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Good example of how a seemingly minor defect could trash an otherwise good engine. I understand they did a minor design change after 2019 that fixed the problem but of course nobody will trust Ford with that motor ever again.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
That 4.6L had to be one of the best Ford ever made. I wonder why they couldn’t throw a turbo on it to get the horsepower needed to stay competitive.
The power wasn’t the problem. Fuel economy standards and safety standards were. If Ford wanted to keep it rolling they would have had to give it a huge diet, install the latest safety gear, upgrade to a modern transmission among other things.
That investment to a lineup of cars that was 90% fleet sales by the end wasn’t going to turn any profits.
Keep in mind they never got stability control, backup cameras, blind spot monitors, automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise, Bluetooth, etc. The public wants that stuff.
If sedans still were selling maybe they could have done it. I could have seen the Crown Vic with one of the eco boost engines and then a beefed up 4.6 as an option. Maybe the Town Car would have gotten a 5.0 Coyote.
I have owned 4.6L and 5.4L Fords, in cars (cougar platform and Mustang), and in pickups. I have also owned 5.0L Coyote V8's. I can assure you that the 5.0L Coyote is a better engine, by far. More low end torque, much faster overall, and significantly better fuel economy. These things do get better over time, the technology just keeps improving.
One reason I haven't owned a Chevrolet truck since 2013, they keep pushing the 5.3L V8. Yes, they have made constant improvements, but they really need a new engine.
Today's project. My wife recovered six chair cushions and I removed and resecured the cushions to the chair frames
. I also thoroughly cleaned the frames inside and out. It was much needed as the 20 yr old fabric on some of the chairs had seen better days. Top picture is the new fabric.
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
Today's project. My wife recovered six chair cushions and I removed and resecured the cushions to the chair frames
. I also thoroughly cleaned the frames inside and out. It was much needed as the 20 yr old fabric on some of the chairs had seen better days. Top picture is the new fabric.
———————————————— Looks good but you should have just bought her a new dining room suite.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis Ultimate just like jmonroe's. '18 Legacy Limited with 3.6R (Mrs. j's)
Our set is getting pretty old also, had it 42 years already. That's on the "list" also but first comes the new oven/stove that I'm hoping we can get by the end of March. Ours right now is original to us buying the house and the cleaning part doesn't work anymore. Also,it doesn't match the stainless steel appliances we have now. It's just a matter of getting the other half to commit to something during tax season. Would be best to get it done within the next couple of weeks but not holding out much hope for that right now.
2023 Hyundai Kona Limited AWD (wife) / 2015 Golf TSI (me) / 2019 Chevrolet Cruze Premier RS (daughter #1) / 2020 Hyundai Accent SE (daughter #2) / 2023 Subaru Impreza Base (son)
Our set is getting pretty old also, had it 42 years already. That's on the "list" also but first comes the new oven/stove that I'm hoping we can get by the end of March. Ours right now is original to us buying the house and the cleaning part doesn't work anymore. Also,it doesn't match the stainless steel appliances we have now. It's just a matter of getting the other half to commit to something during tax season. Would be best to get it done within the next couple of weeks but not holding out much hope for that right now.
Jeebus, Sandy, just tell her you know she’s busy so you’re going to go pick one out so she doesn’t need to bother.
Will probably just end up doing that. My daughter has already mentioned us going to Lowe's and picking one out. I know when the kids bathroom needed remodeling, she was just too busy and told me to just handle it, which I did. Just don't want any issues later on, so I'd like her input on which one we get even though I do the majority of cooking right now. When the kid stays over, just let her plan the meals as she's real good at that. But Ab348, do see your point here and it'll most likely fall to me to "just do it"!
2023 Hyundai Kona Limited AWD (wife) / 2015 Golf TSI (me) / 2019 Chevrolet Cruze Premier RS (daughter #1) / 2020 Hyundai Accent SE (daughter #2) / 2023 Subaru Impreza Base (son)
I have owned 4.6L and 5.4L Fords, in cars (cougar platform and Mustang), and in pickups. I have also owned 5.0L Coyote V8's. I can assure you that the 5.0L Coyote is a better engine, by far. More low end torque, much faster overall, and significantly better fuel economy. These things do get better over time, the technology just keeps improving.
One reason I haven't owned a Chevrolet truck since 2013, they keep pushing the 5.3L V8. Yes, they have made constant improvements, but they really need a new engine.
And in the end it may have been the introduction of the Coyote that made further investment into the 4.6L a non starter. Certainly the performance of my 5.0L is better than my 4.6L Intech (Cobra). It remains to be seen if the Coyote can go 300k miles like it’s predecessor.
Nothing wrong with the Chevy 5.3L except that cylinder deactivation cam chewing system.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Today's project. My wife recovered six chair cushions and I removed and resecured the cushions to the chair frames
. I also thoroughly cleaned the frames inside and out. It was much needed as the 20 yr old fabric on some of the chairs had seen better days. Top picture is the new fabric.
