What Now

vanmowzer · November 6, 2011

All

got my car back after what seems like an engine rebuild (many thanks to the guys in lexus Glasgow) job done after the dreaded VCR light.

Anyhow what now?

Will this happen again.

Many stories appearing now about EGR valves.

Have i now got to drive my lexus up and down a motorway in 3rd gear at 35000revs to make sure the engine cleans itself.

Got so much conflicting info about causes from supermarket fuel to slow driving.

Give me some actual facts

thanks

van

Sleepypete (FB) · November 6, 2011

Hope you get a long time without any more unscheduled garage trips :)

Info I can give :

Driving above certain rpm - I've heard about Ford Zetec engines not oiling themselves properly unless they go above 3000rpm. There could be something to that or it could be one of those "it happens like that doesn't it ?" things that grow up out of rumour without any basis in fact. Needing to cruise in 3rd at 3500rpm seems a bit excessive though.

Supermarket fuel - it is different (has a cocktail of additives but then all fuel will have those) but not significantly different. Apart from a few tries of Optimax, I've almost always used local supermarket fuel in my cars. I have had engine problems but none of them have been fuel related :

Focus - mechanical failure with inlet manifold

Rover - head gasket failure and burnt valves due to coolant leaks

Belmont - oil cooler leaks that no GM garage in Lincolnshire could fix until it became an insurance job. Actually, this did have a few petrol issues, where the injectors must have got blocked due to impurities. That could have been self inflicted wounds again though because we had to replace the fuel lines due to them wearing out, something might have gotten in.

Astra - switched to supermarket unleaded (from leaded) without noticing. It had an oil leak I caused due to overfilling (not petrol issue).

(20 years of driving)

It's just a different blend of additives, with the Hydrocarbon Burny Part probably coming from the same refineries. Optimax in the Puma made no difference in mpg, although it upset the engine management (slow for 10ish miles like a bad tummy or indigestion) until it got over having to adjust the ignition timing. Looking at an old Puma log, a long run of Optimax saw mpg's of 37, 39, 37, 43 and 38, immediately followed by another 42 on normal unleaded. The variation there would be how much motorway driving I was doing on the tank.

VCR light - home it doesn't come on again, might be worth doing a search on these forums for VCR as there's something (maybe in the GS forum) about the light coming on due to the petrol cap not being on right.

PS Curious - looking at that petrol log, 2001 petrol price was 77p/litre. 2002 price was 69p/litre. 2003 back to 76 and the last entry was 2006 at 87p/litre. Now we pay 130-135p/litre. Something's gone wrong somewhere ... :o