Sealed for life engines also with zero wear additive

[Ryeman]

A nanotechnology product, seems to be the ultimate solution to friction and wear with reduced emissions and longer lasting catalysts 

http://articles.sae.org/15259/

[Aspman]

Well it works so well for automatic gearboxes doesn't it...

 

Oh wait no it's crap if you're not the first owner.

[vrskeith]

13 hours ago, Ryeman said:

A nanotechnology product, seems to be the ultimate solution to friction and wear with reduced emissions and longer lasting catalysts 

http://articles.sae.org/15259/

We will soon see after extended tests ,publication of verification by authorities ,provided test process is full proof ,unlike diesel engine test VW etc. in the real world of wear and tear me thinks.

[Ryeman]

White goods with a ten year design life.

Why are we surprised.

[vrskeith]

5 hours ago, Ryeman said:

White goods with a ten year design life.

Why are we surprised.

As long as they don't catch fire if not maintained regular. Or like the well know Vauxhall product spontaneously combusts!

[Ootohere]

VW did those lovely DQ200 DSG that were sealed for life with High Tech Synthetic oil for the MCU's, then corrosion reared its head and several million got recalled and lovely Mineral Oil was used. 

Then they had that in hand and the updates were being produced and all lovely and now overheating is an issue and software updates are required.

 

VORSPRUNG DURCH TECHNIK.  Stuff it lets try something else we must be able to get lucky sometime, we should have bought the White Heather from the little old Romany Lady.

[Clunkclick]

How will Main Dealer comedy central cope with that  ?

 

No self-induced "We were only obeying manufacturers' orders"  fault rectification work to do ?

 

I know, they'll start engaging chief mechanics with Alzheimers and verbal deficits  and start wiping customer records from the servers every 5 minutes - that'll keep 'em busy.

 

So, if you're a private owner, the route is clear - once the warranty expires get up the Indy ASAP or DIY.

 

Nick

Edited 22 March, 2017 by Clunkclick

[Clunkclick]

On 21/03/2017 at 09:40, Aspman said:

Well it works so well for automatic gearboxes doesn't it...

 

Oh wait no it's crap if you're not the first owner.

Exactly. Like the "Sealed for life" gearbox on my 63K  2003 Fabia (One owner from new) now rebuilt because of  a leak on the gearbox input shaft seal which started at 30,000.

 

N

Edited 22 March, 2017 by Clunkclick

[Ryeman]

7 hours ago, Clunkclick said:

Exactly. Like the "Sealed for life" gearbox on my 63K  2003 Fabia (One owner from new) now rebuilt because of  a leak on the gearbox input shaft seal which started at 30,000.

 

N

2003 - 2017 = ~13 years (spares?)

A 10 year design life - job done!

Next!

sadly

[Clunkclick]

40 minutes ago, Ryeman said:

2003 - 2017 = ~13 years (spares?)

A 10 year design life - job done!

Next!

sadly

Only trouble is that being VAG they are consistently inconsistent.

 

So that the design life of the motive components has shown itself to be in the 10-15 year range, whilst, IMHE (Humble estimation) the body work and chassis is good for another 10 i.e.20-25 year life.

Spares aren't a  problem - Main dealer was able to supply everything that was needed up to this year and the Indy I went to for the recent gearbox rebuild had no problem getting parts. I could have had a German (**** they've just scored) fully re-engineered replacement gearbox installed by the main dealer for £2,000 - as it was I had the existing one rebuilt for £1,100.

 

The more the manufacturers go for common chassis and other parts in assembly, the more profitable the market will be for pattern parts . . . onwards and upwards ?

 

We shall see . . . 

 

Postscript

 

As far as I'm concerned, I would suggest that it will be the requirements and early implementation of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone in London that will do for my Fab rather than unavailability of  spares or a  lack of desire (On my part) to keep the thing going.

 

N

Edited 22 March, 2017 by Clunkclick

[Ryeman]

^^^^^^ agree, but at what stage do you write of a depreciating vehicle requiring expensive parts/components with no guarantee that more won't be needed regularly?.

To me, white goods is the reality.