Looks like you did nice work on some nice old furniture. What a shame that most young people don’t appreciate the craftsmanship that went into them.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Nice job on the chairs. Our old set needed new fabric (it was Dane decor danish mid century modern) but we sold it since the new house does not have a separate did room. We just took our nice Amish made 6 chair dinette set for the nook. Wood chairs, no cushions to worry about.
"This Lady Has Had 3 Toyotas That Each Went over 300,000 Miles Dethra U. Giles’ current Avalon is closing in on a half million miles. BY MARK VAUGHN, DEC 14, 2022 ....Dethra U. Giles is a proud lifelong Toyota owner, starting with the 1985 Tercel her mother bought her new on her 16th birthday. That car went 350,000 miles before being donated to a worthy cause. It was followed by a 1999 Corolla, also bought new, that went a mere 300,000 miles before being donated to a charity. In 2007 she bought a new Avalon that she is still driving. When we spoke to her last week the Avalon odo read 496,242. What’s the secret? Dealer service, she said.
“Keeping up with the maintenance and taking it to the dealer,” she said. “Most of my life, people have laughed at me like, ‘I can’t believe you take your car to Toyota. It costs so much money to do that.’ I’m like, ‘Hold on, guys. My cars have consistently gotten over 200,000 miles. So you tell me, I’m doing something wrong, but you’re the one buying the car every five years.”
....“All of my cars have the original engine with no major overhauls. Like, I haven’t had to get the transmission changed, it’s the original engine. And I think that’s what really shocks people the most. ‘To get a car to that much mileage you just do all this engine rebuild,’ and I’m like, ‘Nope, this is everything original.” She’s going to hang on to the Avalon until it passes the 500,000-mile mark then get something else, probably another Toyota....
What advice does she have for those who want to get more miles from their cars?
“Spend the money to take care of your car. So many people do what I call ‘stepping over dollars to get two dimes.’ ‘I don’t need that maintenance right now.’ And they let it go further than the recommended mileage to take care of it. And you can’t figure out why you can’t get 150,000 miles out of a car? It is because you won’t pay for the maintenance. I say sacrifice a little bit now and pay for the maintenance over the long haul, it will be amazingly, financially rewarding.”
One time she was told a certain maintenance item would be $1000 and she balked.
“I was like, ‘$1,000?’ And my husband said, ‘Are you kidding me? You haven’t had a car payment in a decade!”
I’d love to see the stack of receipts from that near 500k mile Avalon. Assuming a 5K mile oil change interval that’s $6000 right there at dealer prices.
Add in 10 transmission flushes - $2000
10 Coolant - $1500
10 Brake fluid - $1500
8 sets of tires - $8000
5 full brake jobs - $2500 (probably light on this one)
That’s $21,500 and nothing has broken yet.
Driving 30K+ miles a year isn’t cheap no matter how you slice it, but at what point does it make sense to stop putting money into a worthless car.
If you buy a new one you still have the same maintenance costs but add lots of depreciation on top of that. $150/month repairs and depreciation to do 30k miles is pretty cheap. If you don’t mind driving that old a car!
The oil changes for my Acura are only c.$55 at the dealer. Not shown in the picture below is the silly "scratch off" extra coupon that is usually another $3 off. They did sell me on a transmission fluid change at c.45k, which Acura itself says only needs to be changed that often for "severe service." But since my current goal is to try to keep the car to 200k, probably that was a good idea. They also probably have me change my cabin filter and engine air filter more often than needed, but I like clean air, and I imagine that's good for the engine when going for long life.
The latest service the Acura dealer tried to sell me on was a "new" $300 "chemical fuel system cleaning." I said no. But I'll ask them at some point if that will clean the intake valves, which might be getting carbon build up because of the direct injection.
This car care video guy says to give your Toyota a chance to get to 300k you should change your oil every 5k or 6 months. I've been following my Honda Maintenance Minder, which averages about 8k and 8 months. I feel fine with that interval for my Acura, but with the turbo on my wife's CR-V I'm thinking of changing the oil a bit more frequently. The MM light goes off at 15%, but after watching a few videos I decided to take her car in at 30% this time. But maybe that's a waste with full synthetic oil?
I get my tire rotations done at Costco, which is included with the price of the tires.
Even though I'm only at 64,000 miles, my Acura service advisor was already warning me that at 100k the service would probably be about $1500.
With the ongoing EV revolution, the EV enthusiasts talk about the cost savings. But if you're keeping a car long term, the likely $20k battery redo at 8-12 years is about double the cost of replacing a whole engine on a Honda on Acura. I haven't done the whole math on it, but it seems likely the $20k battery job at the roughly 8-12 year mark pretty much wipes out most if not all of your gas savings.
Doesnt the TLX have a timing chain? Only way a 100k service should be that much is it it needs a T belt service. Otherwise it’s mainly 4 spark plugs that are easy to change on that engine.
