400K Birthday Party

RacerTodd

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2007
Location
Kirkland, WA
TDI
2001 Golf TDI
On Friday the 12th at 8:15am, my beloved 2001 Golf TDI turned over 400,000 miles. This isn't my first car to cross this threshold. My old '87 gasser Golf went 654,000 miles before being transferred to a new owner.



So, naturally, we had to have an all-day party on Saturday to celebrate this momentous occasion. All my cars friends showed up and a good time was had by all.

The Manns from across town showed up with a trio of brightly colored gifts to keep her running clean and strong.


Crazy, but lovable, Uncle Shell showed up with a gallon of his super-secret Rotella T6 nectar to "lubricate" the proceedings.


Mr. Meyle from down the street arrived with some new booties (OK - one boot) to replaced a torn item.


The highlight of our little shindig was the Garretts, who generously supplied a shiny new VNT15 turbo. The old one was working, but well past her prime. The manifold was decked out in freshly baked VHT paint, giving it a golden color that will (hopefully) look good for a long time to come.


After 10 hours of fun and merriment it was time to end our party. A little Diesel "champagne" was sipped by the birthday girl to top off the evening and ensure her continued long life.


There was cake and ice cream too, but since a diesel engine won't run on cake and ice cream - I ate it all myself! Chocolate, mmmmm...

Next up - 500K!
 

RacerTodd

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2007
Location
Kirkland, WA
TDI
2001 Golf TDI
To help you get a grasp on just what 400,000 miles looks like, I present the following for your enlightenment.

400,000 miles is:

704,000,000 yards.
2,112,000,000 feet.
25,344,000,000 inches.
643,737,600,000 millimeters (for you metric folks).

Just over 16 times around the Earth's equator.

65 round trips between Seattle and Miami, Florida.

800 Indy 500 races.

15,383 round trips to my nearest Krispy Kreme.

29,238 laps of the old Nurburgring race course.

2.14 light-seconds (distance light travels in a second). A beam of light would cover 400,000 miles in 2.14 seconds.

At my average of 48mpg, it takes 8,333 gallons of fuel to go 400,000 miles. That is 33,333 Big Gulps of fuel.

At a steady 60 mph it would take 6,666 hours (277 days) to travel 400,000 miles.

My overall average speed is probably around 25 mph so 400,000 miles represents about 16,000 hours of operation.

Assuming 16,000 hours of operation and an average engine speed of 2000rpm means the engine has made about 2 billion revolutions.

The Moon averages 238,900 miles from Earth. My car has traveled far enough to go to the Moon and about 2/3 of the way back.

The speed of sound is approx 742 mph. If your wife yelled at you from 400,000 miles away, it would take 539 hours (22 days) for you to hear her nagging on you to quit watching TV and help her with the laundry.
 

Bob_Fout

Oil Wanker
Joined
Sep 5, 2004
Location
Indiana
TDI
2003 Jetta - Alaska Green (sold) / 2015 GTI 2.0T
We need to know how many furlongs it is.

Also, is your average speed really that low? If you drive even 50% highway, average speed tends to be around 45 MPH.
 

Bob_Fout

Oil Wanker
Joined
Sep 5, 2004
Location
Indiana
TDI
2003 Jetta - Alaska Green (sold) / 2015 GTI 2.0T
Bob, that should be furlongs per fortnight.

Congrats and welcome to the club.
Furlongs per fortnight is a speed, I just want to know how many furlongs 400,000 miles is.

Google tells me it's 3.2 million furlongs.
 

Ol'Rattler

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 3, 2007
Location
PNA
TDI
2006 BRM Jetta
That's great. I'm sure by 400K miles, the rest of my car will fall apart around the engine.:D
 

RacerTodd

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2007
Location
Kirkland, WA
TDI
2001 Golf TDI
We need to know how many furlongs it is.

Also, is your average speed really that low? If you drive even 50% highway, average speed tends to be around 45 MPH.
I'm a small package courier so I spend a fair amount of time in the city making deliveries and getting stuck in traffic.

I just guessed on my average speed. My GTI has an "average speed" function in the multi-function indicator - I need that in the TDI...
 

Bob_Fout

Oil Wanker
Joined
Sep 5, 2004
Location
Indiana
TDI
2003 Jetta - Alaska Green (sold) / 2015 GTI 2.0T
I'm a small package courier so I spend a fair amount of time in the city making deliveries and getting stuck in traffic.

I just guessed on my average speed. My GTI has an "average speed" function in the multi-function indicator - I need that in the TDI...
That might not be too far off, then.

I have an hour-meter, I use that to determine average speed.
 
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