Do engines get fatigue wear?

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Sep 18, 2022
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I have a 1997 Chevy K1500 with the 5.7 vortec engine. It has 371000 miles on it but still runs perfect. If compression and oil pressure are good, should one still avoid hard driving/red lining this engine simple due to the fact it has so many miles? In my mind it seems like this engine would be more likely to throw a rod or suffer catastrophic failure, is this accurate?
 
I would probably take it a little easy on the engine but I wouldn't be afraid to redline it either. If it's going to blow it's going to blow. Just make sure it is fully warmed up before you beat it like a rented mule. Best to take it easy unless you are pulling something. I don't beat the crap out of my vehicles and any engine could blow even a low mileage engine.
 
Stuff like the exhaust manifold or its attaching hardware might finally crack. The advice to warm it up slowly is good. Honestly thermal expansion also affects intake manifold and head gaskets.

You should take it to 80% of redline at 80% of throttle once in a while, keeps the carbon out, the rings from sticking and keeps you from getting a "ridge" at the top of the cylinder bores.
 
Different materials fatigue differently. I believe aluminum does have a fatigue life but the rate of fatigue will be highly dependent on use and design. I’m not sure if there are many aluminum parts carrying heavy fatigue loads in that 5.7? I think I’d be inclined to just drive it like I want to drive it.
 
Different materials fatigue differently. I believe aluminum does have a fatigue life but the rate of fatigue will be highly dependent on use and design. I’m not sure if there are many aluminum parts carrying heavy fatigue loads in that 5.7? I think I’d be inclined to just drive it like I want to drive it.

Lower intake manifold is aluminum, the rest of the engine is cast iron.
 
I thought those connecting rods were powdered metal?

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Not aluminum anyways… :ROFLMAO:

Now that I think more about it, the pistons are hypereutectic aluminum as well.
 
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My guess is that all rotating engine parts are designed not to flex enough(in normal use) to really have a fatigue life, they are usually used below the fatigue limit, so the number of stress cycles is irrelevant.
Now say if you have a bearing with too much wear and things start banging around or flexing, then things could start getting stressed above the fatigue limit and then the number of cycles and forces starts to matter before something breaks.
I would think even valve springs are usually designed to not exceed their fatigue limit, so in theory they could go forever too? Throw in too high a lift cam, then the stock springs could be used over the fatigue limit and break after X cycles.
All this assumes nearly perfect parts, so if one con rod has some impurity inclusions, that one may be fatiguing, but with so many miles on it, probably one of those would of failed already.
So probably its a good idea to stress an engine significantly while its under warranty to find any defects like this, and then out of warranty, be a bit more gentle.
 
If the engine is actually made of mostly steel, fatigue is not an issue. Aluminum will fracture due to loading cycles, but steel doesn’t if you keep the loads low enough.

“Iron, particularly steel, has a fatigue limit (endurance limit) below which it can theoretically withstand an infinite number of cycles, while aluminum generally does not have a clear fatigue limit and will eventually fail under repeated stress, even at low levels”
 
IMO If anything is going to fail due to fatigue, with massive miles, it would be a connecting rod,

I would think valve springs. And as someone commented earlier, exhaust header bolts can break. Not sure if that sort of failure qualifies as fatigue, though.
 
Early 90's I paid way too much $ for a couple of books direct from MOPAR Performance. I clearly remember one talking about if you were building a high performance engine from scratch; try and find a block from a police car or taxi as they had been seasoned / cycled 5-10 times more the average engine. Mind you they were just talking about the block and heads [subject to machining and inspection] and assumed the other 80% of the engine would be new/rebuilt.
 
Doesn't matter how you drive it (within reason) when it's time to go- it will go. I've babied vehicles and they still fail. The only saving grace is a slow failure (oil burner) vs catrastrphic.
 
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