Car question

[Droopy]

I drive 18 wheelers for a living and those trucks can take a lot of miles. My current rig has about 412,000 miles on it and it has not had an engine rebuild yet. I used to own an old cab-over that had 600,000 miles on it when I bought it and they had just done an in-frame rebuild on it before I bought it. When I sold the truck it had 850,000 miles on it and didn't burn a drop of oil. I've heard of trucks getting 1 million miles on them before their engines had to be rebuilt.

If they can make heavy duty truck engines last that long, why can't they make passenger vehicles' engines last that long?

[Not_Giving_Up]

1. Because the auto makers would go broke

I had an Aspire that had 140,000 miles on it when I finally gave up on it...it was a 96, and lasted until 2003. People were amazed.:shrug:

[Droopy]

4. It appears that my poor little 1989 Isuzu

bought the farm tonight. It was old but it only had 96,000 miles on it. And I took care of that truck, too.

[Wilber_Stool]

2. I think it has something to do with

them being diesels. They don't build up certain acids in the oil and they operate within a limited rpm range.

[democracyindanger]

3. Mostly freeway miles, too nt

[Droopy]

5. That's true about the RPM range

My current rig operates between 1200 and 2000 RPM. You can go lower than 1200, but you won't get anywhere. However it will not rev over 2000. I guess they have some sort of governer on the engine for that.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

7. It is in your distributar cap.

Cuts the engine when it reaches a certain speed. easy to override. Just buy a different rotor.

[Wilber_Stool]

11. There's no distributer in a diesel.

No wires or spark plugs either.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

13. Well, this is not my area of expertise but

My Mercedes desiel had both. O.K. glow plugs maybe. Fuck, I don't know,

[A HERETIC I AM]

20. modern diesels are electronically controlled and an engine speed limiter

is a simple bit of wiring and software. Diesels don't use spark plugs and therefore have no need for a rotor or distributer.

[A HERETIC I AM]

18. You've been driving trucks for HOW long?

and you don't know the answer? Ive been driving over the road for better than 18 years and i had that question nailed in the first week! It is the RPMs and the duty cycle. Gas engines turn faster and that means more wear and tear. Your Diesel works best at a constant speed and is designed for that. Gas engines compromise durability with acceleration performance. A diesels forte is its torque created by the high compression ratio. Simple as that

[Droopy]

22. I've been driving for 8 years

But I'm not a mechanic. I don't know how engines work. That hasn't affected my ability to operate a rig, though. I'll have a million safe miles total sometime this year.

[A HERETIC I AM]

31. If you don't know how engines work then i would be concerned about

putting you behind the wheel of any trucks i might own. Try learning a little about the internal combustion engine. It might come in handy. 2 other things before bed -- what kind of engine is in the truck you drive? Who made it? Is it a 4-stroke or a 2 stroke? Know the difference? (hint) up until the late 80s most diesel truck and bus engines were 2-stroke. How do your brakes work? Do you have an engine retarder? How does it work? I am not trying to be condescending but i find it hard to believe that you are so mechanically naive and yet drive an eighty thousand pound truck on the freeway.

[Droopy]

35. You sound like half the old bastards out there on the road

who don't think someone with less experience as them is competent. You are being condescending. I do not need to know how my truck's engine works to operate the vehicle. I do have enough knowledge about the mechanical operations of my truck to operate it safely. I know how to do a pre-trip. I know how to put fluids in the truck. I know how to adjust brakes. If you would expect me to work on your truck, then I would not work for you.

My boss finds me highly valuable because I do a damn fine job.

[A HERETIC I AM]

37. Then call me an old bastard. Thats OK with me

I never EVER inferred that you weren't a competent driver but you SHOULD know how your engine works in order to operate the vehicle and at the same time cause as little damage to it as possible. Drive on there big truck! Just stay the fuck out of the left and center lanes.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

6. R U serious?

I pretty much give up on cars at about 70K. Do they really make vehicles that last that long? Wow! I had no idea and neither does the general public. If we could buy cars like this, it wold change the face of the automotive industry, which is probably why we are not informed about it.

[Droopy]

9. Yes I'm completely serious

But big trucks usually take at least a 100,000 miles a year. So time wise they generally don't last much longer than a car.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

14. not the point

If we could buy cars that lasted 400K, wow!

[Droopy]

15. Yep, that would be something

I bet they would make them cost a lot more, though. They would have to make their money somehow. Or we could just make the automobile industry publicly owned and government run. Thank reeks of socialism, though. ;)

[OffWithTheirHeads]

19. Ahhhh, that nasty word

that means looking out for the inhabitants of the planet. If we were only all in this together, on a planet with limited rescources and space. Fortunatly for us, the Rapture is near.

[pansypoo53219]

34. fooey

i got a 72' delta 88 in 85?? with 56k on it(3rd owner) and i had the SS queen victoria for 4 years and had to sell with about 118k. went to TN, VA, and 'up nort' countless time.
i then had my great-aunt's 67' catalina for 6 months. with about 76k.
then my mom's chrysler Nw Yorker for about 3 months. then an 80's delta. ufda was that crap, but i did not buy it. and the my sweat pea. the 73' delta which i got with 52 k in 91? that i also had for 4 years and when i sold it, it passed the emissions test better than when i got it. and it also had stopped eating oil, so it was tighter. and it had about 90k when i sold it.
new cars are crap

[MADem]

8. I know someone who owns a GEO METRO

...with 350,000 miles on it. Runs like a top!

