Do you use any fuel additives & how often do you change oil?

[UnderOpenSky]

Snake oil or a useful way of keeping older motors running better?

I've recently bought a new to me, but quite high mileage Mondeo 2.0l TDCI which is coming up to 90k. Some say this is low mileage for these engines, but I took a loan for it and want to keep it running as sweetly as possible for as long as possible.

These additives claim to help keep the engine clean and seem to be split into 2 types. Those that you add to each tank and those that you run through occasionally.

I'm tempted to run something called BG 244 through it every 6 months which seems the simple solution, although other products like Millers & Wynnes you add a bit every tank.

Oil apparently should be changed every 12k...any value to having this and the filter done more often?

 

[dessiato]

I used to use Redex but haven't for a long time. I do have an oil and filter change twice a year. I always have it done when I have my ITV (Spanish MoT) which is before we drive back to the UK. I have a service too. I also have an oil change in December, half way through the year.

 

[quiquaquo]

Millers EcoMax for diesels works well in my experience. Never had any injector or glowplug problems with engines going over 100,000 miles. Well worth it for diesels at least.

Millers Oils - Diesel Power Eco Max 500ml: Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike

 

[Puddy_Tat]

dunno.

i've had my current car so long that at the time i got it (20 years ago next month) the perceived wisdom seemed to be that diesels were better for the environment than petrol cars

i've never done fuel additives but make sure it gets serviced every year (and did on the recommended mileage when i was doing more mileage - i'm at around 3,000 miles a year or less now) - it's got 196,000 or so on the clock but has done a bit more than that.

not sure there's much value (other than to the garage) of having oil / filters changed more often than the recommended.

 

[mauvais]

I tend to change the oil every six months but it could be every year instead.

Fuel additives, meh. I use them sometimes because I've had injector problems, but that's car specific. Diesels benefit quite a lot from treatment I think. People bang on about not using supermarket fuel too but I have my doubts.

The main thing with any car is to drive it. Get it up to temperature, use all the rev range, don't habitually labour the engine, etc.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

What about the more expensive petrol/diesel? Does that actually do anything for performance?

 

[mauvais]

What about the more expensive petrol/diesel? Does that actually do anything for performance?

Higher octane rating, e.g. VPower or Tesco Momentum 99, will make a quantifiable difference IF your car (knock sensor, ECU timing advance etc) can take advantage of it.

The rest of the 'premium' stuff is about additives. Lots of supermarket fuel comes from the exact same place as branded fuel (e.g. Esso, possibly BP). In-fuel additives might produce cleaner engines but then for example direct injection engines inherently receive little benefit from it because there is no opportunity for the wash effect you'd get with port injection in the first place.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Higher octane, that was the phrase I was looking for

Ta

 

[weltweit]

Atm I am a fairly low mileage driver, my cars get serviced annually.
I have never used any fuel additives.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

What about the more expensive petrol/diesel? Does that actually do anything for performance?

I put a tank of V Power in the other for a run over to Wales. It seemed to be running better for it, but that could well be placebo.

Think it works out about a fiver a tank more, so won't be doing it every time, but will do the odd one.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Millers EcoMax for diesels works well in my experience. Never had any injector or glowplug problems with engines going over 100,000 miles. Well worth it for diesels at least.

Millers Oils - Diesel Power Eco Max 500ml: Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike

Seems well reviewed and half the price of the other stuff I was looking at, so I'll give it a go.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

The rest of the 'premium' stuff is about additives. Lots of supermarket fuel comes from the exact same place as branded fuel (e.g. Esso, possibly BP). In-fuel additives might produce cleaner engines but then for example direct injection engines inherently receive little benefit from it because there is no opportunity for the wash effect you'd get with port injection in the first place.

How do I know which type of injectors I have?

 

[mauvais]

How do I know which type of injectors I have?

All modern diesels are direct injection, but that particular problem (carbon buildup in the head) relates to petrol direct injection.

 

[quiquaquo]

How do I know which type of injectors I have?

AFAIK most if not all diesels are now Common Rail. Volkswagen/Skoda/Audi/SEAT however used the PD (Pump Duse) system until maybe 8 years ago, these engines are susceptible to injector camshaft damage if the specific VW approved engine oil isn't used. Unit injector - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[mauvais]

PD is still direct injection, just a different design.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I've run Millers for a couple of tanka now. Think things feel better for it, although aware that could be placebo. However I'm a couple of MPG up which is quite nice.

 

[plurker]

Use Redex once a month.
I drain my oil every six months.
I drive about 1,500 miles a year, so that's fresh oil every few hundred miles. Perhaps excessive.

Car's 33 though, and runs like a dream, so I'm doing something right