold and get a cheap fun little car that only costs a few grand
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Yes you are doing it no good whatsoever, unless it's in a nice heated garage you are doing more harm than a high mileage car that is serviced regularly.
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I've thought that myself mate. I don't think I could downgrade now tbh.
Lol anyway the thread was about me wondering if I could damage the car by driving it so little
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Yes you are doing it no good whatsoever, unless it's in a nice heated garage you are doing more harm than a high mileage car that is serviced regularly.
Can you elaborate pls mate. What harm am I doing?
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You are obviously only doing short journeys in the car and it is then sitting around for long periods, this is the worst thing for a car as it never fully gets warm - hence the 'mayo' under the cap, this is caused by condensation in the engine.
Brakes also need to be used regularly to stop them corroding.
Parking the car up over the weekend is not a problem, but doing just 14 miles per day (assuming 7 miles each way to work?) is nowhere near enough to get everything fully warm, just as your oil is getting up to temperature you are turning the car off again.
7 miles is just enough to keep the battery in shape though.
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Go fill the tank worth v power and don't come back until it's empty :driver:
I never have the time mate :(
In that case sell it and stop loosing money on an asset that you never have time to enjoy.
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You are obviously only doing short journeys in the car and it is then sitting around for long periods, this is the worst thing for a car as it never fully gets warm - hence the 'mayo' under the cap, this is caused by condensation in the engine.
Brakes also need to be used regularly to stop them corroding.
Parking the car up over the weekend is not a problem, but doing just 14 miles per day (assuming 7 miles each way to work?) is nowhere near enough to get everything fully warm, just as your oil is getting up to temperature you are turning the car off again.
7 miles is just enough to keep the battery in shape though.
So what damage am i doing then?
It get's an oil and filter change every 6 months, The brakes are fine i suspect as it passed it's 1st mot this week no problem
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Go fill the tank worth v power and don't come back until it's empty :driver:
I never have the time mate :(
In that case sell it and stop loosing money on an asset that you never have time to enjoy.
It's not about the money buddy, It's not as if it's a Lambo lol
I realise i'm gonna have to spend a bit more time in it and I'll just need to find the time somehow lol
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If the dude wants it, why we telling him to sell? He obviously knows its losing money and can live with it, it's not good doing the low miles, just take it out once a month for a half hour blast, be fine :happy2:
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If the dude wants it, why we telling him to sell? He obviously knows its losing money and can live with it, it's not good doing the low miles, just take it out once a month for a half hour blast, be fine :happy2:
thanks mate, I did take it oult last week for a couple of hours but tbh who has the time to do that on a weekly basis???
Also what difference would it make getting a cheaper car? It'd still do the same mileage lol
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If the dude wants it, why we telling him to sell? He obviously knows its losing money and can live with it, it's not good doing the low miles, just take it out once a month for a half hour blast, be fine :happy2:
I wasn't telling him what to do, merely offering advice. :-) it's like having a motorbike and using it twice a year, unless one poos money you've got to ask yourself if it's worth having.
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If the dude wants it, why we telling him to sell? He obviously knows its losing money and can live with it, it's not good doing the low miles, just take it out once a month for a half hour blast, be fine :happy2:
I was telling him what to do, merely offering advice. :-) it's like having a motorbike and using it twice a year, unless one poos money you've got to ask yourself if it's worth having.
I know mate, what I'm saying is I'm sure he has worked this out, if we thought about wasting money on cars we would all have kias :signLOL: some people like to know its there if they want to use it, I can get that
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If the dude wants it, why we telling him to sell? He obviously knows its losing money and can live with it, it's not good doing the low miles, just take it out once a month for a half hour blast, be fine :happy2:
I was telling him what to do, merely offering advice. :-) it's like having a motorbike and using it twice a year, unless one poos money you've got to ask yourself if it's worth having.
