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Say I’m planning on going on a road trip with my car that has over 150,000 miles on it. If I take it to a trusty mechanic, how good can he evaluate the state of my engine?
Back in the day I was a bit more interested in cars so if my memory serves me right, measuring cylinder compression and oil pressure is a good start.
What about replacing crankshaft bearings for the sake of replacing them?
If I’m not mistaken, the sound of crankshaft bearings rattling is one of the sounds nobody wants to hear while driving because it usually means engine overhaul + a new crankshaft.
What about head gasket, is it only changed when engine critically overheats or do people change it for service intervals?
Correct me if I’m wrong – cylinder compression test, oil pressure test, new water pump/cable change (very cheap for my car), new plugs and leads and new filter set should do the trick?
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[quote=”tm45″ post=86295]Say I’m planning on going on a road trip with my car that has over 150,000 miles on it. If I take it to a trusty mechanic, how good can he evaluate the state of my engine?
Back in the day I was a bit more interested in cars so if my memory serves me right, measuring cylinder compression and oil pressure is a good start.
What about replacing crankshaft bearings for the sake of replacing them?
If I’m not mistaken, the sound of crankshaft bearings rattling is one of the sounds nobody wants to hear while driving because it usually means engine overhaul + a new crankshaft.
What about head gasket, is it only changed when engine critically overheats or do people change it for service intervals?
Correct me if I’m wrong – cylinder compression test, oil pressure test, new water pump/cable change (very cheap for my car), new plugs and leads and new filter set should do the trick?[/quote]
I would only consider replacing crankshaft bearing if I was having an oil pressure issue and if you go this far, you might as well re-ring/rebuild the engine.
The head gasket does not have a service interval… Some engines can last a lifetime on an original Head gasket (depending on the engine and how well it was cared for).
A leak down test can give you a little bit better idea of the health of the rings and valves. But a compression test does give a good idea and the oil pressure test is a good thing to know…
Also a good check is to look for oil smoke upon cold startup of the car to check if the valve guides are worn…
The water pump should not be changed unless it is bad or if you are putting a new timing belt on… I don’t know what engine you are talking about, but a timing belt should be changed at recommended intervals along with the tensioner, pulleys and as stated, the water pump… Along with this, the coolant should be changed between 40-60k depending on your manufacturer…. Every two years if you have DEXCOOL (regardless of air exposure IMHO, 5 years or 150k is BS)….
Also, don’t forget to replace the serpentine at the proper interval….
-Karl
One thing that gets ignored on older cars is the cooling system. If at 150,000 mile you are still running the original hoses they may be due for changing. Also radiator caps and thermostat don’t last forever. How does the radiator look. Maybe you should have the system pressure tested. I pressure tested by Subaru the other day at 55,000 miles and found a leak.
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