Yes, the TLX has a timing chain. But the coolant fluid is also changed at that point, as well as the brake fluid and transmission fluid. Plus my Acura 2.4 engine has the old fashioned manually-adjusted valve clearances that are supposed to be redone at 100k. Still not sure quite how they get up to $1500. But I'll ask them at the time what all is done. But $1500 seems like a lot. Maybe something like $1k should be able to do those things, plus a regular oil change? Probably I'll need brake pads at that point too, if not before.
Just to waste time I could get out my owner's manual and see what it says about the 100k service.
Doesn’t have to be the dealer doing it, but the concept is sound. Neglected maintenance kills a lot of cars before their time.
Such a simple rule to follow but a lot of people just run the car until it stops and have no clue why. Of course it helps to start with engines and transmissions that are designed properly. The aforementioned Ford 4.6 comes to mind and not the Ford 1.5 or the early GM 3.6 or Northstar.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
A Toyota with an engine failure at 180k, even though the car got regular oil changes at the dealership at 10k intervals. This car care guy blames the 10k oil change intervals promoted by Toyota, and says yet again to change your oil more frequently if you really want your engine to last. Customer decided to get a new/rebuilt engine, because four months ago new car prices were so high.
The cost of the new/rebuilt engine is about $6500 at this independent shop. I would imagine that a Toyota dealer the same work would be $10k or so.
But according to this guy, this all could have been avoided if he'd changed the oil twice as often. That would have cost about $1000 more than the 10k oil changes that he did. So obviously a savings of about $5k.
This again highlights how a $20k cost for batteries for a new EV is way more than even a new engine on a Toyota or Honda.
If you buy a new one you still have the same maintenance costs but add lots of depreciation on top of that. $150/month repairs and depreciation to do 30k miles is pretty cheap. If you don’t mind driving that old a car!
Say, I saw a Maverick in the wild yesterday near the airport in front of a Chinese buffet. Is yours a light-medium grey? They’re still pretty rare around here. It was illegally parked in the fire lane so I was thinking of having the staff yell “Stickguy move your truck” so I could see what you look like in person.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
When my 13 Accord approached the 100k mark, the dealership suggested not only changing the spark plugs, but changing the water pump, adjusting the valves as well as a transmission service. It was a costly service though I don't recall exactly how much. I had already had the cooling system serviced about a year before. Also, in the previous year I had replaced the brakes front and rear, alternator, T-belt and idler pulley and starter. I knew if I committed the money for the 100k service I'd better have the mind set of keeping the car for at least another 12-24 months. Time to move on.
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
A Toyota with an engine failure at 180k, even though the car got regular oil changes at the dealership at 10k intervals. This car care guy blames the 10k oil change intervals promoted by Toyota, and says yet again to change your oil more frequently if you really want your engine to last. Customer decided to get a new/rebuilt engine, because four months ago new car prices were so high.
The cost of the new/rebuilt engine is about $6000.
But according to this guy, this all could have been avoided if he'd changed the oil twice as often. That would have cost about $1000 more than the 10k oil changes that he did. So obviously a savings of about $5k.
This again highlights how a $20k cost for batteries for a new EV is way more than even a new engine on a Toyota or Honda.
The correct oil change interval(OCI) depends on the engine, the oil, and the driving conditions. Blackstone advised me that I could go with a 10k mile OCI using Mobil 1 5W-30, but I used a 7.5k OCI so it would sync with the rest of the maintenance schedule. My son's 328i has only had 15k mile oil changes(using BMW 0W-30 synthetic) and is going strong at 140k miles- here's how it looked when we changed the valve cover gasket at 108k miles:
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
The latest service the Acura dealer tried to sell me on was a "new" $300 "chemical fuel system cleaning." I said no. But I'll ask them at some point if that will clean the intake valves, which might be getting carbon build up because of the direct injection.
Allow me to be the first to point out that "chemical fuel system cleaning" cannot possibly touch the intake valves on a direct injection engine. That is a physical impossibility. I won't go into an explanation, if you need one, read here:
When my 13 Accord approached the 100k mark, the dealership suggested not only changing the spark plugs, but changing the water pump, adjusting the valves as well as a transmission service. It was a costly service though I don't recall exactly how much. I had already had the cooling system serviced about a year before. Also, in the previous year I had replaced the brakes front and rear, alternator, T-belt and idler pulley and starter. I knew if I committed the money for the 100k service I'd better have the mind set of keeping the car for at least another 12-24 months. Time to move on.
The TLX is the first car that I've owned that seems just right for me. All the other cars I've driven in my 42 years of driving have had flaws of various kinds. It's so much better than my 2016 Accord. If I maintain it right, and (knock on wood) stay accident free, then I can imagine owning it for a long time. The 4-wheel steering, leather seats, ELS sound system, 8-speed dual clutch transmission, etc. make for a nice driving experience, whether to the grocery store or across the country. In fact, next summer I might take another big road trip. Here's another place on my bucket list....