I don't poo money but i also don't drink, smoke etc so it's my only vice lol
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If the dude wants it, why we telling him to sell? He obviously knows its losing money and can live with it, it's not good doing the low miles, just take it out once a month for a half hour blast, be fine :happy2:
I was telling him what to do, merely offering advice. :-) it's like having a motorbike and using it twice a year, unless one poos money you've got to ask yourself if it's worth having.
I know mate, what I'm saying is I'm sure he has worked this out, if we thought about wasting money on cars we would all have kias :signLOL: some people like to know its there if they want to use it, I can get that
lol would it make it worse if i said it was stage 1 and had a milltek booked for next week ;)
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Class :happy2: second time this week I have seen someone feel they should justify spending their own money, you don't have to do that and to be fair I don't think rich wig83 meant it that way pal. Revo?
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The main damage short trips do is the oil never gets warm (which it needs to to work properly). So basically every mile you put on it (although not a lot) is causing more wear to your engine than someone doing 5 miles on the motorway with nice warm oil.
Also you shouldn't "thrash " a car when the oil isn't warm (which I'm guessing you very rarely do enough miles to warm the oil) as it will cause further wear (especially to the turbo) :sad1:
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Don't take what I said as an attack on your personal finances. It wasnt meant to come across that way.
I do 25k a year in my GTI and people have told me its ridiculous due to running costs but ive still got it because like you, I love my GTI :-)
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I'm no engineer but how does the oil getting up to running temp, negate the wear on the internals during those first few miles when cold? Surely you will always have that initial wear whether your doing a 7 mile or a 27 mile journey.
But as I said Im no engineer :smiley:
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^^^ The majority of the wear comes from warming up, so if the car does nothing but short journeys the engine WILL wear out quicker than a high mileage car that has done the same amount of cold starts but lots of warm mileage, a 20K engine can be more worn than a 100K engine, too many people get hung up on buying really low mileage cars IMO, sure gearboxes and wheel bearing wear with mileage, but this is why a higher mileage car with FSH can be a better buy than an ultra low mileage car.
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I'm in this position at the minute the S3 hasn't moved for 3 weeks :confused: its hard to justify keeping it :sad1:
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I'm in this position at the minute the S3 hasn't moved for 3 weeks :confused: its hard to justify keeping it :sad1:
My GTI is the same since SWMBO has got her 1st car. I i have a company van for work and as she has never had a car she is in the novelty stage. I'm not gonna sell it just need to use it actually use it of a weekend instead of her's
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I'm no engineer but how does the oil getting up to running temp, negate the wear on the internals during those first few miles when cold? Surely you will always have that initial wear whether your doing a 7 mile or a 27 mile journey.
But as I said Im no engineer :smiley:
It wont negate it, but look at it this way; every mile that car does is in the high wear band.
This is why a lot of us on this forum (I'm sure Robin is one of them), would rather buy a car with higher mileage knowing its been used properly than buy one with ridiculously low mileage that's sat standing, and doing small trips to the shops. Cars are designed to be driven :driver:
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We have just got an SL500 in at work on a 04 plate, only 17k miles....absolutely spotless.
Get out and enjoy it more :driver:
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Very interesting thread, I've always wondered about this.
What I can't understand is how short journeys cause engine wear.
As someone else mentioned above a long joirney still consists of starting from cold and running at cold temperatures.
Take this little scenario and hopefully someone can explain.
If I do 5 miles to work each way per day that's 50 miles a week all done before everything has gotten properly warm.
Let's say it takes 10 miles to get properly warm.
If on the other hand I do 50 miles each way over 5 days that's a total of 500 miles per week.
100 of those miles are done before the car gets warm and the other 400 are done with a nice warm engine.
So the big question is how can the 2nd option be ok for the engine and the first option cause premature wear?
The long journey has to do double the cold miles and it's not as if once warm the engine can repair itself.
It's doing the same amount of cold starts.
I can see how the battery will be in better condition.
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I think the point is that 10,000 miles accumulated on a car doing very short trips is worse for engine wear than a car that's done 10,000 miles sat at 70 (80) on motorways.
