Did a BAR swap of a k20a2 into a EG civic. It’s such a fun car to drive, street or track.
Japanese four-cylinder engine is so reliable still in production after 25 years
41–50 of 160 posts
Re: Japanese four-cylinder engine is so reliable still in production after 25 years
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a feeling GM is going to keep making pushrod v8's until the eventual death of the internal combustion engine.
Someone will, because it's a useful form factor. And that someone is gonna be the people who are the experts in it, which is pretty strongly arguably GM. There have been sooooo many SBCs shat out into the world in industrial applications that even if GM stops making them someone will keep making them. You can't make a compatible single replacement because you'll break a ton of applications. You can't make a ton of di…
>Someone will, because it's a useful form factor.
Definitely, and the old carborated beasts just work and can be fixed with minimal tools and ran off of just a few wires.
I've been enjoying watching a coworker resurrect his M715 Military Truck (basically a government J-Series truck from Kaiser/Jeep) with a fresh blueprint SBC and a mix mash of GM and aftermarket drive train parts.
It may be the least efficient truck I've ever ridden in, but it can reliably pull tree stumps out of the ground.
Re: Japanese four-cylinder engine is so reliable still in production after 25 years
#43Engines used in general aviation have interchangeable parts from almost 100 years ago. You could warp a Lycoming engine mechanic in from 1942 using your time traveling phone booth and he'd be able to fix your 172 of any vintage.
Yeah, but that's because general aviation engines are stuck in a time capsule from the 1940'ies, not because they are particularly good engines by today's standards. Exception being Rotax on the low end.
Re: Japanese four-cylinder engine is so reliable still in production after 25 years
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
> And that someone is gonna be the people who are the experts in it, which is pretty strongly arguably GM. They were, at least. Massive recall on the 6.2L versions of their V8 engines right now. https://www.lemonfirm.com/blog/gm-6-2l-engine-recall-what-tr...
A lot of bigger engines are running right on the edge of oiling problems these days. With fuel economy rules being what they are it's just how it is. GM isn't special in this regard. Ford is killing a lot of cams and lifters (a problem GM fought through some years ago). Meanwhile Toyota[1] is recalling blown up turbo v6s left and right (for problems that you can't just dump different oil in to solve) because they did…
To be fair Ford's small turbos are also notorious for shitting the bed, but mostly due to cooling system failures or the terrible choice of still running a timing belt. (1.0L Ecoboost engines)
Re: Japanese four-cylinder engine is so reliable still in production after 25 years
#45GM/Chevrolet are still making small-block 350 engines, they started in the 1950's https://www.gmperformancemotor.com/parts/19433032.html
I have a feeling GM is going to keep making pushrod v8's until the eventual death of the internal combustion engine.
I used to view them with disdain - a clearly obsolete design GM kept using because they're cheap or lazy or some such.
I no longer hold that view. GM's pushrod V8s are considerably smaller than their competition, and lightweight relative to their displacement, for which there is famously no replacement.
Re: Japanese four-cylinder engine is so reliable still in production after 25 years
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
> And that someone is gonna be the people who are the experts in it, which is pretty strongly arguably GM. They were, at least. Massive recall on the 6.2L versions of their V8 engines right now. https://www.lemonfirm.com/blog/gm-6-2l-engine-recall-what-tr...
A lot of bigger engines are running right on the edge of oiling problems these days. With fuel economy rules being what they are it's just how it is. GM isn't special in this regard. Ford is killing a lot of cams and lifters (a problem GM fought through some years ago). Meanwhile Toyota[1] is recalling blown up turbo v6s left and right (for problems that you can't just dump different oil in to solve) because they did…
I’d love to read about how emissions / fuel economy is causing the oiling problems. Any articles?
Would putting an aftermarket oil pump in these modern engines protect them or is it a deeper design issue?
Re: Japanese four-cylinder engine is so reliable still in production after 25 years
#47I don't think that lack of reliability is the key factor for why new motors are still being developed. Fuel efficiency or changing emission standards are two points that come to mind that drive further optimizations.
A bunch of engines (Toyota and Subaru come to mind) had oil sludge problems when CAFE standards changed (early 2000s) and they had to redesign.
Re: Japanese four-cylinder engine is so reliable still in production after 25 years
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
A lot of bigger engines are running right on the edge of oiling problems these days. With fuel economy rules being what they are it's just how it is. GM isn't special in this regard. Ford is killing a lot of cams and lifters (a problem GM fought through some years ago). Meanwhile Toyota[1] is recalling blown up turbo v6s left and right (for problems that you can't just dump different oil in to solve) because they did…
To be fair Ford's small turbos are also notorious for shitting the bed, but mostly due to cooling system failures or the terrible choice of still running a timing belt. (1.0L Ecoboost engines)
>terrible choice of still running a timing belt. (1.0L Ecoboost engines)
3.0 Duramax says hold my beer (for the readers not familiar, it has a wet belt driving the oil pump and it's mounted in the back making proactive replacement prohibitively expensive).
My jaded take is that they're sticking with the wet belt on what's generally a europoor economy car engine in order to force planned obsolecense.
Re: Japanese four-cylinder engine is so reliable still in production after 25 years
#49That's a series of engines, not a single model. The FIAT FIRE [1] series has been in production for 36 years from 1985 to 2021 and, maybe you wouldn't expect it from FIAT, those engines were reliable. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fully_Integrated_Robotised_Eng...
I counter you with a Cleon engine[0] with 42 years. ;)
But in the end an engine can be reliable but still be an environmental liability.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Cl%C3%A9on-Fonte_engin...
Re: Japanese four-cylinder engine is so reliable still in production after 25 years
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
> other owners say it runs fine without coolant, oil, etc Um, no. Go ahead dump your oil and coolant, go drive your car, and report back how "fine" it did. (No, please don't actually do this. Although here's a guy who did, for the clicks. The Honda did impressively well, but it wasn't "fine". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyejT4VPzlE )
Coolant sure, my RSX has a radiator leak for the past 2 years. Oil not so much.
Just pour coolant in via the oil cap. It'll be fine. /s