[sunjas]

Has anyone seen (or was already aware) of this?

Appears to be focused on the 330d N57 engine.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-64471386

[danb1979]

Well known; been known for a long time

Related to police cars due to the way they're driven; not every day road going N57s...

[Rick Sanchez]

I’d managed to miss this previously or have managed to forget but had seen the piece online on the Beeb. Lot to do with engine idling for long periods it seems.

[danb1979]

Originally Posted by Rick Sanchez

I’d managed to miss this previously or have managed to forget but had seen the piece online on the Beeb. Lot to do with engine idling for long periods it seems.

Yup; a serious issue with police drivers

I know first hand the battles the management have with them asking them to not do this, that & the other and it falls on deaf ears...

Lots of senior management & senior officer arguments etc

My experience comes from knowledge of senior officers and civilian management at Lancashire Constab inc the VMU management and a number of senior officer driving instructors, divisional leads and ACCs etc

Stupid really; but what can you do...

[TurboWeasel]

A tragic loss but why on earth are the BBC digging that up again?

Probably the best bit of info in the whole piece..

"Tests showed engine oil was being degraded by high levels of idling - sitting, parked, with the engine running. This reduced the oil's lubrication, leading to wear on the engine's crankshaft bearings.

In the August BMW passed this information to two people: the chairman and one member who form the technical committee of the voluntary National Association of Police Fleet Managers (NAPFM). Three months later BMW issued guidance that forces use a more viscous oil and change it more frequently, at 10,000-mile intervals."


N57s have sputter bearings, so I highly doubt they wear out from extended idling alone. It's probably ancient, dirty, stodgy soot infested oil causing that through lack of lubrication.

[335dX]

I've long thought, talking to friends in the force and watching the Policing programmes on TV that there can't be any blue light incident where 100MPH + is warranted, EVER.

there is simply no need to travel at 130 MPH on any road no matter the incident. The time saved between 100 and 130 is going to be miniscule over the distances travelled at said speed.

It is long overdue to have a review of the speeds Police are allowed to travel at - it goes without saying that if you have an problem at that speed it's going to be a big problem, whether a blow out or an engine failure, it's going to get messy.

What the BBC report doesn't say is that although there are 63 still in service, it does not mention in what capacity - they could have been re-tasked away from ARV / traffic duties in which case they are entitled to be used one would assume.

[Mr Whippy]

Diesels don’t have throttles like petrol, and throttle with the fuel.
But this means at very low loads, like idle/city use, they’re very lean, and thus generate massive NOx and combined with sunlight that equals smog/nasty pollution.

So they use EGR to richen the mix. So basically these cars are sat idling ages and essentially sucking in their exhaust fumes for extended periods.

That likely degrades the oil a lot.

You’d think the ‘usage based’ service interval calibrations could be set such that such usage really hurts the service interval and forces are more regular oil service.

[TurboWeasel]

They do have throttle bodies in exactly the same place as a petrol engine's though, which could confuse some folk.

That's why I change the oil frequently. Soot choked oil and dodgy remaps are what kill off diesel engines more than anything else.

The engine fires could also have been caused by the EGR coolant leak issue, or a leaking valve cover gasket. Both can drip onto the roasting hot DPF/Cat pretty easily. Plenty of plastics and wiring harnesses in that vicinity to catch fire. If a bearing seizes up, the engine just starts knocking then grinds to a halt usually. It's unusual for bearing seizure to result in catastrophic explosions and fires.