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Is there a car that is suitable for short journeys?
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Electric cars?
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I may have just given you a thankyou by accident Andrew lol, the theory is probs true, but lots of low mileage cars kicking about
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I would have thought that as long as you are gentle with the car whilst cold, wear on the engine would be minimal. I'd have also thought that with modern engines, low emissions etc would dictate that engine warming is pretty quick. Of course that doesn't eradicate the condensation issues, but regular oil changes and T&D servicing should ensure that that doesn't become an issue.
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I may have just given you a thankyou by accident Andrew lol
I'll take it!
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I saw this thread title and knew exactly the way it would go!! :stupid:
If the guy wants to do 5 miles a year in the damn thing then good for him!! It'll certainly be losing less money than the next car doing 20k per year!!
Even if I used my car twice a year it would be worth having, as I would be miserable as sin on those two occasions I was bored and didn't have it to use! Plus if you don't drive the thing day in day out it makes it more special on the rare occasion you do get to enjoy it!!
But I suppose, haters will always be haters!! If people don't do things the same way I do then they are weird and have to justify themselves to a bunch of strangers!! :stupid:
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Hardly haters... we all have essentially the same cars (give or take a few hundred bhp) :booty:
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What does the car we drive have anything to do with it?
It's all the 'its a car bloody drive it' comments that amaze me! Sure we'd all say no to a MK1 GTI with 2k on the clock because the engine would be knackered!! :stupid:
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What does the car we drive have anything to do with it?
It's all the 'its a car bloody drive it' comments that amaze me! Sure we'd all say no to a MK1 GTI with 2k on the clock because the engine would be knackered!! :stupid:
Why does it amaze you? Whats the point in owning a car and not using it, to then post a thread saying theres a problem with it when the problem is that is not being run often enough?
Or I'm i just being totally retarded? Or missing something? Shall i go away? :sad1:
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So everything you own you use frequently? I certainly don't..........
Why should a car be any different? Is J Leno weird because he collects cars and couldn't possibly drive them all frequently? Or am I being weird/retarded? :confused:
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300 miles a month isn't a lot but that also aint just 'sitting around'.
I have had my GTI for a year now and I probably only did about 3-4k in it (pretty much as the OP) but I have to say I enjoy every moment so its worth it for me.
I mostly do only short trips but usually also 2-3 longer trips per month (30 miles plus). I would hope this means the car should be fine.
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To answer the ops question i honestly think if you service the car annually then you should not have any problems. Manufactures build cars with massive tolerances to cover all circumstance from temperature extremes to driving styles. your petrol probably wont be holding it's octane rating if it is only filled occasionally but i cant see anything else that should give you much grief. :happy2:
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To answer the ops question i honestly think if you service the car annually then you should not have any problems. Manufactures build cars with massive tolerances to cover all circumstance from temperature extremes to driving styles. your petrol probably wont be holding it's octane rating if it is only filled occasionally but i cant see anything else that should give you much grief. :happy2:
Thanks mate.
It gets a full tank of v power every month.
Didn't want to cause an argument about it tbh but a bit of healthy discussion is what forums are all about!
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So everything you own you use frequently? I certainly don't..........
Why should a car be any different? Is J Leno weird because he collects cars and couldn't possibly drive them all frequently? Or am I being weird/retarded? :confused:
True. :happy2:
Ahh touché :laugh:
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Mikee... what your audi? Is it a TDI?
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Mikee... what your audi? Is it a TDI?
Leon is a fr tfsi
(https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdaz.co%2Fmedia%2Fv155%2Fmikeea66%2FDSCF0436.jpg&hash=1550122803ea613d4d5a6a407b9d689f2c40fd82)
(https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdaz.co%2Fmedia%2Fv155%2Fmikeea66%2FDSCF0437.jpg&hash=7ce101ef8ccffe4fa9846176cb5e69f79e37442f)
A3 is a 140 tdi
(https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdaz.co%2Fmedia%2Fv155%2Fmikeea66%2Fphoto1-1.jpg&hash=4cd41d4314f722d164cafa294c50e9818018ac27)
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I'm in this position at the minute the S3 hasn't moved for 3 weeks :confused: its hard to justify keeping it :sad1:
I thought you would give it a run out to Broughton now and again. Presuming your still at Airbus :happy2:
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drive it al least 2 times a week
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What is the optimum operating oil temperature?