[Droopy]

10. Has he/she ever had to rebuild the motor? n/t

[MADem]

21. It's totally original

Except for some little things, and of course the tires, battery and filters and whatnot. Original engine, doesn't hardly burn oil at all. The owner is RELIGIOUS about regular oil changes, almost obsessed. He also does not drive it hard, never over the speed limit. But that sumbitch has been up and down the east coast, into Canada, and all over New England. Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'!!

[auntAgonist]

12. I think too it's not prudent for the car makers

to make cars that last.
I had a CL9000 Ford with 550,000 miles on it before an inframe.

[Reverend_Smitty]

16. That is insane!

I had no idea a car could rack up that many miles! My car has 150,000 and I thought that was a lot.

[auntAgonist]

25. not a car

A CL9000 Ford is a Cabover Ford , Semi.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

17. Obviously, they can

but, to quote stupid's daddy, "wouldn't be prudent". Fuck the fact that the entire population of the planet would benifit.

[imenja]

26. such cars would surely cost more that most of us could afford

still, it would be nice to have the option for those who can.

[democracyindanger]

28. Nah, buy a Volvo

and take care of it. They last forever. And the 78-81 Porsche 911SC, by the way, is known to have engines that last more than 500k miles before a rebuild is needed.

Anybody can get a lot of mileage out of a car that they keep well-maintained.

[imenja]

29. I drive my 92 ford escort

It's got 120,000 plus miles on it. No new cars for me, especially not a Volvo. They are expensive.

[msgadget]

23. Durable goods

that were really durable would bankrupt the industry. And, it's kinda psychological too - new, 'better' features every year, being the oldest car in the parking lot... We had a car that would've gone forever if a tree hadn't hit it and people felt sorry for us ("they must be very poor") instead of marveling at its perseverance.

Think about how long and hard planes are flown. They're too expensive for airlines to put up with having to replace them frequently so they're built to last. (and, may I add a PHEW!)

[A HERETIC I AM]

24. BTW I am curious if you know what an In-frame overhaul actually entails

[Droopy]

30. Well I'm not sure

but I think they replace the pistons, rings, rods and main bearings among a few other things. It's called an inframe because they do not take the motor out of the truck. I guess if you wanted to do a complete rebuild you'd have to take the motor out.

[A HERETIC I AM]

36. there are 3 types of diesel engine rebuilds

Top end - bottom end and complete. An in-frame usually is a bottom end which does NOT include rings and pistons. To do those you are talking about a complete rebuild. A bottom end is piston rod bearings and a crankshaft reconditioning or replacement USUALLY and little more. There are exceptions of course.

[ConcernedCanuk]

33. In frame overhaul, means the engine is NOT removed

.
.
.

So, for one thing, the crankshaft is not removed (can't be done in the vehicle). So the crank is not turned(machined) or checked for balance and other defects that could only be done if the engine were removed, and the crank taken out of the block.

For diesels, it's Pistons, Rings and Liners, (most gas engines don't have liners, the block is just bored out, and the piston wears on the block), crankshaft and connecting rod bearings are replaced, all seals and gaskets, and necessary repairs to the cylinder heads -

Camshaft bearings and seals are replaced, cam is checked for wear, as well as the lifters checked for wear and leak-down(hydraulic lifters only). Some have "cam followers" - ("roller cams" to racing buffs in gas engines)

I'm sure I left something out - oh yeah! - injectors and injector pumps are checked and repaired/replaced as necessary (or should be anyways

'nuff for the moment,

I'm sure someone will let me know what I left out!

[A HERETIC I AM]

38. I stand humbly corrected regarding the crankshaft

NT

[ConcernedCanuk]

27. Cars WOULD last almost that long if driven like rigs

.
.
.

As one poster mentioned, many cabs get well over 500,000 on the original engine, especially the ones that go 24 hours a day, just switching drivers.

An engine, gas or deisel, will get more wear in the first 5- 10 minutes of running(until it reaches normal operating temperature) than it will in the next 1,000 miles or more if driven constantly, only stopping for fuel, and left running while eating or sleeping in the car/unit.

Some cars DO only get under 100k miles before the engine starts to crap out, but those are the cars that just take many short trips, and never really warm up properly. That car with 30k on it that "a little ole lady only drove to church on Sundays" will never see 100k, unless she was driving a looooooong way to church, like from Vancouver to LA!

A ltttle tidbit of info that might make sense to some. Pistons in most engines ARE NOT ROUND. They are oval, in a perfectly round hole (cylinder).

BUT, they BECOME perfectly round as the engine warms up - ?? - right - :wtf:

Because pistons are different material than the piston pin and the connecting rod, and the different metals expand at different rates, to different degrees, to compensate for the hole for piston pin, and the effects of temperature change, the pistons are slightly oval to compensate for the distortion when heated up, THEN they are round and everything just blippity-blops up and down - perfectly matched.

So the car that only goes for ten an twenty minute runs here and there almost NEVER is running in the "nearly no wear" mode by comparison to the rig that goes from Florida to Toronto, and is either never shut down, or not shut down long enough for the engine to cool down (like refueling or a quick coffee)

Oh,

My Qualifications?

I am an InterProvincially licensed Automotive Technician, as well as a Licensed Truck and Coach tech with over 30 years in the trade

And I read up on EVERYTHING!! (a real pain to some bosses!) :evilgrin:

[Droopy]

32. Thanks for the technical info

So I guess the auto manufacturers aren't really in on some conspiracy to make their cars last shorter.