[TriggerFish]

On 21/03/2017 at 09:40, Aspman said:

Well it works so well for automatic gearboxes doesn't it...

 

Oh wait no it's crap if you're not the first owner.

 

And manuals too... This taken from my E30 gearbox after an unknown mileage. I certainly wouldn't consider that sealed for life! (My thoughts with the autos was it was usually the torque convertor that fails and then imparts damage onto the box itself? Either way, buy a proper box and it's less of an issue )

 

 

[Ryeman]

I've always thought the achilles heel of the auto was the seals leaking and band wear.

That's old tech though.

[Clunkclick]

On 23/03/2017 at 21:19, TriggerFish said:

 

And manuals too... This taken from my E30 gearbox after an unknown mileage. I certainly wouldn't consider that sealed for life! (My thoughts with the autos was it was usually the torque convertor that fails and then imparts damage onto the box itself? Either way, buy a proper box and it's less of an issue )

 

 

 

That's the new DBWTSD gearbox ?

[Clunkclick]

On 22/03/2017 at 21:46, Ryeman said:

^^^^^^ agree, but at what stage do you write of a depreciating vehicle requiring expensive parts/components with no guarantee that more won't be needed regularly?.

To me, white goods is the reality.

Taking my case, the leaking seal on my Fab's gearbox started at 30,000 miles and I presume that the input shaft bearing wear commenced shortly after wards due to the oil pressure drop in that vicinity (The input shaft bearing is submerged in normal operation). If the seal failure was due to faulty manufacture or fitting, then I may be in to a different ball game for MTBF with the rebuild. If its an unremedied design flaw, then I would expect to be liable to the same at around the same point i.e. 30,000 miles in. In worst case, as I'm only doing 2-3k annually now, it might be possible to get another 10 years of use before the fault re-occurs.

 

Most of the  gearbox rebuilders  offer 6 months to a year warranty - so that's 6-12,000 miles in the UK. My repairer advised that they would cover faults on the rebuild for  12 months. i.e. £1,100 a year.

 

I think, with the prevailing characteristics and metrics of cars, valid general financial comprisons of alternatives can only be made  between repair/replace in the 0-7 year vehicle age band. After that it becomes a lot more finely balanced and dependent on the marques reliability and personal evaluation factors which only the individual user can attribute.

 

A reasonably-priced replacement would be £12,000 and would suffer up to 60% depreciation on re-sale in the first 3 years (AA %ages), so that's £2,400 a year for each of the first 3 years. So repair  of a 10 year + car would be cheaper than getting a new car (My favoured option - why buy somebody else's trouble ?)

 

The same reasonably priced car, but second-hand, and possibly still covered by warranty i.e. in the 3-7 age band, would suffer depreciation @ 15% per annum of the remaining value, so  £720 a year lost.  Rectification of fault cost would be moderate and where there was a mechanical warranty available have little/no impact on the comparison,. And if the owners mileage is equal  or greater than the  national average,  then I would suggest the comparison would tilt the result in favour of replacement with second hand rather than repair . But, at the moment, that option's only viable if you are content driving far east produce with lots of single function buttons (I'm not). Further there's a 7 out of 10 risk that a second hand car will be fleet and either thrashed and/or not properly maintained (Think "Sealed-for-life" gearboxes).

 

By beyond that point its just personal choice tempered with the value of convenience and tolerance of off-road time.

 

I'm counting on 4-5 years trouble free . . . . but fully accept there's a 50/50 chance that won't be possible.

 

But at least this time, if trouble does re- occur, I won't be faced with a problem denier/avoider (Main dealer) and if a further repair is necessary, then it hopefully if will be more proactive than the main dealers approach (Wait till it goes bang)- perhaps judicious regular application and re-application of autoseal from a tube, by an Indy who is not bound my the franchise retention relevant restrictions in  VAGs repair book, will proactively prevent what a Main Dealer is unable/unwilling to do.

 

Nick

 

 

 

 

Edited 26 March, 2017 by Clunkclick

[Clunkclick]

DBWTSD = Don't Bother With The Saw Dust.

 

N

[Ryeman]

There IS a place for Mirages and Corollas after all........at least where they don't salt roads.