Newer engine longevity designs are in question in this video, is he right?

[Mainia]

I found this video, and I know of this guy, from time to time I watch his videos. I too have noticed why all these issue engines are having and why are they never fixed IE Hyundai/Kia and now GM comes to mind. One of the owners of the company where I work is on his 3rd long block in his suburban. He said he is expecting it's 4th will be coming. What hit me is when this You tuber brought up changing the tried and true oil pump location and drive mechanism geared from the crank

He brings up a conspiracy theory about this, I agree with him. I see Hyundai/KIa 's engine problems all being the same issue for the last 14 years. Most has been metallurgy choice. FIXED in one model year with a stroke of a pen with a more robust metallurgy choice and some slight design changes they know about . The exact same Hyundai/Kia "Global Engine Alliance" engine is used in Stalantis and Mitsubishi engines, and the only difference is metallurgy choice. From a very very small % of engines going bad to a very large % going bad on Hyundai/Kia's horrid choice of metallurgy mis-choice, going on for 14 years!!!!!! My hypothesis is top top level Hyundai executives have engine plants that "legally" embezzle money to the tune 100's millions. By Hyundai's own figures 5 years ago , they have spent 6 billion++ on engine warranties. I would think this is at the 10-12 billion level by now.



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[zeroptzero]

There has always been the conspiracy theory that cars are designed to self-destruct at a certain age - planned obsolescence. The bread and butter auto manufacturers surely don't expect their cars to last forever, certainly not more than 10 years. Some smaller car builders of the past took pride in their work and products, and just wanted to produce the best possible cars at any cost.

A lady I work with is on her 3rd Hyundai motor, it was covered under warranty but she was left on the side of a highway twice with a burning engine. I would not let my wife go through that more than once, that is just horrible IMO.

I have heard a few reports of engine blocks being porous in past years, like some Hondas. I never understood how a chunk of metal could be porous but I know nothing about metal, so somewhere down the line someone has cheaped out on materials and screwed over the customer to save a couple of bucks - low bid crap rules the automotive world.

 

[Jetronic]

I'm not convinced it's a conspiracy (rather convinced it's not) but it just makes business sense to have the first 2 owners have a largely problem free car, but have the third owner needing to replace it quickly.

Part of having a good new car market is that there must be a market for the used cars. That means the oldest vehicles need to go, to be replaced by less old. Wet belts are good for that, I guess timing belts were too until people figured it out. At least a dry belt can be easily inspected and with minimum care disaster can be avoided.

I'm a fan of having the oil pump below the crank, submerged in oil. a leak in the suction line of an oil pump at the crank means air gets sucked in, the suction pipe drains at every stop etc... it's not good. if the oil pump is submerged, that same leak on the high pressure side likely means nothing bad happens for a long time. But is it too much to ask to have that pump either gear or chain driven?

 

[Exhaustgases]

Its about cutting corners, cutting costs of manufacture, and plain bad engineering now, since engineers only know computers not dirty hands.

 

[Nessism1]

Engines are designed by humans, and we are not perfect. Mistakes are sometimes made.

 

[brages]

I'm not going to listen to a half an hour of rambling / rant.

There have been excellent engines and flawed engines throughout history. Some have been both. I replaced head gaskets on a 3.8 Essex... There have been guys ranting about how "cars these days are disposable" since before I began driving (long, LONG ago!)

Yet most of my "fleet" is currently is around or above 250k miles and they are all running great. IME, if you take care of your car, the engine won't "wear out" under normal household use. Either the car is retired due to a wreck, or you are ready to see it go because it's just "gotten old", but I'm not experiencing "worn out" engines. I have never owned a Korean car, though, lol.

 

[Kalle.J]

I'm not going to listen to a half an hour of rambling / rant.

There have been excellent engines and flawed engines throughout history. Some have been both. I replaced head gaskets on a 3.8 Essex... There have been guys ranting about how "cars these days are disposable" since before I began driving (long, LONG ago!)

Yet most of my "fleet" is currently is around or above 250k miles and they are all running great. IME, if you take care of your car, the engine won't "wear out" under normal household use. Either the car is retired due to a wreck, or you are ready to see it go because it's just "gotten old", but I'm not experiencing "worn out" engines. I have never owned a Korean car, though, lol.

