Life of a car engine under indian conditions

[adityapd]

Though it ultimately depends on the way a car gets driven and many other extraneous factors, ever wondered what could be the life of a car engine under indian traffic */ fuel conditions ?

Some guys on one of the other forums said that honda makes engines which need no overhauling till a mindblowing 500K kms?

Any comments ?

cheers

aditya

[ajmat]

Key factors:

Dust
Oil quality and frequency of change
Engine operating temperature
Driving habit
Engine loading

am sure more points will come to mind

[Shan2nu]

I dunno about that, 500K seems a bit too much for any engine. But i've seen Honda City 1.5 engines with 3,00,000kms, that run as good as new. It again depends on how you use it.

The Honda guy once told me that the Vtec engine would be most enjoyable after it's done 50K kms. My car has done 36K now and i can say that it's performance hasn't changed for the worse. Infact it feels more lively now.

Honda engines are known for their reliability. Even JC mentioned in his TG video that off all the Vtec engines produced to date, not even one has failed, so far.

Ofcourse, if you don't take care of your engine, it will blow up...even if it's a Honda.

Some of the factors are....
Dust
Temp
Driving Habits
Fuel Quality
Engine oil quality


Regards..
Shan2nu

[ajmat]

Vtecs need to have proper oil changes -period

[toyota]

Engine life depends on lot of factors like ,how you load the engine , how you drive , when you change oil , how often you clan the filters and make it breath free ...............and so on . And you cannot say or tell the life of any engine in general for Indian conditions.

In India fuel is cantaminated or adultered and the air is dusty . So more care should be taken about fuels and filters.
Calibration and tuning and proper maintenance will give a longer life .
As far as Toyota is concerned Qualis with 300,000 Kms run troble free if maintained properly and might need a Fuel pump calibartion and injector cleaning .
Corolla launched last year ,,,,,,,,,,,and being petrol no car would have covered a bigger mileage as of now , but being a petrol , properly maintained it will run trouble free or as new till 400,000 Kms !!!!!!!!!!!!

[toyota]

Even warming up in the morning , driving the fuel tank full etc helps for a long engine life !

[v12]

Toyota engines are supposed to have a long life. My Qualis hasnt given a single problem since i bought it. Hey Toyota, is an avg of 9 kmpl OK for Mumbai city driving? Or am i supposed to get more??

Factors affecting engine life :
Dust
Fuel Quality
Use of Spare Parts [original or fake]
Driving Habits
Number of people driving it [lesser the better]
Regular Maintenance

[toyota]

That is a good mileage , that too in Mumbai Traffic

[GTO]

Honda with engines of 500,000? Are you kidding me...A 5 lakh kilometer Honda powerplant is still in its infancy! In the US, when shopping around for an Accord, I regularly came across Hondas which had done 200,000 - 400,000 miles. The most I had seen was a 1988 Accord which had 420,000 miles on the odo (672,000 kms) and that car still started on the first shot. The owner had a fully documented service history!!! Whats more it had never ever been rebuilt. It didnt run like new, but it ran pretty well nevertheless.

If you dont always over-rev the engine, warm up after starting, change the oil as frequently as recommended, replace fuel/oil/air filters on time and keep the temp gauge below half...You could be the next guy to cross 500,000 kms!

Its nothing for Honda, Toyota and Nissan engines (Nissan has a great reputation in the US for long lasting engines. My professors Altima ran 400,000 miles before she sold it to a college student who is still using it)

The days of changing pistons and engine rebuilds after 70000 kms are gone (Bye bye Padmini, Ambassador, Mahindra and Tata)

GTO

[Shan2nu]

Wow, a 672K run Accord. That's just awesome man.

I know these engines are good but 672K is just beyond me. I'm sure that guy must have never seen his tacho go past 4000 rpm. hehe

Regards...
Shan2nu

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (ajmat @ Mar. 22 2004,18:52)]Vtecs need to have proper oil changes -period

Hey Ajmat,

This just reminded me of an interesting fact... the S2000 does NOT reccomend a change of oil for the first 14,400km!!!
The reason why is still rather vague, its believed that Honda might have put in a very specific kind of oil to help the vtec get worn in better, and hence even IF you chose to change the oil before that, only mineral oil is reccomended by the experts.

GTO, ur right about 400k miles not being a lot in the states.

But Shan2nu u gotta keep in mind that the enviormental, service and driving conditions are very different, but its remarkable nonetheless!

[toyota]

NIssan Diesel Engines are very popular for their long life .Even in India you get those re-con engine , and it is still expensive to get one !

[VTEC11]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Rehaan @ Mar. 22 2004,22:50)]

Hey Ajmat,

This just reminded me of an interesting fact... the S2000 does NOT reccomend a change of oil for the first 14,400km!!!
The reason why is still rather vague, its believed that Honda might have put in a very specific kind of oil to help the vtec get worn in better, and hence even IF you chose to change the oil before that, only mineral oil is reccomended by the experts.

GTO, ur right about 400k miles not being a lot in the states.

But Shan2nu u gotta keep in mind that the enviormental, service and driving conditions are very different, but its remarkable nonetheless!

That is similar to the hondas in the US. They recommend not changing the oil until atleast 7500miles on the first oil change. There's supposed to be some kind of oil additive that honda puts into the engine to help it break in properly.

[Godspeed]

i think a lot of carsi n indai are also high mileage, but 90% are documented for and have the odo's turned back.

my zrn's done 108,000 odd kms & the engine runs like a dream. after 50,000 kms i changed the oil every 10k till 80,000 then changed it after every 5000 kms.
the only thing that has wears out is the suspension but the engine has gotten more rev happy after 80k kms no doubt about it. I love it & intend keeping it for atleast a year more where i'll easily clock another 50,000 kms....

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Rehaan @ Mar. 22 2004,22:50)]

Hey Ajmat,

This just reminded me of an interesting fact... the S2000 does NOT reccomend a change of oil for the first 14,400km!!!
The reason why is still rather vague, its believed that Honda might have put in a very specific kind of oil to help the vtec get worn in better, and hence even IF you chose to change the oil before that, only mineral oil is reccomended by the experts.

GTO, ur right about 400k miles not being a lot in the states.

But Shan2nu u gotta keep in mind that the enviormental, service and driving conditions are very different, but its remarkable nonetheless!

I've been reading about delayed first oil change elsewhere. Apparently, the abrasive action of the swarf particles help wear the engine dow and bed it in. Apparently, the "baby the engine" till run in is old hat, key is to drive normally and give more revs (not red line excessively) but avoid low speeds in high gear