00 Camry 5SFE w/ Valve Cover Off

[SMB]

Here is my friend's 2000 Toyota Camry 5SFE I4 with valve cover off.

Currently has 286,000 miles. Owned since 2005 with 130,000 miles. Used various oils over the years. From dino to semi synthetic to synthetic. Current fill is MaxLife NextGen 5W30.

Link below is to a UOA:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...846#Post2881846

The flash from my cell phone makes the engine look nicer than real life but overall not bad. We are trying to reach 350,000 miles before we retire it!

 

[HTSS_TR]

Engine looks decent for almost 300k miles, just a light/medium vanish without sludge. With any high mileage oil this engine will lasted another 100k miles.

 

[Turk]

Yep, we have the 1997 flavor with 185,000 miles & should make it way up there as well!

 

[Chris Meutsch]

Looks fine.
I find it funny that I think a car is now "old" when I see plug wires...

 

[ottotheclown]

Varnish is hard to avoid even with synthetic and at that mileage. Not too bad looks good to go wear wise.

 

[Mr Nice]

Looks very good for the amount of miles.

Has the transmission every been rebuilt ?

 

[SMB]

Quote:
Has the transmission every been rebuilt ?


Never been rebuilt as far as I know.

 

[SMB]

Thank you all for your comments.

Also today I'll be changing the valve cover for my friend's E46 BMW @ 200,000 miles. Pictures will be posted as well.

 

[edwardh1]

what caused cars to last longer?
what changed?
the GM 60s cars "were ready for an overhaul" at 100,000.
the japanese sure raised the bar on engine life.
but what changed?
design?
materials?
the oil?

 

[Turk]

Kaisen. DMAIC. Process Excellence.

 

[ddtmoto]

Fuel injection and the lack of fuel dilution of crankcase oil makes a huge difference for oil/engine life from the day of carbs...

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: ddtmoto
Fuel injection and the lack of fuel dilution of crankcase oil makes a huge difference for oil/engine life from the day of carbs...


Yup. The Windsor, which was relatively unchanged since the 60's, got injection in the mid 80's. It wasn't uncommon for them to go 300+ thousand miles in injected form (and a roller stick in the valley) with relative ease.

 

[andyd]

Probably all of the above. Fuel dilution,especially.

 

[REDDOG]

I agree about fuel dilution, and the oils ability to handle it. I think we will see a slight backslide in long term engine durability with some of the new DI designs.

 

[caprice_2nv]

I'm wondering how much fuel dilution really is an issue with a well tuned carb. I used to worry constantly about it, and never went past 3k miles no matter how much highway driving I did or how clean the oil looked, but I'm finally pushing my 305 with a quadrajet carb (pretty well tuned - never stalls, or floods or runs rough really almost ever) to 6-7k miles before changing it and it still looks not too bad at that point. I see lots of EFI cars getting dirty faster than that. Maybe beyond a certain length of driving, any amount of fuel dilution that occurred the first minute or so of running with the choke on, is already burnt off?

 

[caprice_2nv]

I wouldn't say they were all "ready for an overhaul at 100k miles", I'm younger than that but my friend has been a mechanic since the 70's and he says that wasn't really the case. Many performance oriented cars had 3 speed or 4 speed transmissions with 1:1 top gear and say a 3.50:1 axle ratio, which means cruising along at highway speeds at more than 3000rpm. That and leaded gas, inferior motor oil, possible lack of maintenance, etc.

I wouldn't say the Japanese raised the bar. They weren't becoming popular until at least the late 70's at which point GM's and other domestics were able to go 300k miles. At least I know of a lot of them that did.

The Honda Civic got popular in the mid 70's. I read all about it in my Big Book of Lemons "The world's worst cars". Yes the first Honda Civic was a lemon. GASP!

 

[cchase]

Originally Posted By: edwardh1
what caused cars to last longer?
what changed?
the GM 60s cars "were ready for an overhaul" at 100,000.
the japanese sure raised the bar on engine life.
but what changed?
design?
materials?
the oil?


The oil certainly has improved.
Fuel metering is a lot more precise.
Most engines mechanically were not "tired" at 100k, it was the rest of the car that was dead by that point. Certainly the tune up items would have been replaced.