tt9714

I recently had my '95 Lexus SC400 at the dealer for some regularly scheduled maintenance (90k service). I started talking with the service manager about the engine (4.0 L V-8) in the car, and he said:

[quote]The V-8 engine and 4 speed automatic transmission are very robust. They should be able to go half a million miles before rebuilding.<hr></blockquote>

Does this sound feasible? It seems that on this discussion board people are regularly rebuilding their 944 engines (block & pistons) by 100k miles. Is there something about the Japanese/Toyota engineering that is different than the German/Porsche cars?

Comments please...

marooned

I think as the saying goes... YMMV



btw, the engine may last 500,000K but what about the rest of the stuff that you'll end up replacing. I haven't had too much trouble with the engine in my car. It's all the other ****ing little things that add up.

aka 951

My 924S has 224k and still has the original head gasket. Its a 100 mile a day commuter. Not sure what you mean by a 100k rebuild if the car is maintained properly.

Eric

My good old Ford F250 has 225K HARD miles on an engine which has never been torn down.

BRB_85.5_NA

1987 Toyota LandBruiser FJ60 233k miles on original engine ***burns no oil*** (same oil level at changes now that I've fixed all the <img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" /> leaks).

Danno

My Toyota Supra went 245k-miles in 10-years before the rod-bearings wore out. Supposedly the Lexus has 10x better production tolerances and quality control. I've seen a couple of samples at 300k-miles and they look fine.

SamGrant951

92 pathfinder 199,xxx nothing but oil changes
driven HARD..and used as a tow vehicle for 8 years.

86 951..119,xxx dont get me started

bs

a professor of mine back at school told me he rebuilt the engine in his toyota pickup at 200k. he said he could still see the honing marks on the cylinder walls from the factory!

as soon as i get rid of my POS ford, i'm getting some manner of toyota (or maybe an IH scout?) as auxiliary transportation.

ben, who will hopefuly never own another american car in the rest of his life

PS what does ymmv stand for?

d richard

Your Mileage May Vary.

Danno

YMMV, yes that's true of anything. I had a V6-Camry after my Supra and unfortunately, it was one of the earlier models that had the V6. Being transversely mounted, the entire engine was very cramped and had to be removed to change the timing-belt. Really surprising to find that a family sedan was as quick and fast as my modified Supra. Amazing what 10-years of development will do. Anyway, I sold that Camry with 200K-miles and it was still running strong.

rokke17

My uncle had a 82 F150 with a 300 straight six and a manual tranny. It had 316K on it when he sold it to his friend, the only engine/tranny work is 2 clutches. His friend still drives it, but I dont know the current mileage.
Thats pretty good for a FORD!!!

Later
Chris

tt9714

Based on all of these stories of cars & trucks going 200k + miles on the original block & pistons, why in the heck are we all taking apart our Porsches at much lower mileages?

I cannot count the number of stories that I have read on this discussion board about people talking about "scored cylinders" and "low compression."

I thought that Porsche = Quality??

Bob S. 1984 Silver

TT9714...

I have wondered the same thing. I have had many many cars over the past (ahem......) years and have rebuilt a number of engines in my youth; most because it seemed like a good idea (you know the old adage, idle hands are the devil's workplace), once because I bought a used engine that was not as advertised and required a total rebuild. I have owned four Porsche cars over the years as well. Owners either like to tinker with them or they don't. Much of the work described on this Bulletin Board is unnecessary work..that is, work not required to keep the the vehicle operating. That being said, Porsche is just like any other automobile in one important respect: it is simply a piece of machinery made of materials that over time wear out. I have driven many cars to the near or over 200k mark. With the exception of one car which developed hydrostatic lock due to sucking in water during a flash flood, I have never had to do a full rebuild because of internal failure. Engines will last and last if (a) not asked to do what they were not designed to do and (2) fed fresh oil and other fluids at appropriate intervals.

Porsche owners in general tend to listen to every squeak, grunt, clank and bang as if it were leading to total destruction. Many other (ahem...lesser) car owners just turn up the radio volume a notch or two. I figure rational people react somewhere in between. When the noise gets too loud, have the car fixed!!

Just the observations of an old timer..

Bob S.

OZ951

I think there are some other contributing factors to the seemingly higher incidence of rebuilds.

Due to the high cost of maintenance on Porsche cars, some people simply don't do it and thats when you hear of snapped timing belts and bent valves or oil leaks etc.

On the other hand you have people who want their Porsches to be in concours condition and so they pull the motors out to fix oil leaks and do rebuild work at the same time.

Then there is the desire to push these cars at auto cross events etc and that can lead to rod bearing failures that wouldnt be experienced in normal driving etc.

Porsche also seemed to push the technology edge to extract good performance from its engines ... some of that technology works really well and other elements of it are more prone to maintenance problems - I guess that is one of the costs of Porsche being a trend setter rather than a follower.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Wayne

Danno

I think Porsches tend to be driven a lot harder than your typical family sedan or truck (how exciting is that?). But in a side-by-side comparison of my Porsche and same-year Supra, the engine castings are smoother on the Supra. Same thing with the aluminum A-arms with Supra having a smoother, less porous surface (where cracks start). Same thing with wheel-bearings with the Supra being about twice as large, etc., etc...

So I think the edge that Porsche has is more engineering with more radical features. Toyota apparently designs by committee (bland). But the manufacturing and materials selection could be better on the Porsche (ever notice those body seams?).