Allow me to be the first to point out that "chemical fuel system cleaning" cannot possibly touch the intake valves on a direct injection engine. That is a physical impossibility. I won't go into an explanation, if you need one, read here:
When my 13 Accord approached the 100k mark, the dealership suggested not only changing the spark plugs, but changing the water pump, adjusting the valves as well as a transmission service. It was a costly service though I don't recall exactly how much. I had already had the cooling system serviced about a year before. Also, in the previous year I had replaced the brakes front and rear, alternator, T-belt and idler pulley and starter. I knew if I committed the money for the 100k service I'd better have the mind set of keeping the car for at least another 12-24 months. Time to move on.
I know that as my old vehicles get more milage I tend to get more neglectful towards upkeep. I never could justify a $2000 repair for a $1000 car. I guess I’ll never make 500,000 miles.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
The latest service the Acura dealer tried to sell me on was a "new" $300 "chemical fuel system cleaning." I said no. But I'll ask them at some point if that will clean the intake valves, which might be getting carbon build up because of the direct injection.
Allow me to be the first to point out that "chemical fuel system cleaning" cannot possibly touch the intake valves on a direct injection engine. That is a physical impossibility. I won't go into an explanation, if you need one, read here:
I remember when BMW first used DI engines and they recommended walnut blasting. I think the cost was something like $3k. While you might justify that cost on a high performance sports car, I can’t see me doing it on a cheap Kia Soul or similar low end car.
As least Ford got the right idea when they put both port and direct injection in the Mustang.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
When my 13 Accord approached the 100k mark, the dealership suggested not only changing the spark plugs, but changing the water pump, adjusting the valves as well as a transmission service. It was a costly service though I don't recall exactly how much. I had already had the cooling system serviced about a year before. Also, in the previous year I had replaced the brakes front and rear, alternator, T-belt and idler pulley and starter. I knew if I committed the money for the 100k service I'd better have the mind set of keeping the car for at least another 12-24 months. Time to move on.
The TLX is the first car that I've owned that seems just right for me. All the other cars I've driven in my 42 years of driving have had flaws of various kinds. It's so much better than my 2016 Accord. If I maintain it right, and (knock on wood) stay accident free, then I can imagine owning it for a long time. The 4-wheel steering, leather seats, ELS sound system, 8-speed dual clutch transmission, etc. make for a nice driving experience, whether to the grocery store or across the country. In fact, next summer I might take another big road trip. Here's another place on my bucket list....
The guy doing the engine teardown is a bit full of himself, in my humble opinion. He talks on and on about how oil analysis couldn't determine that the Toyota design on the piston rings OR the operating temperatures on those pistons which require a jet to spray oil on the backs to cool them OR some other component in the engineering had allowed the oil rings to gather crud which blocks them from flexing and operating correctly.
I suggest that Blackstone labs can determine if oil is breaking down in a way that can crud up the oil rings? He seems to think an oil analysis can't.
I noted that someone else on here had used Blackstone for oil life analysis. I was impressed with what they can determine.
Indeed, the lack of flex in the oil ring due to carbon buildup causes a gouge into the wall of the cylinder... all with the Toyota recommended 10,000 mile oil change WITH TOYOTA recommended oil. LOL
And folks made fun of GM for engineering their own oil requirements a decade or so ago called Dexos in order to meet all the needs for oil in their GM engines.
In case some haven't been around a long time, didn't the sludge, err I mean gel, problem in Toyota engines early on come from poor design in the cylinder heads leaving a hot, hot spot which "cooked" the oil as it went through that spot and couple that with a return hole that was smaller than it should have been led to blockages in that area leaving oil to "cook" there longer for deterioration to occur.
Before anyone again accuses me of being anti-Toyota, I recommended my son and DIL buy the Toyota he liked because of the engine, port and DI injection along with NO turbo on the 2.5 L engine.
I'm going to have to quiz our son about the oil change interval the Toyota store is using. I know the first 25K mi is all covered for maintenance.
The guy doing the engine teardown is a bit full of himself, in my humble opinion. He talks on and on about how oil analysis couldn't determine that the Toyota design on the piston rings OR the operating temperatures on those pistons which require a jet to spray oil on the backs to cool them OR some other component in the engineering had allowed the oil rings to gather crud which blocks them from flexing and operating. Indeed, the lack of flex causes a gouge into the wall of the cylinder... all with the Toyota recommended 10,000 mile oil change WITH TOYOTA recommended oil. LOL
And folks made fun of GM for engineering their own oil requirements a decade or so ago called Dexos in order to meet all the needs for oil in their GM engines.
I suggest that Blackstone labs can determine if oil is breaking down in a way that can crud up the oil rings? He seems to think an oil analysis can't.
I noted that someone else on here had used Blackstone for oil life analysis. I was impressed with what they can determine.
