engine mods= shorter car life?

aznball3r · 09-18-2006, 08:36 PM

hey whats up guys and gals,
yesterday I got into a heated debate with my uncle who is a car mechanic about how engine mods do not shorten the life of the car. my question to you guys is, is it true?? have any of you guys heard of anything like this? thanks all!

hoOnzABPtsX · 09-18-2006, 08:39 PM

I, personally, do not think its true. I think its really how the owner treats his car than mods doing damage to it

pizzaman555 · 09-18-2006, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hoOnzABPtsX

I, personally, do not think its true. I think its really how the owner treats his car than mods doing damage to it

I agree its the how you treat your car that matters.

hunterk1 · 09-18-2006, 10:20 PM

I would say it's both.

How you drive and care for your car - peak revs, frequency of your trips to redline, oil & other fluid change frequency, etc, all clearly factor into longevity.

However, a bearing will wear more quickly if it is under a higher load. I would expect that most motors in stock configuration, being made of an iron alloy, do not have a fatigue limit - this means that theoretically they last for infinite cycles at the prescribed load. Increase the load (enough mods could do this) and you could come to a point at which the engine has a fatigue limit.

The question I would ask to the above statement would be, “How many mods would be too much?”, i.e. how many would you have to make to significantly impact the engine? Many of the common ones (CAI, exhaust, even Hondata) don’t significantly impact overall power (so they probably don’t cause problems on their own), but they do encourage the driver to rev higher, because the reward is greater.

Tsx536 · 09-18-2006, 10:31 PM

I don't think mods will necessarily directly put more wear on the engine, but having mods encourages many to push the car to the limits more. In the end this ends up putting more wear on the engine. If you mod and don't drive the car hard, then I don't think there would be more wear on the engine in most cases.

afici0nad0 · 09-19-2006, 12:01 AM

maybe if it's a significant mod that was not installed/planned properly (i.e. custom turbo w/o a proper fuel mgmt system)?

Noel · 09-19-2006, 12:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hunterk1

I would say it's both.

How you drive and care for your car - peak revs, frequency of your trips to redline, oil & other fluid change frequency, etc, all clearly factor into longevity.

However, a bearing will wear more quickly if it is under a higher load. I would expect that most motors in stock configuration, being made of an iron alloy, do not have a fatigue limit - this means that theoretically they last for infinite cycles at the prescribed load. Increase the load (enough mods could do this) and you could come to a point at which the engine has a fatigue limit.

The question I would ask to the above statement would be, “How many mods would be too much?”, i.e. how many would you have to make to significantly impact the engine? Many of the common ones (CAI, exhaust, even Hondata) don’t significantly impact overall power (so they probably don’t cause problems on their own), but they do encourage the driver to rev higher, because the reward is greater.

Excellent response ... You have my full support.

narci · 09-19-2006, 10:13 AM

One thing that I noticed is that once you lower a car. After a few years, the suspension starts to deteriorate. I've lowered my last 2 cars and each time after a few years, everytime I go over a bump it feels like the spring is slapping agaist the shock perch. And yes, I got sports shocks each time with sport springs.

ians · 09-19-2006, 10:53 AM

Hm... I was taught that every rotation engine (motor, internal combustion) actually work better on high rev than low rev. When it operate under low rev more fatique will build up then in high rev. So all the robotics servo motor is way less lifespan than regular high speed motor. Well then the heat under high rev may also contribute a lot more in auto engine than in electric motor. So I dun think proper high revving (especially on Honda engine) will cause seriously reduce engine life span.

mrgold35 · 09-19-2006, 12:11 PM

Mods don’t kill cars, people do.

Why would any one want to mod a car and not expand its driving characteristics and/or longevity? No one would add a mod to make the car accelerate slower, drive/handle worst or get lower gas mileage. The damage is done when we push the car past its normal driving envelop it was designed for. I don’t think mod TSXs have any more problems compared to non-mod owners (for those who take the proper care of their cars).