Not enough abuse

[whitz end]

I took my 54 plate leon fr150 for its MOT on friday. It passed ok (i was advised to replace the rear indicator lamps) . During the smoke tests where the car was reved up, held for 1 second and then left to idle the tester asked who drove the car as it could do with being driven a bit harder. The car did 20k last year and most of it was on normal roads by the wife,The car has been properly serviced. Can this do any damage to the motor or is the answer just to take it down the motorway and chase the round bits off it for a couple of hundred miles. Do people drive their TDIs to the limit ? Cheers whitz end

 

[truCido]

they do need a good thrash every now and then to clear it all out

 

[ChrisGTL]

I agree that engines like to be worked hard some of the time, the VNT turbo's need working hard to keep them supple, combustion components like to be worked hard so they get hot to burn off any built-up carbon. Also the engine oil needs to get worked hard to burn off any water built up from the by-product of combustion and condensation from the heating/cooling cycle.

I make sure I work my engine hard every month, by finding a nice stretch of uphill road and using high RPM for a period.

Mines got no CAT on, and smoke test always comes back as well below average accourding to my MOT man, plus I only use Shell diesel and Millers Ecomax additive, and a good quality engine oil.

A clean enigine is a happy engine.

 

[aBoijj]

I agree with Chris and truCido. Treat it to good quality fuel & oil and give it a good workout every now and then; just make sure the engine's warmed up properly before you do so (about 10 minutes driving is usually sufficient in normal conditions, longer if it's really cold)

 

[ChrisGTL]

Lookup 'snake-pass'

Or drive round sherbern-on-elmet, watch out for the bikers though.

 

[bubbles1]

I take my TDI for a run around the nurburgring 4 times a year with some max out runs on the autobauhn plus 6 uk track days and find this blows the cobwebs out of the engine nicely Seriously my VNT(allards) shod TDI thrives on a good thrashing and always runs smoother and is more economical on the way home after a track run. It's now on 103k miles and it runs better than new. So go thrash!