Fact or Fiction?

[Rowroy]

I was cleaning out a closet and came across an old VW parts catalog from the early '90's. This particular catalog is peppered with little tidbits of information and trivia.

One such tidbit stated that ACVW engines can last 200,000 miles if speeds are kept BELOW 60 MPH. If the majority of your driving is ABOVE 60 MPH, then the life of your engine is limited to about 60,000 miles.

I Realize this is a very vague blanket statement with no actual data to back it up, but I wonder if there is a sliver of truth to it.

What do you think?

[LedFloyd]

So if I go 59 on my way home instead of my usual 61 my engines going to last me 140,000 miles longer?

It doesn't seem plausible. (to me)
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"Smokey this is not Nam, this is bowling, there are rules."

[glutamodo]

I think that's more myth than fiction. There is some truth to it but, I'd be more concerned with RPM's than with actual speeds. True, the RPMs will be lower if you don't go over 60, but if you are running it hard at speeds below that then you'll still have wear. All that comes down to is the uncounterweighted and not-very-well-balanced nature of the stock engine. High RPMs pound out the engine block after a lot of miles, then you lose oil pressure, then things like rods get thrown. But 200K? I think that's a stretch, if you really drove it gently, perhaps, but I don't think the rings would last that long on most engines. I tend to drive my bugs pretty hard. I got a little over 90K out of one of my big-bore 40HP's (broken ring) and 99K out of a 1641DP in my baja (almost threw a rod), both of them driven a lot on the highway as fast as they'd go.

I will say this, we had a customer that had I think about 150K on his 71 Super, it had been in his family since it was new, and he had the engine replaced because of the high milage. But it still ran fairly well, compression wasn't the greatest, I think it used a bit of oil and the endplay was loose, but I've seen much worse engines out there.

[Matt Wilson]

remember it takes more power to go a little faster. When your speed doubles, your air resistence quadruples, this is why you can't just keep adding gears to your transmission, to go 150mph.
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1972 Standard Beetle
1969 Baja Beetle

[79SuperVert]

I think if the cooling system is not fully operational the engine is going to run pretty hot at the higher speeds and maybe that's why it wears out faster. If everything is in place and working I don't see any reason high speeds would cause premature wear. The engines were designed to cruise all day at what, 65 mph?
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Central Jersey VW Society

Wanted: Art Collins VW (Savannah, Georgia) items - license plate surrounds and other items. Also ivory "AM", "FM" and "SW" buttons for a US Blaupunkt Frankfurt.

[jhicken]

My '79 had 191,000 miles on it when it had it's first rebuild. It still ran great, didn't use any oil to speak of, but compression was getting a bit low and the hills of San Francisco were getting a bit more difficult to climb. I was in the process of repainting it so I decided to pull the engine and have it rebuilt. I'm sure I could have easily gone another 40k without a problem [providing I kept it on level ground].

I drove it normally, 65-70 on the highway, whatever posted in the city. It's a stock convertible, so I never really raced it. Oil changes every 3k, and a pint of injector cleaner every other oil change.

-jeffrey
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Der Kleiner Kampfwagens

[sammyphsyco]

On socal freeways at less than 60 mph your bug will live maybe 20 miles befor you get run over .
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[PierreDeKat]

There may be some truth to it. One thing others didn't mention was fan "cavitation".

Basically, when a pump -- or fan, in this case -- is trying to suck through a restriction, it creates a vacuumous area of very low pressure.

There's kind of a curve there where the fan becomes less and less efficient to the point where it could theoretically pump almost nothing.

Now I can't remember at what RPMs, exactly, a VW fan reaches cavitation, but supposedly that's the reason the racers use a "power pulley" deal to lower the RPMs of the fan to the point where it actually sucks more.

Something like that, anyway.

But yeah, I would guess at around 60 mph, engine temps start going up as the fan becomes less and less efficient.
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68 Beetle
And keeping my eye out for a Kombi or a Microbus!

[mnussbau]

[Bruce]

[Bruce]

[propflux01]

[gostros]

[jhicken]

[Cusser]

The stock engine in my '71 Convertible lasted 31 years (135K miles) when one of the engine pan studs just fell out and wife kept driving with no oil and red light on (no, I'm not on Death Row, I didn't kill her). After replacing the stud and cleaning the bearing shells off the drain pan, drove it for another 4 years without any engine knocking. After oil heated up, oil pressure was a little low at idle, so decided to put my hibernating 1835 DP in instead. I'd say that original engine could've made 200K if that little stud had just stayed in place or wife had simply pulled over.
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

[jackjr]

My '68 beetle has the original engine in it with 183000 (approx) miles and it still runs very strong. I don't know how well it was maintained prior to my acquiring the car, but since it's been in my care, she gets lots of love and attention.. The only major mods to the engine are a Weber Progressive carb and a full flow oil filter system.

[ed stanley]

air is a fluid.

[hoserbug]

[cynic]