In case some haven't been around a long time, didn't the sludge, err I mean gel, problem in Toyota engines early on come from poor design in the cylinder heads leaving a hot, hot spot which "cooked" the oil as it went through that spot and couple that with a return hole that was smaller than it should have been led to blockages in that area leaving oil to "cook" there longer for deterioration to occur.
Before anyone again accuses me of being anti-Toyota, I recommended my son and DIL buy the Toyota he liked because of the engine, port and DI injection along with NO turbo on the 2.5 L engine.
I'm going to have to quiz him about the oil change interval the Toyota store is using. I know the first 25K mi is all covered for maintenance.
On our Tacoma V-6, it was a 10K interval for oil changes
Today's project. My wife recovered six chair cushions and I removed and resecured the cushions to the chair frames
. I also thoroughly cleaned the frames inside and out. It was much needed as the 20 yr old fabric on some of the chairs had seen better days. Top picture is the new fabric.
———————————————— Looks good but you should have just bought her a new dining room suite.
A Toyota with an engine failure at 180k, even though the car got regular oil changes at the dealership at 10k intervals. This car care guy blames the 10k oil change intervals promoted by Toyota, and says yet again to change your oil more frequently if you really want your engine to last. Customer decided to get a new/rebuilt engine, because four months ago new car prices were so high.
The cost of the new/rebuilt engine is about $6000.
But according to this guy, this all could have been avoided if he'd changed the oil twice as often. That would have cost about $1000 more than the 10k oil changes that he did. So obviously a savings of about $5k.
This again highlights how a $20k cost for batteries for a new EV is way more than even a new engine on a Toyota or Honda.
The correct oil change interval(OCI) depends on the engine, the oil, and the driving conditions. Blackstone advised me that I could go with a 10k mile OCI using Mobil 1 5W-30, but I used a 7.5k OCI so it would sync with the rest of the maintenance schedule. My son's 328i has only had 15k mile oil changes(using BMW 0W-30 synthetic) and is going strong at 140k miles- here's how it looked when we changed the valve cover gasket at 108k miles:
————————————————- When Mrs. j’s ‘05 XG 350 blew its engine in November of 2012 it had something around 42K miles IIRC. I was at the dealership when it was towed in. I opened the glove box and got out my now infamous oil change log sheet showing all of the oil changes that were done on that car and gave it to the Service Advisor. As the SA was looking at my log sheet the tech showed up and the SA said to him, “look at all the oil changes that car has had”. The tech glanced at my log and said, “that doesn’t surprise me because that engine is immaculate” (those were his exact words). I didn’t see the engine but it couldn’t have been any cleaner than your sons engine.
It’s almost amazing how clean an engine can be when you change the oil on time (and sooner in my case) with quality oil.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis Ultimate just like jmonroe's. '18 Legacy Limited with 3.6R (Mrs. j's)
A Toyota with an engine failure at 180k, even though the car got regular oil changes at the dealership at 10k intervals. This car care guy blames the 10k oil change intervals promoted by Toyota, and says yet again to change your oil more frequently if you really want your engine to last. Customer decided to get a new/rebuilt engine, because four months ago new car prices were so high.
The cost of the new/rebuilt engine is about $6000.
But according to this guy, this all could have been avoided if he'd changed the oil twice as often. That would have cost about $1000 more than the 10k oil changes that he did. So obviously a savings of about $5k.
This again highlights how a $20k cost for batteries for a new EV is way more than even a new engine on a Toyota or Honda.
The correct oil change interval(OCI) depends on the engine, the oil, and the driving conditions. Blackstone advised me that I could go with a 10k mile OCI using Mobil 1 5W-30, but I used a 7.5k OCI so it would sync with the rest of the maintenance schedule. My son's 328i has only had 15k mile oil changes(using BMW 0W-30 synthetic) and is going strong at 140k miles- here's how it looked when we changed the valve cover gasket at 108k miles:
————————————————- When Mrs. j’s ‘05 XG 350 blew its engine in November of 2012 it had something around 42K miles IIRC. I was at the dealership when it was towed in. I opened the glove box and got out my now infamous oil change log sheet showing all of the oil changes that were done on that car and gave it to the Service Advisor. As the SA was looking at my log sheet the tech showed up and the SA said to him, “look at all the oil changes that car has had”. The tech glanced at my log and said, “that doesn’t surprise me because that engine is immaculate” (those were his exact words). I didn’t see the engine but it couldn’t have been any cleaner than your sons engine.
It’s almost amazing how clean an engine can be when you change the oil on time (and sooner in my case) with quality oil.
jmonroe
I don’t remember the end result but didn’t Hyundai tell you to pound sand or did they help you in any way?
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
The guy doing the engine teardown is a bit full of himself, in my humble opinion. He talks on and on about how oil analysis couldn't determine that the Toyota design on the piston rings OR the operating temperatures on those pistons which require a jet to spray oil on the backs to cool them OR some other component in the engineering had allowed the oil rings to gather crud which blocks them from flexing and operating. Indeed, the lack of flex causes a gouge into the wall of the cylinder... all with the Toyota recommended 10,000 mile oil change WITH TOYOTA recommended oil. LOL
And folks made fun of GM for engineering their own oil requirements a decade or so ago called Dexos in order to meet all the needs for oil in their GM engines.
