I found some interesting engine tear down videos

[TJ Hopland]

Along the same lines but not from this guy I have recently seen some videos explaining other 'modern features' we get to deal with now.  One of them is oil pumps are designed to just barely have enough flow and pressure for a new engine.  If they designed them to have a little reserve capacity that would cause extra drag.  Same deal with 'wet belts' which are belts in places where they are fully exposed to engine oil. 

The fuel economy savings to the end user are tiny, based on one guys math less than $20 savings per year but if you are say a large manufacturer selling 10's of thousands of units this adds up and counts to your average.  So what if the engine won't make it to 100k and its too complicated to repair so you have to throw the whole car away..... what are you going to do buy a whole new car?   Oh wait...... 

[James Landi]

The definition of "durable goods" :"goods not for immediate consumption and able to be kept for a period of time."

"  So what if the engine won't make it to 100k and it's too complicated to repair so you have to throw the whole car away..... what are you going to do buy a whole new car?   Oh wait...... " T.J,  All great points...

Percentage of folks buying new cars is low...  about 5.3% of the population ; the majority of Americans keep their cars for 8 years. Planned Obsolescence is part of the manufacturer's design. One man's observation --- Cars produced before the dawn of highly advanced technology being added to cars are less likely to wind up in the junk yard because they are "mechanically totalled."   

[TJ Hopland]

Active oil pump management also seems to be a somewhat common thing.  The common implementation looks to be a variable displacement setup.  I can't tell if the control is some sort of servo or if its a valve and it uses the oil pressure to act on the pump and do its thing. 

I can only assume that this again is all to reduce the load the pump is putting on things.  A typical spring regulator is just wasting the energy that it took to produce that volume/pressure that now just get bypassed so making it active they can just adjust the pump so its just generating what is required.

I wonder if engines with the variable cam timing and cylinder deactivation need a lot more oil when those systems are doing their thing?  I wouldn't think so but if they did I suppose it could be handy to ramp up the pump power before you activate that stuff and consume some oil?   

I have seen some signs that some engines have active management of their 'piston squirters' so that too could be a place where maybe you crank up the power before you turn those on.  Those are little nozzles that squirt oil on the bottom of the pistons for additional cooling and would certainly 'consume' a decent volume of oil.   All the above systems used to be only found on a few specific engines but I think now days are all pretty standard even on an 'econo box'.

I wonder how reliable these management systems are?  And what are the failure modes?  Assuming a mechanical failure you would hope they fail to full power?  What if its electrical?  What if its the oil pressure switch and the computer thinks pressure is too high?

All this stuff is kinda neat and I'm sure there are people that are more than happy to pay to have something that may be expensive to maintain and may not be that reliable just for the tiny gains or bragging rights but all these complexities are also on your basic transport models too.   I'd really like to see the big picture numbers that prove we are at a net gain.  It sure seems like the little we are saving in the economy/emissions front are likely being over done by the higher failure rates sending the whole car to scrap and needed to be replaced sooner.       

[TJ Hopland]

Anyone else got these videos on their regular watch list?  The more I see the less difference I see in all the brands, they all appear to be over complex junk no matter if its a econo box or hipo luxury.

Seen the latest one?   Seems like a great idea to put the waterpump inside the timing cover and drive it with the chain.  I'm sure its got to be a cost thing but maybe if they took out some of the other stupid 'gas saving' features they could afford to maybe make a common wear item actually not take out the whole engine and even maybe be serviceable for less than the value of a 5 year old car.   

[James Landi]

Hello,

In response to TJ, YouTube "teardown" videos are engaging and highly informative... Fascinating Cadillac engine teardown follows:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxFFTHbJQ7Y

[TJ Hopland]

Seen a couple repair videos of GM engines and it seems like the water pump being under the timing cover and chain driven is pretty common.  And no it doesn't seem like they figured out how to build a better water pump.  Guess the don't figure they need a better pump since sometimes they last about as long as the chains and chain guides.   

[tcom2027]

[quote author=smokuspollutus link=msg=554513 date=1709576497


One example of this is the Northstar equipped Cadillacs of the late 90s and 2000s. These cars have a pressure sensor in the transmission that is supposed to control something with the converter lockup. It's also a marginally made part that's now 15-20+ years old, so they fail regularly. Of course converter lockup has to do with fuel economy, so it's monitored and turns on the check engine light. So if you want to register the car in a smog state, you need to fix it. Replacing this sensor involves dropping the whole powerplant and basically rebuilding the transmission.

It's a switch that locks and unlocks the torque converter. Unlocked is like a mini  overdrive. It saves fuel. Locked on doesn't do much except drop the milage a little. My Eldo dropped from around 21. highway  17 city to around  20 highway  15.5 in town burning California gas. If the switch sticks off it' like a stick shift starting in third gear. You have to get the switch replaced but that condition is rare for some reason.
 
You do not have to R&R the trans and replace the torque converter, much less overhaul the transmission. All it needs is the $35 switch. I have had the switch replaced at 69K miles in my 2002 Eldo and once in our 2001 Deville at around 124K. And yes... I have copies of the ROs. It's about a four hour job working pretty much blind in in very tight quarters. LAbor rate in the shop that did the work is $168/hr, but worth every penny for that repair.THe switches are avaiable from Cadillac along with Autozone, O'Reilly's, etc, and have lifetime warranties except the OEMS. .   [/quote]

tony

[TJ Hopland]

Interesting, I had not heard about that.   I do remember early in the lockup days (early 80's) the solenoids that controlled the locking converters would stick on so you would stall at stoplights.  When the engine stalled pressure dropped and it would unlock.  Back then that circuit wasn't monitored so you could just unplug it. 

[tcom2027]

That's exactly what happens. Years ago I bought a beautiful four year old white 85 Seville from a friend who had that problem, stalling under power from a stop.  except it only happened when the car had been driven and was at full operating temperature.. His wife hated it. He had it tuned, the throttle body overhauled, transmission oil and filter changed, and a ton of electrical trouble shooting done. FInally the dealer where he bought it said he needed a new torque converter or possibly a recon transmission. He said no way and offered it to me. I got it for next to nothing.

I took the car to a local shop that had overhauled a '41 hydro for an AACA club member I knew and specialized in GM hydros. Mechanic offered to drive it home and see how it acted. Sure, no problem. I got as call the following afternoon to come and get the car, it's fixed. Cost around $100 IIRC. I drove it (slowly, particularly when we moved to mountainous country) for about six years thereafter with no problems.

tony