[ssambyal1980]

This thread makes for an interesting read. Its nice to know about the caring attitude of BHPians towards their efficient and loyal work horses, which are giving them happiness miles after miles.

Anyway coming to the crux of the topic, would like to add that out of the two cars in my stable, the oldest one is a Maruti 800 (Mpfi) 2001 model and it has so far clocked 146,000 kilometers. Most of the long drives in it have been in trans Himalayan regions of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and have also driven it substantially in the vast northern plains from Jammu in north to Jhansi in central India.

After giving many years of excellent service over the years, the car is still in a very good running condition. After going in for the second vehicle, I get to drive Maruti 800 less often but nonetheless it is a prized possession.

So far have carried out following services and replacements in last 14 years of ownership:

1. Regular servicing carried out as per the schedule wherein after every 10,000 kms run, engine oil and oil filter were changed and after every 20,000 kms run coolant was changed. Transmission oil and brake fluid were also checked at every 20,000 kms and were topped up/changed as per the requirement.

2. Camshaft timing belt changed at 85,000 kms. It was an emergency change, as it gave away during one of the long trips. Luckily nearby Maruti Authorised Service Station came to the rescue. Learned from the experience that it's better to get timing belt replaced after every 50,000 kms run and always go in for a genuine MGP (Maruti Genuine Parts) replacement.

Thank fully nowadays the timing belt has been replaced with timing chain in most of the cars. Hence no more chances of midway breakdowns and hassles of changing.

3. Crankshaft engine oil seal changed at 86,500 kms to plug the engine oil leakage into clutch chamber. This is quite uncommon but can happen.

4. Piston rings changed at 102,000 kms. This was done as the engine was consuming too much oil (1 litre per 1,500-2,000 kms), as it was finding its way out through the exhaust. Clutch although still working was also changed at 102,000 kms as the whole engine was taken out, so it was appropriate to go for it.

5. Tyres changed for the first time at 89,000 kms. The factory fitted ones were JK Radials, replaced them with MRF Zigma CC radials. Now they too are on the verge of replacement after covering 57,000 kms. The first set lasted longer due to the new suspension, which lost its effectiveness over the period of time.

6. Disc brake pads changed once at 110,000 kms, whereas the rear drum brake shoes were changed twice during the same period alongwith the cylinders.

7. Left drive shaft replaced at 78,000 kms and right drive shaft replaced at 100,000 kms.

8. All shock absorbers i.e Front Strut Macphersons and Rear Telescopic replaced at 139,000 kms.

9. Exhaust muffler changed once.

10. Speedometer wire gave away at 116,500 kms and hence replaced. This was the most unexpected thing.

11. Last but not the least, the battery has been changed twice. The current one is the third since purchase.

[DudeWithaFiat]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

On my own cars things are a bit different; I never ever buy anything with less than 100.000 kilometer on the odometer.

Jeroen

Interesting. Why is that? Is it because you think if its healthy at 1,00,000km, it should be healthy to go on again for a thousands of km?

[Esu Junior]

My 2010 figo TDCI crossed 1 lakh on odo this august.This car was bought based on team bhp reviews and extremely happy with the product.

[Lalvaz]

Originally Posted by Esu Junior

My 2010 figo TDCI crossed 1 lakh on odo this august.This car was bought based on team bhp reviews and extremely happy with the product.

That car looks like its rolled out of the showroom. Amazing how well maintained she is, and I love those alloys. Which ones are these? Fantastic ride Esu junior. Wish you many more miles of safe driving with this timeless beauty.

[vin11]

Originally Posted by Esu Junior

My 2010 figo TDCI crossed 1 lakh on odo this august.This car was bought based on team bhp reviews and extremely happy with the product.

Wow! Very well maintained car Esu Junior if the pictures posted are after the 1 Lac milestone. Alloys, though the design is pretty common, gel with the character of the car.

[Samurai]

Recently my Grand Vitara completed 1L kms, the first car I drove so much. It is the 9th car in my 12 car ownerships, but the longest owned and longest driven by me.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-...ml#post3774321

[ssambyal1980]

Originally Posted by Esu Junior

My 2010 figo TDCI crossed 1 lakh on odo this august.This car was bought based on team bhp reviews and extremely happy with the product.

Hats off for such a well maintained car. Would like to know that during the last 5 years of ownership was there any specific maintenance/replacement carried out apart from the normal service schedule?

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by DudeWithaFiat

Interesting. Why is that? Is it because you think if its healthy at 1,00,000km, it should be healthy to go on again for a thousands of km?

More or less. Modern cars, as long as they are reasonable maintained, will easily do 200-250Km without any major problems, at least in Europe and the USA. However, a lot of people get a bit anxious of any mileage above 100K, so typically second hand prices fall rapidly from that point onwards.