I suggest that Blackstone labs can determine if oil is breaking down in a way that can crud up the oil rings? He seems to think an oil analysis can't.
I noted that someone else on here had used Blackstone for oil life analysis. I was impressed with what they can determine.
In case some haven't been around a long time, didn't the sludge, err I mean gel, problem in Toyota engines early on come from poor design in the cylinder heads leaving a hot, hot spot which "cooked" the oil as it went through that spot and couple that with a return hole that was smaller than it should have been led to blockages in that area leaving oil to "cook" there longer for deterioration to occur.
Before anyone again accuses me of being anti-Toyota, I recommended my son and DIL buy the Toyota he liked because of the engine, port and DI injection along with NO turbo on the 2.5 L engine.
I'm going to have to quiz him about the oil change interval the Toyota store is using. I know the first 25K mi is all covered for maintenance.
On our Tacoma V-6, it was a 10K interval for oil changes
A lot of the early-mid 2000 engines had problems with oil cooking. The latest thing is problems with low tension piston rings causing oil consumption.
Kia recommends 3750 mile OCI. They know the quality of their motors.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
A Toyota with an engine failure at 180k, even though the car got regular oil changes at the dealership at 10k intervals. This car care guy blames the 10k oil change intervals promoted by Toyota, and says yet again to change your oil more frequently if you really want your engine to last. Customer decided to get a new/rebuilt engine, because four months ago new car prices were so high.
The cost of the new/rebuilt engine is about $6000.
But according to this guy, this all could have been avoided if he'd changed the oil twice as often. That would have cost about $1000 more than the 10k oil changes that he did. So obviously a savings of about $5k.
This again highlights how a $20k cost for batteries for a new EV is way more than even a new engine on a Toyota or Honda.
The correct oil change interval(OCI) depends on the engine, the oil, and the driving conditions. Blackstone advised me that I could go with a 10k mile OCI using Mobil 1 5W-30, but I used a 7.5k OCI so it would sync with the rest of the maintenance schedule. My son's 328i has only had 15k mile oil changes(using BMW 0W-30 synthetic) and is going strong at 140k miles- here's how it looked when we changed the valve cover gasket at 108k miles:
————————————————- When Mrs. j’s ‘05 XG 350 blew its engine in November of 2012 it had something around 42K miles IIRC. I was at the dealership when it was towed in. I opened the glove box and got out my now infamous oil change log sheet showing all of the oil changes that were done on that car and gave it to the Service Advisor. As the SA was looking at my log sheet the tech showed up and the SA said to him, “look at all the oil changes that car has had”. The tech glanced at my log and said, “that doesn’t surprise me because that engine is immaculate” (those were his exact words). I didn’t see the engine but it couldn’t have been any cleaner than your sons engine.
It’s almost amazing how clean an engine can be when you change the oil on time (and sooner in my case) with quality oil.
jmonroe
I don’t remember the end result but didn’t Hyundai tell you to pound sand or did they help you in any way?
———————————————— How could you forget? As clean as the engine was and this dealership doing the last oil change on that engine earlier that month, they bounced my claim saying there was a discrepancy with my log sheet. Even though I showed them where they made the mistake about the odometer reading when they did warranty work for a seat belt light about a year before the engine blew, they still refused to cover it via warranty.
I got a little satisfaction by killing some sales they could have made to a few fellow employees and an uncle that decided to buy elsewhere when they heard my story but that didn’t put 3 grand back in my pocket for the devalued car I sold with a blown engine.
I’m over it but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about it. I still rip them every chance I get.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis Ultimate just like jmonroe's. '18 Legacy Limited with 3.6R (Mrs. j's)
Long time no see, eh? Whew. I had to make up an interim username and a new password. This is a test post to see if I can post anew in here, and, if so, what my username might be.
Comments
My SIL did this for my niece with a picture she drew. Very cool concept.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
B> @oldfarmer50 said:
The power wasn’t the problem. Fuel economy standards and safety standards were. If Ford wanted to keep it rolling they would have had to give it a huge diet, install the latest safety gear, upgrade to a modern transmission among other things.
That investment to a lineup of cars that was 90% fleet sales by the end wasn’t going to turn any profits.
Keep in mind they never got stability control, backup cameras, blind spot monitors, automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise, Bluetooth, etc. The public wants that stuff.
If sedans still were selling maybe they could have done it. I could have seen the Crown Vic with one of the eco boost engines and then a beefed up 4.6 as an option. Maybe the Town Car would have gotten a 5.0 Coyote.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
One reason I haven't owned a Chevrolet truck since 2013, they keep pushing the 5.3L V8. Yes, they have made constant improvements, but they really need a new engine.
