Dacia has started making cars from the late 60’s and many of the models where restored and tunned by some enthusiasts owners. Here is my top 5 old restored Dacia models:
1. Dacia 1300 with voice opening from the phone
The first place is taken by a 1975 Dacia 1300. The owner (Mihnea) restored it and added some cool features to the car. The car has new alloy wheels, doors with central locking operated by voice. The front and rear bumpers are chromed and look like in 1975. Steering wheel is the new sport model from Dacia that can be found on the Duster. It even has Navigation with rear camera. The engine is 1.3 with 54 HP with a 4-speed manaul gearbox.
Full video:
2. DACIA 1300 Turbo with Sparco Seats
This Dacia used to be a taxi before the curent owner (Marius Popa) bought it and made it look like so nice. He needed almost 2 years to find the set of wheels the car has now. The car has a Renault 5 GT engine, 1.4 turbo that develops 115 HP.
Unlike most young people of his age, Robert never thought of buying a modern car when he was 18 years old. On the contrary, he chose an old Dacia 1300, in a deplorable state, which he refurbished with his own hands, at home. And he also made some aesthetic and technical changes, transforming it from wreck into one of the most appreciated cars in the community.
4.1972 Dacia 1300 with leather interior
This model it’s the one that has the original parts if we don’t count the interior. It;s made from high quality red leather and it makes you feel like you are in a 1950 american hot rod.
5. An Unique Dacia
This is a PUGB looking car. It definitely turns heads when passing by…
My Duster has the new version of the diesel 1.5 engine that in used by Renault ever since 1995. In the service manual it is recommended to do the service once every 20.000 KM or when a year has passed from the last oil change. If your car is in leasing or bought with credit and the oil services are free in the first 100.000 KM, the dealership will do it at 20.0000 KM. If the car doesn’t have these free oil services you can do it even faster. I recommend doing it at 15.000 KM and after 50.000 KM it’s better for the engine to be done at 10.000 KM.
Where can you do the oil service?
Any dealership is recommending to do the oil service at their service and with the original parts and oil or the ones recommended by the manufacturer. There are cases where you can buy the parts from a local autoparts store and do the oil change in the service. This way it’s cheaper. But in case of a problem that is likely to be solved in the waranty period, you may have problems if the oil service or any other service is not made in the dealer’s service,
Right now my milage is at 42500 km and I made the oil and filter services twice. These are the total costs for a full service at my local dealership in Suceava:
Oil and Filter Replacing Costs – 594 Ron – 123 EUR;
Gas Filter Replacing Costs – 127 Ron – 26 EUR;
Air Filter Replacing – 86 Ron – 18 EUR;
Interior Filter Costs – 117 Ron – 24 EUR;
Total – 930 Ron – 193 EUR.
Total time for maintenance – 1 Hour and 20 minutes.
The parts I used are the ones recommended by Dacia, including the Elf Oil, that could be used without problems for 20.000 km. For the first 100.000 KM my running costs will be around 1500 EUR. It’s a big price, what do you think?
Full Video here:
As a bonus here is another video with a consumtion test I made with my Duster. Real consumption test. It was made mostly in extra urban driving and some offroad driving. Enjoy!
“Sfantul Daniil Sihastru” Monastery is a small monastery in the middle of the woods, on the top a hill between vilages Straja and Putna, in Suceava County, Romania.
it’s in the middle of the distance between those two vilages, 6.8 km South of Straja.
Here live a few monks who deal with its management and also with the church religious services. All the religious activities in the monastery are held during the night time, following the program from the monks on Athos mountain in Greece.
The view and the place it’s simply amazing. You will find the peace and silence of this remote monastery to be overwhelming. You can get here on a forest road only with an SUV or by walking from the base of the hill.
Here is the full video I shot with my drone when I went there. I was lucky and the road was frozen, otherwise it would have been imposible to go up with my Duster.
Not everyone can afford buying a new car so choosing the right one is like a roller coaster these days. We all want a car without any accidents with an engine to go at least 300.000 km just with the oil service. Here is my top ten list of reliable engines that were made from 1985 until now.
1.Mercedes-Benz OM 602 (straight-5 diesel,1985-2002)
It is a 5-cylinder in-line engine with a 2.5 or 2.9-liter cylinder. It was built with indirect injection and subsequently direct injection being offered in aspirated and turbo versions with powers from 90 to 129 hp. It has been used in many models from the 190 series, W124 W190, C-Class, E-Class, G-Class but also to the Sprinter utility. Between 1993 and 1999 was also used on SsangYong Musso.
The first M57 series was the most reliable. This engine can be found in many BMW models but also in Land Rover. It was manufactured from 1998 to 2006. It debuted in the BMW 530d in 1998 when developing 184 hp. The latest version of the M57 D30 TU2 had reached 286 hp.
OM 601 is the little brother of OM 602, having 4 cylinders and a cylinder capacity of 2 and 2.3 liters. It developed between 72 and 96 hp and was also used in utilities and limousines 190, C-Class and E-Class. It was a favorite engine for taxis many of them traveling over 2 million kilometers.