He has some valid points about wet timing belts, remote oil pumps, nicasil coatings, excessive complexity and so on.
We could easily have more robustly constructed engines instead cleanest possible emissions.

Can't imagine this would be possible on one of todays cars 80 years in the future.
1940's Jeep revived with a new starter and a battery.

 

[XB_Fan]

He didn't ramble or rant in this video. It was well thought out and reasoned. I disagree with brages who didn't even watch the video.

 

[brages]

If you have enough thoughts to fill a half hour video, write it out in an article and I'll read it.

 

[BituminousCoal]

There have been mistakes since the beginning of time. However, anyone in business understands that, today, materials failure after some use/time is generally a deliberate choice. Perhaps not as precisely as the designers were intending, but, a deliberate choice nonetheless. This is reality, not a conspiracy theory, and it's true across most products oriented towards retail consumers.

 

[SC Maintenance]

He didn't ramble or rant in this video. It was well thought out and reasoned. I disagree with brages who didn't even watch the video.

Sorry, but I can't watch a 26 minute video of a guy sitting in a chair rambling on. At least put some bullet points up, or break it into sections. And yes, that is the exact definition of rambling. I mean were at 5:00 and he's still in the 1970's. What does that have to do with modern engine failures.

Having said that, I do love me a good conspiracy theory. Given how many engines from the 90's and early 2000's that last for virtually ever, you think it would be impossible to screw up. Yet here we are.

 

[SC Maintenance]

You have to look at some of these engines and really wonder what they were thinking. I am not talking about trying to do something new and modern - like electric water pump or whatever.

I am talking about things like engines with no cooling jackets between cylinders, and no cross drill either, then somehow there surprised when their head gasket with 1/4 inch or less material to seal a high pressure combustion chamber blows out prematurely. Any idiot could look at that design and easily figure out its not going to last.

 

[nascarnation]

Designers are definitely adding complexity to achieve better fuel economy and lower emissions.
More complexity generally means more failure modes and longer time to evolve durability.

Also there was a fairly recent time period when it was thought that gas engines were going away in favor of battery electric.
Vehicle companies downsized their manufacturing and engineering departments involved in gas/diesel engines and transmissions in favor of folks working on batteries and motors. A lot of long term experience was retired or otherwise let go. This happened at my previous employer and you can see it biting them in the @ss right now with lots of problems on the engine and transmission side.

 

[PWMDMD]

Engines are designed by humans, and we are not perfect. Mistakes are sometimes made.

I don't think the point is about humans making mistakes - it's about humans repeating the mistake for 14 years.

 

[zzyzzx]

Its about cutting corners, cutting costs of manufacture, and plain bad engineering now, since engineers only know computers not dirty hands.

I blame H1-B "engineers". I bet most of them never even owned a car before they came to the US and don't understand the ramifications of their questionable engine designs.

 

[Cujet]

There has always been the conspiracy theory that cars are designed to self-destruct at a certain age - planned obsolescence.

It's not just a theory, they are absolutely designed to deteriorate. My plane was built in 1971. Repainted in 1981. Sure, I've spent time overhauling mechanical parts but the structure is unmolested. Cars rot away, the metals, the plastics, the rubber, the wiring.

I have a 2017 Jaguar F-Type. The plastic was cracking when I purchased it 4 years ago. The gas cap rotted away, the headlights attachment tabs decided to evaporate, the parts inside the door failed. All known problems. Even the shock bushings revert to their native state of dust within a few years. My 2009 F150, while a beautiful truck, had the exact same set of problems. Every plastic electrical connector lock tab rotted off under the hood. And on and on.

 

[carviewsonic]

My sister called me last night, she’s looking for her next vehicle, and asked about a low mileage 2020 Fusion with the 1.5 EB.
I said forget it, head gasket and turbo failures are common with that engine.
If she finds a Fusion with the NA 2.5, it would be worth checking out. Old tech rules in this case.

 

[carviewsonic]

(Accidentally posted twice)