Today's project. My wife recovered six chair cushions and I removed and resecured the cushions to the chair frames
. I also thoroughly cleaned the frames inside and out. It was much needed as the 20 yr old fabric on some of the chairs had seen better days. Top picture is the new fabric.
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Looks good but you should have just bought her a new dining room suite.
jmonroe
'18 Legacy Limited with 3.6R (Mrs. j's)
Chairs look good. I redid similar chairs in our old home.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
2023 Hyundai Kona Limited AWD (wife) / 2015 Golf TSI (me) / 2019 Chevrolet Cruze Premier RS (daughter #1) / 2020 Hyundai Accent SE (daughter #2) / 2023 Subaru Impreza Base (son)
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
But Ab348, do see your point here and it'll most likely fall to me to "just do it"!
2023 Hyundai Kona Limited AWD (wife) / 2015 Golf TSI (me) / 2019 Chevrolet Cruze Premier RS (daughter #1) / 2020 Hyundai Accent SE (daughter #2) / 2023 Subaru Impreza Base (son)
Nothing wrong with the Chevy 5.3L except that cylinder deactivation cam chewing system.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Nice job on the chairs. Our old set needed new fabric (it was Dane decor danish mid century modern) but we sold it since the new house does not have a separate did room. We just took our nice Amish made 6 chair dinette set for the nook. Wood chairs, no cushions to worry about.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
You must be bald or close to it.
jmonroe
'18 Legacy Limited with 3.6R (Mrs. j's)
"This Lady Has Had 3 Toyotas That Each Went over 300,000 Miles
Dethra U. Giles’ current Avalon is closing in on a half million miles.
BY MARK VAUGHN, DEC 14, 2022
....Dethra U. Giles is a proud lifelong Toyota owner, starting with the 1985 Tercel her mother bought her new on her 16th birthday. That car went 350,000 miles before being donated to a worthy cause. It was followed by a 1999 Corolla, also bought new, that went a mere 300,000 miles before being donated to a charity. In 2007 she bought a new Avalon that she is still driving. When we spoke to her last week the Avalon odo read 496,242. What’s the secret? Dealer service, she said.
“Keeping up with the maintenance and taking it to the dealer,” she said. “Most of my life, people have laughed at me like, ‘I can’t believe you take your car to Toyota. It costs so much money to do that.’ I’m like, ‘Hold on, guys. My cars have consistently gotten over 200,000 miles. So you tell me, I’m doing something wrong, but you’re the one buying the car every five years.”
....“All of my cars have the original engine with no major overhauls. Like, I haven’t had to get the transmission changed, it’s the original engine. And I think that’s what really shocks people the most. ‘To get a car to that much mileage you just do all this engine rebuild,’ and I’m like, ‘Nope, this is everything original.” She’s going to hang on to the Avalon until it passes the 500,000-mile mark then get something else, probably another Toyota....
What advice does she have for those who want to get more miles from their cars?
“Spend the money to take care of your car. So many people do what I call ‘stepping over dollars to get two dimes.’ ‘I don’t need that maintenance right now.’ And they let it go further than the recommended mileage to take care of it. And you can’t figure out why you can’t get 150,000 miles out of a car? It is because you won’t pay for the maintenance. I say sacrifice a little bit now and pay for the maintenance over the long haul, it will be amazingly, financially rewarding.”
One time she was told a certain maintenance item would be $1000 and she balked.
“I was like, ‘$1,000?’ And my husband said, ‘Are you kidding me? You haven’t had a car payment in a decade!”
Doesn’t have to be the dealer doing it, but the concept is sound. Neglected maintenance kills a lot of cars before their time.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
I’d love to see the stack of receipts from that near 500k mile Avalon. Assuming a 5K mile oil change interval that’s $6000 right there at dealer prices.
Add in 10 transmission flushes - $2000
10 Coolant - $1500
10 Brake fluid - $1500
8 sets of tires - $8000
5 full brake jobs - $2500 (probably light on this one)
That’s $21,500 and nothing has broken yet.
Driving 30K+ miles a year isn’t cheap no matter how you slice it, but at what point does it make sense to stop putting money into a worthless car.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
If you buy a new one you still have the same maintenance costs but add lots of depreciation on top of that. $150/month repairs and depreciation to do 30k miles is pretty cheap. If you don’t mind driving that old a car!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
The latest service the Acura dealer tried to sell me on was a "new" $300 "chemical fuel system cleaning." I said no. But I'll ask them at some point if that will clean the intake valves, which might be getting carbon build up because of the direct injection.
This car care video guy says to give your Toyota a chance to get to 300k you should change your oil every 5k or 6 months. I've been following my Honda Maintenance Minder, which averages about 8k and 8 months. I feel fine with that interval for my Acura, but with the turbo on my wife's CR-V I'm thinking of changing the oil a bit more frequently. The MM light goes off at 15%, but after watching a few videos I decided to take her car in at 30% this time. But maybe that's a waste with full synthetic oil?