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Once fully warm it should be around 90° - 95°
note when your coolant has reached 90° (normal) the oil will still be pretty cold
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It's daft that cars don't have oil temperature gauges. Of what relevance is the coolant being at the right temperature?
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I'm in this position at the minute the S3 hasn't moved for 3 weeks :confused: its hard to justify keeping it :sad1:
I thought you would give it a run out to Broughton now and again. Presuming your still at Airbus :happy2:
Only when the weathers nice :laugh:
It's daft that cars don't have oil temperature gauges. Of what relevance is the coolant being at the right temperature?
The S3 does and it still suprises me how long it take the oil temerature to stabilise, can be 12miles at motorway speeds, even though the water temp is normal after a few miles
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I saw this thread title and knew exactly the way it would go!! :stupid:
If the guy wants to do 5 miles a year in the damn thing then good for him!! It'll certainly be losing less money than the next car doing 20k per year!!
Even if I used my car twice a year it would be worth having, as I would be miserable as sin on those two occasions I was bored and didn't have it to use! Plus if you don't drive the thing day in day out it makes it more special on the rare occasion you do get to enjoy it!!
But I suppose, haters will always be haters!! If people don't do things the same way I do then they are weird and have to justify themselves to a bunch of strangers!! :stupid:
............ :congrats: :congrats: :happy2:
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It's daft that cars don't have oil temperature gauges. Of what relevance is the coolant being at the right temperature?
The S3 does and it still suprises me how long it take the oil temerature to stabilise, can be 12miles at motorway speeds, even though the water temp is normal after a few miles
I think I might get one for my GTI. Anyone know how easy they are to fit?
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RS4 has one too and restricts revs to 7k until the oil is up to operating temp! :wink: :happy2:
Doesn't Rich sell the additional loom that gives loads more info on the Highline display?
EDIT: This.....http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,32206.0.html
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I'm lucky if I do 20-30 miles a week in mine. If it was gone I would be pine'ing for another... Driving it/cleaning/on my days off is so good to look foward to..
Its my hobby , guess I'm sad for not using it daily, but to sell it because I don't use it regular is laughable!!!
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It's daft that cars don't have oil temperature gauges. Of what relevance is the coolant being at the right temperature?
Surely Golf's have them already??
Most of the Skoda's do :grin:
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Doesn't Rich sell the additional loom that gives loads more info on the Highline display?
EDIT: This.....http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,32206.0.html
So I have highline, if I buy one of these does it simpy plug in and then give me loads more data? Looks pretty cool...
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Doesn't Rich sell the additional loom that gives loads more info on the Highline display?
EDIT: This.....http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,32206.0.html
So I have highline, if I buy one of these does it simpy plug in and then give me loads more data? Looks pretty cool...
Yes :happy2:
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From what I understand now....having searched other similar discussions is that the warmer the oil the less viscous it is (like water). So with constant short journeys you aren't getting the engine parts fully lubricated because the oil will not flow as easy due to it's thickness (like treacle). These parts are then left with less of a coating when it is started again from cold.
I know that the oil flows back to the bottom of the engine when stopped, but assuming you have let it reach it's optimimum temp eg "a long run", more of a coating will be left on the harder to reach surfaces and will help to lubricate the engine on start up.
If Im not just talking out of my arse :stupid: then infrequent driving might also have the same effect or worse but I think the whole thing is minimal tbh and like someone said manufacturers test cars in all conditions and uses so the tolerances are built in to combat this. There will always be good and bad cars in each category of mileage though.