The engine is the work of Ferdinand Piech, being extremely reliable due to the injection-pump system. The advantage of this injection system was that it provided a remarkable fuel economy. However, it was very noisy, and with the tightening of emission norms, the pump-injector system no longer allowed to meet the new standards. That is why, in 2007, VW replaced it with a new commonrail engine. This engine has been used by many VW, Audi, Seat and Skoda models. Develop 101 hp in the basic version, 105, 116, 131 and 150 hp.
5. Peugeot DW 10 2.0 HDI (1999-2007)
DW10 was the first commonrail engine in the PSA range. It debuted in 1999 in the 2 liter and 90 hp version with 2 valves per cylinder and turbo without intercooler. This was also the most reliable version. It was used by Citroen Xsara, Xantia, Peugeot 306, 406 and 206 but also by Peugeot 307. It was also available on the Peugeot and Citroen utility range. Later, Peugeot also sold it to Suzuki for Vitara, but the same engine was part of the partnership with Ford. It was used by Ford Focus and C-Max but also by Volvo C30 / S40 / V50.
6. Honda N22A (2.2 i-CDTI) (2003-2018)
Although Honda was not a specialist in diesel engines, this was a very successful engine. It was launched on the Honda Accord and was later available on the CR-V and Civic. Initially developed 140 hp, and later had two evolutions: N22B with 150 hp (suction pipes were moved in front of the engine) and N22B2 with 180 hp. It was a very reliable engine which raised its price to second-hand. It was a very refined, quiet and dynamic engine.
7. Renault K-Type 1.5 dCi (Nissan, Renault, Dacia, Mercedes, 1995-2020)
It is one of the most durable engines in the automotive industry, being launched in 1995, withstanding 25 years on the market and is still part of the range of Clio, Captur or various Nissan, Dacia and compact Mercedes-Benz models. However, it was not as reliable from the beginning, with the first models having the common circular ramp which created quite a lot of problems. It has been modernized several times over the years and has recently received a catalytic system with Ad-Blue to meet Euro 6d standards. It is used by all Dacia models. Thanks to the partnership with Mercedes-Benz, this engine is also available in some compact Mercedes-Benz models but the Germans have modified it not being exactly the same as the one from Renault / Dacia.
8. Toyota AD series 2.0 D-4D (126 HP version, 2005-2018)
Like Honda, neither Toyota is a specialist in diesel engines but has developed a range specifically for Europe. The first version of the AD series was called 1AD-TFV and debuted in 2005 on Toyota Avensis. With a displacement of 2 liters and 126 hp it was also the most reliable of all versions. It was economical but not very quiet. It was followed by a modernized version 2AD-FHV which had the cylinder increased to 2.2 liters and developed 150 or 177 hp.
9. Mercedes OM 651 (2008-2019)
It is one of the best-selling diesel engines in the world. It had a 2.2 liter cylinder and developed 136, 170 or 204 hp, the last two versions having two turbines. It was found under the hood of all Mercedes-Benz limousines from the C-Class, E-Class and even the S-Class had for a short time the version of 204 hp. It was also available on GLK, GLC, ML and GLE SUVs.
10. Fiat 1.9 JTD (1997-2017)1. Mercedes-Benz OM 602 (5 cilindri în linie, 1985-2002)
The 1.9 JTD engine is a benchmark engine because it was the first commonrail engine. It appeared in the autumn of 1997 on the Alfa Romeo 156 and is a very longevity engine being available for many years. The 120 hp version with 2 valves per cylinder is the most recommended. It is dynamic and economical. The 1.9 JTD engine can be found in Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Opel (CDTI), Saab, Suzuki, Cadillac. Later it was upgraded, the Multijet II version having a slightly increased cylinder from 1,910 cmc to 1,956 cmc.
The gearbox noise is a technical problem some models of the Dacia Duster 2 have. Mostly they have the 1.5 Blue dCi engine that is the improved version of the old 1.5 dCi from Renault. Dacia had to upgrade to te Ad-Blue system in order to meet the Euro 6c requirements. The Ad-blue also has some problems, minor ones, that are usually solved with an upgrade to the system.
With the gearbox noise on the other hand, the situation is more complicated. Most of the 1.5 Blue dCi models have this noise, but its intensity is different from a Duster to another. On this forum I found 4 owners with this problem while on another forum there are more of them complaining about the issue. Here is another forum, this time from Germany with owners complaining about the issue.
When this noise appears?
The sound effect is also called “transmission siren” and in some cars it can be so stressed that it is disturbing. It is caused by the gears in the gearbox. This noise, traditionally found at Aro 10, is not a technical defect but only a noise disadvantage at 90km / h. This is an acute variant of the classic Dacia whistle when the engine reaches 110-130km / h. The whistle is also heard in this video. The noise appears when the engine stabilizes and the load decreases as it enters cruise speed. If you accelerate it disappears, if you brake it disappears, if you move the steering wheel it is still there, if you lower the pressure or you climb it in the tires it moves only slightly higher or lower. If you put cloth under the board is still there, obviously it is transmitted through vibrations.
I normally drive my Duster with the music on and the noise hasn’t been a problem to me. But I’ve decided to make a video while driving the Duster and the lack of music made me realize that the gearbox sound is more load than I thought. You can see in the video that it’s louder when I use the Cruise Control.
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