I get my tire rotations done at Costco, which is included with the price of the tires.
Even though I'm only at 64,000 miles, my Acura service advisor was already warning me that at 100k the service would probably be about $1500.
With the ongoing EV revolution, the EV enthusiasts talk about the cost savings. But if you're keeping a car long term, the likely $20k battery redo at 8-12 years is about double the cost of replacing a whole engine on a Honda on Acura. I haven't done the whole math on it, but it seems likely the $20k battery job at the roughly 8-12 year mark pretty much wipes out most if not all of your gas savings.
Doesnt the TLX have a timing chain? Only way a 100k service should be that much is it it needs a T belt service. Otherwise it’s mainly 4 spark plugs that are easy to change on that engine.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Just to waste time I could get out my owner's manual and see what it says about the 100k service.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
The cost of the new/rebuilt engine is about $6500 at this independent shop. I would imagine that a Toyota dealer the same work would be $10k or so.
But according to this guy, this all could have been avoided if he'd changed the oil twice as often. That would have cost about $1000 more than the 10k oil changes that he did. So obviously a savings of about $5k.
This again highlights how a $20k cost for batteries for a new EV is way more than even a new engine on a Toyota or Honda.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
My son's 328i has only had 15k mile oil changes(using BMW 0W-30 synthetic) and is going strong at 140k miles- here's how it looked when we changed the valve cover gasket at 108k miles:
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Mines JMonroe old man dark gray. And it was safely in Amsterdam.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
https://www.5250performance.com/blog/intake-valve-cleaning-on-your-direct-injection-high-performance-motor
https://www.nps.gov/deto/index.htm
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
As least Ford got the right idea when they put both port and direct injection in the Mustang.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
At my current rate of driving, I'd have to drive for 80 more years to hit 500K miles
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talks on and on about how oil analysis couldn't determine that the Toyota design on
the piston rings OR the operating temperatures on those pistons which require a jet
to spray oil on the backs to cool them OR some other component in the engineering
had allowed the oil rings to gather crud which blocks them from flexing and operating
correctly.
I suggest that Blackstone labs can determine if oil is breaking down in a way that
can crud up the oil rings? He seems to think an oil analysis can't.
I noted that someone else on here had used Blackstone for oil life analysis. I was
impressed with what they can determine.
Indeed, the lack of flex in the oil ring due to carbon buildup causes a gouge into the wall of the cylinder... all with the
Toyota recommended 10,000 mile oil change WITH TOYOTA recommended oil.
LOL
And folks made fun of GM for engineering their own oil requirements a decade or
so ago called Dexos in order to meet all the needs for oil in their GM engines.
In case some haven't been around a long time, didn't the sludge, err I mean gel,
problem in Toyota engines early on come from poor design in the cylinder heads
leaving a hot, hot spot which "cooked" the oil as it went through that spot and
couple that with a return hole that was smaller than it should have been led to blockages
in that area leaving oil to "cook" there longer for deterioration to occur.
Before anyone again accuses me of being anti-Toyota, I recommended my son and DIL
buy the Toyota he liked because of the engine, port and DI injection along with
NO turbo on the 2.5 L engine.
I'm going to have to quiz our son about the oil change interval the Toyota store is using.
I know the first 25K mi is all covered for maintenance.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
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Wife was fascinated by it.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2024 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX Prestige
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
When Mrs. j’s ‘05 XG 350 blew its engine in November of 2012 it had something around 42K miles IIRC. I was at the dealership when it was towed in. I opened the glove box and got out my now infamous oil change log sheet showing all of the oil changes that were done on that car and gave it to the Service Advisor. As the SA was looking at my log sheet the tech showed up and the SA said to him, “look at all the oil changes that car has had”. The tech glanced at my log and said, “that doesn’t surprise me because that engine is immaculate” (those were his exact words). I didn’t see the engine but it couldn’t have been any cleaner than your sons engine.
It’s almost amazing how clean an engine can be when you change the oil on time (and sooner in my case) with quality oil.
jmonroe
'18 Legacy Limited with 3.6R (Mrs. j's)
More proof that I’m not as silver-tongued as I should be.
jmonroe
'18 Legacy Limited with 3.6R (Mrs. j's)
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
Kia recommends 3750 mile OCI. They know the quality of their motors.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
How could you forget? As clean as the engine was and this dealership doing the last oil change on that engine earlier that month, they bounced my claim saying there was a discrepancy with my log sheet. Even though I showed them where they made the mistake about the odometer reading when they did warranty work for a seat belt light about a year before the engine blew, they still refused to cover it via warranty.
I got a little satisfaction by killing some sales they could have made to a few fellow employees and an uncle that decided to buy elsewhere when they heard my story but that didn’t put 3 grand back in my pocket for the devalued car I sold with a blown engine.
I’m over it but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about it. I still rip them every chance I get.
jmonroe
'18 Legacy Limited with 3.6R (Mrs. j's)
Here goes.