Obviously, it varies a bit brand by brand, but you can pick up a fully loaded, top of the range Jaguar, Audi, Mercedes, BMW with over 100K at 15-25% of the original new price! I bought my Jaguar XJR for 10 or 12.000 dollars with 95.000 miles (150.000km) on the clock. New price was around 75.000 dollars.

So I'm driving a 4.0L supercharged V8 super luxurious sport saloon for almost half the price of a brand new Ford Focus or VW Golf! Yes, my maintenance will be a little higher, but I do nearly everything myself and even if I didn't the financial gap between buying a brand new run of the mill family saloon and a top end car such as mine is staggering and you would have to be really unlucky to spend the difference on maintenance alone.

Also, I think prices of new cars are just utterly ridiculous. Even though I would consider myself a petrolhead, it just doesn't make sense to me to spend that sort of money on any car. I will happily spend a significant amount of money on my cars, but I prefer to own multiple second hand cars, to spending the same on only one brand new car.

All my company cars were brand new but different criteria. If anything its the company is picking up the tap, I used to drive very high mileage, all these cars were on a full operational lease. I would have preferred just to be paid the money and then make my own choice and I would have gone second hand most like,y as well. Say the company car would be a boring BMW 3 or 5 Series, I could have gotten, say a very nice, second hand BMW original Serie 6s. But for various reasons, income tax being one, that was not feasible in Europe.

Upon arrival in the USA, my company provided me with a lump sum car allowance and I bought the XJR as my daily drive and a very nice fully loaded Ford Focus with around 60k miles for my wife. The lump sum would have got me one basic new VW Golf. I prefer it this way. Obviously, bought some more cars whilst in the USA, I rarely own less then 4-5 cars at the time, but always second hand.

Jeroen

[sbala]

Ford Fiesta (now Classic) , 2006 model, TDCI, driven 131000 kms so far. No issues with the engine so far. No rattling as well. Most likely, I will be give a send off to this vehicle next month. Gem of a car...

[tharian]

Not the lowest odo reading as it looks in the picture.
My Bullet Electra 2002 has run 105600 kms and has many more kms to go for the first engine overhaul from how it runs now.

[interc00led]

Fiesta Classic 2012 1.4 Tdci, 111800kms. Gem of a car, built to last.

[JP_800]

Originally Posted by ssambyal1980

2. Camshaft timing belt changed at 85,000 kms. It was an emergency change, as it gave away during one of the long trips. Luckily nearby Maruti Authorised Service Station came to the rescue. Learned from the experience that it's better to get timing belt replaced after every 50,000 kms run and always go in for a genuine MGP (Maruti Genuine Parts) replacement.

Thank fully nowadays the timing belt has been replaced with timing chain in most of the cars. Hence no more chances of midway breakdowns and hassles of changing.

I just have doubt regarding the timing belt and chain. please forgive my ignorance. Does the M800 engine have both timing belt and chain? I have learned that it could be either one in an engine for timing purposes

[ssambyal1980]

Originally Posted by JP_800

I just have doubt regarding the timing belt and chain. please forgive my ignorance. Does the M800 engine have both timing belt and chain? I have learned that it could be either one in an engine for timing purposes

You are absolutely right that an engine can either have timing belt or timing chain. Maruti 800 has only one timing belt. Explaining further, the purpose of timing belt is to provide drive to the camshaft from crankshaft and at the same time it synchronizes the rotation of the crankshaft and the camshaft(s) so that the engine's valves open and close at the proper times during each cylinder's intake and exhaust strokes. The camshaft controls the opening and closing of intake valves and exhaust valves. The camshaft pulley receives the drive from crankshaft pulley and timing belt serves as an interface to transfer this rotary motion from crankshaft to camshaft.

Photograph of Maruti 800 timing belt arrangement:
The larger one is the camshaft pulley, the middle pulley is the belt tensioner and on the right is crankshaft pulley.

Photograph of timing chain arrangement:

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by JP_800

Thank fully nowadays the timing belt has been replaced with timing chain in most of the cars.

Are you sure about that? I would think most cars still have belts. All the classic cars I have ever owned had chains. But most of my modern cars have belts.

The main advantage is the belts tend to be more quiet and cheaper. With modern belts they last pretty well but as pointed out you really need to adhere to the correct maintenance intervals for belts and tensioner. Your typical chain might last longer, but you might have to replace everything when time comes, including the sprockets.

Although chains actually snapping is rare it does happen. More often on quite a few engine designs the tensioners go wonky before the chain is worn down. That leads to excessive play, the chain jumping a tooth on the sprocket and immediate very serious engine damage. My V8 on my Jaguar is notorious and it took Jaguar three subsequent different tensioner design in the space of only 4 years to get it right and few owners trust the latest design past 100K.

Jeroen

[kisharchit]

This is the odometer of the Qualis I had mentioned before. Still does 100kms daily drive. Actually the car has done over 9 lac kms but odo stuck at this.