Mechanical sympathy

unkel

AMurphy wrote:

Yours Diesel or petrol?

LOL, V8 petrol automatic. 2k rpm is fine for moving about for the first few minutes

I'm being conservative estimating that I am below 2k rpm for well over 90% of the time

AMurphy

aha, gotya, I was about to ask that...full specs, cause I just remembered, the van rarely passes 2500 rpm most of the time. its a 3.3L-V6.

What is this vehicle you drive anyway? V8 Micra?

unkel

AMurphy wrote:

What is this vehicle you drive anyway? V8 Micra?

Hehe nothing wrong with a Micra. Any links to a V8 one? Mine's a '96 BMW E38 735iA Executive, see sig

AMurphy

Hmmmm...nothing in the Sig that convevs the identity of the vehicle, just "Bla Claith" and a vew other non specific items.... Well maybe what you see and what I see differ. Don't see very many 735's about here, not sure if I have ever seen one, 740 and 740iL, are common enough and their replacement. 745 or something like that, as are 5##'s
Oh, well, stay between the ditches.

unkel

AMurphy wrote:

Hmmmm...nothing in the Sig that convevs the identity of the vehicle

Googled the first line of my sig?

AMurphy wrote:

Don't see very many 735's about here, not sure if I have ever seen one, 740 and 740iL, are common enough

Yeah the same engined 740 (4.4 liters) is much more common on your side of the water

ambro25

* Let the engine idle for a good minute or two on cold start, any day of the year.

* Drive in/around 2 krpm until temp gauge in position (middle, here), takes a good 10 miles in clear traffic, less in urban (again, that's me, might not be you)

* Generally keep in/around 2krpm or more once warm (no more than 5 krpm even when booting it), as under 2 krpm the engine is under-revving, which is just as bad as over-revving.

* Use both brakes and engine brake (down-shifting) to slow car down and reduce wear on brake parts (I've never yet had to change pads, dics or tyres @ less than 30,000-odd kms).

* Anticipate & drive steadily so that you don't have to subject the car to undue stress through hard or emergency braking.

* In very slow traffic queues ("quasi-stationary"), don't ride the clutch for ages to move inch by inch. Stop, handbreak, gear out. When there's at least a car length out or -better- two, then gear in and move, and repeat. You'll use less petrol, put less wear on clutch.

* Generally when stopped, handbrake on & let go of brakes (unless you're last in line, but still handbrake on). This is not a consideration of the guy behind being blinded, or risk of warped sics or any such as discussed before, but if you are unfortunate enough to be rear-ended, the handbrake may save your front-end, since people 'stood on the brakes' and rear-ended usually release their foot from the brakes after the impact (by reflex/momentum when they 'fall back on their seat') and then roll into the car in front. Learned that in paramedic classes (Fra).
* Get used to your car and find the optimum gear for any speed, which will vary to a fairly large extent depending on car/engine size/ratios.
Example (MX-5 1.8i here):
_0 to 15 kph in 1st
_15 to 30kph in 2nd
_30 to 50 kph in 3rd
_50kph 'steady' in 4th (though at 1,700-1,900 rpm: sticking to 50kph really is bugging me, feels to high in 3rd and too low in 4th for it)
_70kph onwards in 5th
Generally, should be at 2krpm at any of the above (but again depends on car/engine/ratios). As a matter of interest, the above is equally applicable to my Impreza 2L (n/a).

*Keep the car clean: (i) people will see you better and from further when you clean lights, (ii) you'll not have to use heavy-ish detergents (or friction) to clean the accumulated grime (which can scratch the paintwork when there's "a lot" of it to remove, e.g. people who don't clean for 3 months then put the car ythrough the rollers), (iii) nothing harder to remove than tar spots left alone for weeks if not months.

* Check you liquids (once a week or once every two weeks), get used to what levels are 'normal' for your car so that you can spot any problem the day (well... week) it happens and take action immediately rather than when the engine says "time-out".

*Check you tyre pressure (same frequency as above), maladjusted/unbalanced pressures have an effect on fuel consumption (hence engine wear), tyre thread rate of wear, etc. Not to mention risk of blow-out if driving for long periods of time with improper pressure.

