In article ,
Rich wrote:
I was listening to a chatty radio show this evening and someone
mentioned that he knew someone who put £10 of deisel in with the
petrol on every fourth fill-up. He swore it prolonged the life of his
engines - and sure enough, his car has so far lasted 30 years....

Just thought I'd pass it on... and listen out for your comments.

Well, the engine is probably the least of your worries on a 30 year old
car. Most will have serious rot problems long before the engine gives up -
and even a totally clapped engine can be made like new for a fraction of
the cost of fixing rust.

And the trouble with these 'my engine has lasted X miles because of Y' is
that there is no control data to substantiate it.

Everyone searches for the elixir of life - for themselves, or their cars.
Some will be convinced that a spoon of honey or whatever results in them
living to 100, while others might say it's a pint of cider. And neither
can be proved - or really disproved.

Our US cousins seem to think changing the engine oil every 3000 miles
results in long engine life, but seem very reluctant to pay for other
fluids in the car to be changed regularly - even although this is a
service requrement, and might actually save larger repair bills.

All adding diesel to petrol might achieve for the good is upper cylinder
lubrication - and there are better products to do this. The down side is
that it will lower the octane rating of the petrol and possibly cause
higher localised combustion temperatures on a high efficiency engine - and
cause piston or valve damage.

--
*If I worked as much as others, I would do as little as they *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.