Direct injections effects on police and service vehicle engines
- Thread starter Rhill
- Start date
The 5.3L in a police Tahoe has been DI for 10 years now.
While there is a lot of idle time on them, Im sure most of them get run pretty hard on the way to calls. And they're always on and keeping the oil warm. Not much chance for condensation to be sucked through the PCV
They usually beat the rest of the car to death before the engines die. Our current Fords have transmission/AWD issues, the Chargers ate camshafts from idling. Neither the fault of DI.
Last edited:
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
DI engines like hard use. Yes, they are idling, but they are also under full throttle a lot.
And newer is? 10-15yrs?
I’m sure carburetors ruined more engines than direct injection ever will.
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I don't see police cruisers sitting idle like when I was growing up or how the movies portray law enforcement to spend their shift. Maybe it's just the location I live in now, the cruisers here are driven hard here I would think there's not much junk loading up the engines.
Pre-02 sensor many a carb engine ran leaner than EFI with 02. The 02 was a narrow band until recently so you had to stay around stoich.
The Ford PIUV I drove last was clean as your grandma's china. Beat that thing like it owed me money too often for anything to get dirty inside.
And many ran way too rich for way to long.
I'd love to know the 'top 5 bad things' a carbureted engine did compared to direct injection.
That's really cool guys. Thanks for the thoughts on it
Honestly I've been thinking about our local first responders (police being the most severe use) and the potential benefits of oil and fluid analysis.
Maintainance and projected failures may be so deep rooted in the budget that it might not be of any Interest to them.
I have a handful of officers on the force that I admire and thought of doing some pro Bono samples to see if the process could be a benefit to them.
Honestly I've been thinking about our local first responders (police being the most severe use) and the potential benefits of oil and fluid analysis.
Maintainance and projected failures may be so deep rooted in the budget that it might not be of any Interest to them.
I have a handful of officers on the force that I admire and thought of doing some pro Bono samples to see if the process could be a benefit to them.
About 15 yrs ago I was in our DPW garage and noted that the only oil barrels they had were 15W40 diesel. This was at the time they were running mostly Crown vics with the 4.6L ? V8 which I believe was specd for 0W20 ? They also has a few Tahoes with the 5.3L. I asked what oil they used in the gas engines and was told they use the one oil in everything. I asked them why and was told its just easier for stocking that way, mind you they had a person who's sole responsibility was to order and stock supplies for a 3 bay shop. When I commented that I thought that was a bad choice the reply was that most get traded out short of 100k and any issues that might come up with using an out of spec oil would not happen before that.
I did an experiment some years back on a few of our cruisers, which get OCs @ 3K regardless. 3 UOAs from Blackstone (I know, I know) showed nothing alarming. Wear metals were pretty low considering use. Vehicles were a 2010 Charger 5.7, 2015 Chevy Caprice PPV 6.0, and a 2015 Chevy Tahoe PPV 5.3 Ecotec. All were using drummed 5W-30 with a Havoline label on it and filters were Microgards from O'Reilly's. All did a lot of idling punctuated with fits of angry response driving. The Charger was post rebuild in 2014 due to oil pump producing insufficient pressure at idle/followed by WOT runs, taking out the right side of the engine. Visc. and fuel dilution numbers were all good too. Other non-engine related stuff eventually took these vehicles out of service.
Why would the out of spec. oil [HDEO 15W-40] damage an engine it the cold start temps weren't an issue?
That's really interesting, and I appreciate the responses from officers here.
Yep....that was my thought as well.....there probably isn't much of a case for cost saving in the short term.....only in the long term, IF these cars were kept for much longer than 100k.
And given what they're asked to do on occasion, I don't think having officers patrol in mega high mileage cars is a great move.
Yep....that was my thought as well.....there probably isn't much of a case for cost saving in the short term.....only in the long term, IF these cars were kept for much longer than 100k.
And given what they're asked to do on occasion, I don't think having officers patrol in mega high mileage cars is a great move.
Years ago in Henrico county(Richmond) the cruisers were run around the clock. When one shift ended another team jumped in and did their shift. The cars got so bad that the cops wouldn't chase anybody in them. The county changed their policy to allow the car to go home with the officer. I was told all this by a State Trooper who was giving me a ticket for speeding on the DC beltway. It was a 64 Bug and I was running it wide open and was probably doing 70. I had been drinking but he wasn't concerned about that. I was sitting in his cruiser about to poop myself in fear. Shows you how things have changed.
An old bug could even do 70? I was stuck behind one merging onto the highway last week. Not only did it stink but holy cow, I thought I was going to have to dip into my retirement savings by the time we were doing highway speeds.
On topic, I think DI is not going to be an issue in cop cars. I think they are more likely to go out of service due to body damage or transmission failures than engine issues caused by DI. I do think hybrids would make good cop cars though, although that's a different topic.
Have a float that sticks and floods the crankcase with fuel....
I hear Quadrajets are hated with a passion but I never had the pleasure.