* Service you car at intervals. Manufacturers don't invent servicing intervals for the sake of it, they don't tie their warranties to imaginary requirements. Regular oil & filter changes benefit engine longevity by avoiding undue stress on mechanical parts through the changing viscosity of oil, the gradual obstruction of the filters, and the like.

My €0.04

NUTLEY BOY

Another tip is to slow down BEFORE you reach one of those stupid speed bumps and drive over it slowly.

I am astonished at the number of idiots who regularly plough in to speed bumps too quickly and end up grounding the front of the car on the far side of the bump.

The really funny bit is where you stare at them once you hear the inevitable grind and crash but they look straight ahead as if they are oblivious to what just happened. Hang on, they probably are oblivious.

You can tell the troublesome speed bumps by the numbers of score marks on the road surface on the exit side !!

Any bets that those bumps, sorry "traffic calming measures" will probably be dug up in the next five years ?

AMurphy

unkel wrote:

Googled the first line of my sig?
..........

Could you have made it any more difficult?. :rolleyes:

michaelanthony

BrianD3 wrote:

What prompted this thread was yesterday i was stuck in roadworks behind another car. Yer man in front was stationary for ~10 minutes and had his foot plonked on the brake pedal all the time. As well as annoying my eyes with his brake lights (it was dark so they were very bright) I was thinking that he could be risking warping his brake disks and possibly increasing wear on other parts of the brake system such as seals etc.? Now I'm not sure if hogging the brake pedal has much/any effect but it'd be no harm and good driving to just engage the bloody handbrake.

Another related thing - many people sit in traffic with their foot plonked on the clutch pedal and the car in gear. Apparently this increases wear on the clutch release bearing. If you are going to be stationary for a while put the car in neutral, take you foot off the cluth and brake and engage the handbrake

If the car that you are talking about is an automatic, then you are supposed to leave the car in drive and apply the brake when you are stopped in normal driving conditions.

unkel

AMurphy wrote:

Could you have made it any more difficult?. :rolleyes:

LOL, sorry!

It wasn't really fair either as it would have led you to either a reference to my car here on boards, or to the original article about a ... 740d (diesel)

ambro25

NUTLEY BOY wrote:

Another tip is to slow down BEFORE you reach one of those stupid speed bumps and drive over it slowly.

I am astonished at the number of idiots who regularly plough in to speed bumps too quickly and end up grounding the front of the car on the far side of the bump.

That's not half the problem.

In the context of the thread (car maintenance and care and, well, prevention of problems down the line through misuse), you wouldn't believe how nasty speed bumps can be for your bushes if you don't slow right down when you go over them... nor how few people are aware of the problem, including car dealers (granted most of those are not very mechanically minded anyhow).

AMurphy

michaelanthony wrote:

If the car that you are talking about is an automatic, then you are supposed to leave the car in drive and apply the brake when you are stopped in normal driving conditions.

Not really, there is no requirement to do the above, just cause it is automatic.
Saves some gas if you put it in N or P and let it idle unloaded.
It's convenient that you can leave it in D with your foot onthe brake, while saiting for the light to change, but there is no requirement you HAVE to do that.
I know a lady used to stop the engine and put in it gear, (manual tranny) while waiting for lights.

slowhands

michaelanthony wrote:

If the car that you are talking about is an automatic, then you are supposed to leave the car in drive and apply the brake when you are stopped in normal driving conditions.

If You are stopped for in traffic its best to put an automatic into park or neutral and use the handbrake,leaving it in drive with your foot on the brake puts unnessecary strain on the clutch.

AMurphy

slowhands wrote:

If You are stopped for in traffic its best to put an automatic into park or neutral and use the handbrake,leaving it in drive with your foot on the brake puts unnessecary strain on the clutch.

"unnessecary strain on the clutch"


What clutch?. an A/T uses a torque converter, which is a turbine and pump assembly in one. The only strain if any is you are heating the ATF oil and wasting energy doing it, as the pump side is spinning and the turbine side stopped, put it in P or N and both spin.

Otherwise, the AT itself is full of clutches, they are under constant strain when driving....so any strain they are under when ideling is of no consequences.

NUTLEY BOY

Good point ambro25. I had exactly that problem last year.

Even though I have always been deliberately very slow over speed bumps Toyota found worn bushes on last year's annual service.

Traffic calming indeed ************