Experts,

I have Octy-2 (1.9PD) that is 10 months old with 9000KM mileage. My commute is thru very congested roads, crawling traffic, plenty of singals. Close to 40KM daily (nearly 3 hours).

Though there is no problem with the car, I feel this is really bad for the TDI PD engine's life. I don't want turbo and stuff to blow up on me just after warranty :-)

Will lowering the EGR to the lowest possible value help to improve the life of the engine? Can it be done with VAG-COM (I have one)? Mind you it is a 1.9 PD (77KW, 105BHP) motor.

I do not want more power, smoother ride, more MPG, etc. Just a trouble free motor for a long time.

Also what can I do to improve the life of the engine (turbo,etc.) apart from scheduled maintenance: driving style, DIY preventive maintenance procedures,etc.

Thank you very much.

PS: I am aware of the environmental considerations.

Also what can I do to improve the life of the engine (turbo,etc.) apart from scheduled maintenance: driving style, DIY preventive maintenance procedures,etc.

I don't class myself as an expert, but my opinions are (based on your stated driving conditions):

Regular oil changes every 6 months because your regular driving is always in congested traffic (this is classed as "severe" driving conditions).

Use VW 507.00 engine oil.

If you are getting a white creamy build-up in the oil filler cap (from condensed water in the oil), try to go for a good fast run (eg motorway) for an hour or so once a week to allow the engine to build up enough heat to evaporate it out of the engine oil.

Give the engine a good serve of accelerator pedal through the gears at least once a day if possible (helps to keep the turbo vanes from freezing up).

Keep the engine revs between 2000 and 3500 (once engine is warm) when accelerating or going up hills (ie when under load).

Switch off engine if you are going to be stopped for more than 2 minutes in traffic(extended idling not good for TDIs).

In the US lots of owners set their EGRs to minimum (or zero) to help prevent clogging up their intakes, not sure of the UK emission testing you would need to pass (no regular testing here in Australia).

Hope that helps.

Switch off engine if you are going to be stopped for more than 2 minutes in traffic(extended idling not good for TDIs).

Hope that helps.

Stopping and starting a engine whether petrol or diesel will shorten the life of any engine. The initial thump on the big end bearings when the engine starts is very heavy. Personally I'd keep it idling.

Thanks a lot for the replies.

Forgot to mention that I live in India, the only legal obligation is not to run over anyone. So no tests.

Dealer recommended service interval is 6 months (7500KM). Initially I was wondering why such short interval, but now I understand.

I was earlier stopping the engine at signals, but decided to idle considering other side affects of frequent start/stop cycles.

I think I will change the EGR using VAG-COM this weekend.

I always switch off at every traffic light, and have done so for many years.

I have had over 25 cars since I learnt to drive, and have adopted the switch off procedure on every one. I have NEVER had a big end or any other engine failure in any of them. One of my cars (a Honda Accord) had done over 300000 miles before I sold it on. The only time I leave the engine running is if it is very hot and I need the A/C to keep running. Big ends do not fail just because you start and stop the engine - that is absolute nonsence! The sides of the road would be littered with new cars with stop/start systems which have broken down!!

I always switch off at every traffic light, and have done so for many years.

I have had over 25 cars since I learnt to drive, and have adopted the switch off procedure on every one. I have NEVER had a big end or any other engine failure in any of them. One of my cars (a Honda Accord) had done over 300000 miles before I sold it on. The only time I leave the engine running is if it is very hot and I need the A/C to keep running. Big ends do not fail just because you start and stop the engine - that is absolute nonsence! The sides of the road would be littered with new cars with stop/start systems which have broken down!!

what about your starter motor, surely this will need replacing? maybe several times over the course of the mileage. This is sure to deduct from the savings in fuel in terms of new starter motor be it reconditioned or new and the cost of labour?

what about your starter motor, surely this will need replacing? maybe several times over the course of the mileage. This is sure to deduct from the savings in fuel in terms of new starter motor be it reconditioned or new and the cost of labour?

Hi James - no I have to say that the only vehicle I had to put a new starter motor on was a motorcycle. There is a concensus of opinion that using a starter (or any other kind of motor) more frequently, will actually prolong its life.

Don't forget that starting a warm engine require 1/100th of the power than starting a cold one. You are very unlikely to wear out the motor!

what about your starter motor, surely this will need replacing? maybe several times over the course of the mileage. This is sure to deduct from the savings in fuel in terms of new starter motor be it reconditioned or new and the cost of labour?

Almost all cars that I've seen with starter motor wearing out problems were actually caused by another fault with the engine making them hard to start (typically fuel or ignition issues), thus causing excessive cranking. A warm motor in good order will start very easily (and quickly) with hardly any work by the starter motor. So if your battery, alternator and engine are in good condition you shouldn't have any trouble. If it takes more than 1 second of cranking to start your engine it may have a fault that require attention. All 3 of my vehicles start with less than 1/2 second of cranking when warm, even the 18 year old ford laser.

I wouldn't switch my engine off at just an ordinary traffic lights cycle, but the OP was referring to very congested traffic conditions where he might be sitting still for an extended period (3 minutes plus), hence my suggestion to switch his engine off. TDI motors are a bit susceptible to glazing of the rings/bores if idled excessively, so switching off when you aren't going to be moving for a while makes good sense to me.

I'm quite happy for people to have different opinions to mine, and it is good to have a healthy debate with reasons for and against something discussed rationally .

Some more information on why I idle:

My signals are at max 120 seconds (we have signals with timer display to ease the pain of impatient ones) and people honk if I don't drive off when the signal turns orange. No one waits for green here! Also large part of the wait time is actually spent in crawling to stop, and crawling out of signal. (Hope I explained it OK)

Engine life is my main goal, not FE (maintenance costs are prohibitive here compared to fuel costs)

I heard start-stop cycles affect negatively the life of: battery, starter motor, engine, xenons (nights - lights go off after some 30 seconds after ignition OFF?). How far is this true?

I heard start-stop cycles affect negatively the life of: battery, starter motor, engine, xenons (nights - lights go off after some 30 seconds after ignition OFF?). How far is this true?

If I only had to wait a max of 120 secs at lights I wouldn't switch off at traffic lights either, I was referring to switching my engine off for longer delays eg traffic jams, approaching accidents etc.

I think the stop/start cycles you are talking about probably refers to a cold start cycle (where the engine hasn't been running for quite a while). Most engine wear occurs while the engine is warming up, as the oil isn't up to normal pressure nor is it circulating as well as when the engine is fully warmed up. Also engines tend to run rich until they are warmed up, leading to some dilution of the engine oil on the bores.

This explains how taxis can do such large mileage on their motors compared with the same motor driven by "normal" owners. Taxi engines are almost always fully warmed up all the time, so they wear less. The same principle applies to engines that do most of their driving on highways, they tend to last a lot longer (because they have very few cold starts for the total distance driven) compared with the same model that is driven on short trips where the engine hardly ever gets properly warmed up.

Of course constant stop/start driving also causes extra wear on clutches and brakes.

Xenon lights don't like frequent switching on and off (it reduces the bulb life), but unless your headlights are hard-wired on, you can leave them switched off them off during the day.

As I said previously, a properly tuned (ie no faults), warm, motor should start very easily, putting very little strain on either the battery or the starter motor.

Unfortunately most of us have little control over the type of driving we have to do, but what we can do is drive gently, anticipate stops and adjust our servicing schedule to suit.

Hope that helps.