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Spring is Here! Is Your Car Ready?

March 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Spring is here and for many Americans that means the time is now to either spend a Saturday morning with your car or to take it into the shop to have proper annual maintenance performed.

I’ll go ahead and confess that I use long life fluids wherever possible in my vehicles. Because of that, my maintenance intervals might be different than yours. However, the general principles of the article will remain the same even if the maintenance intervals you need to follow are different than the ones that we follow.

Oil is something that should be checked continually in every vehicle. I typically checked my oil every 5 to 10 days to make sure that my engine is properly lubricated. Since I use long life Amsoil in all my vehicles, I typically change my oil in the spring. Amsoil makes 15,000, 25,000, and 35,000 mile oil and oil filters. In my Camry, I use the 15,000 mile oil filter which was recently improved by Amsoil. There are some other great synthetic oils and filters on the market that offer anywhere from 5,000 to 15,000 mile oil change intervals and spring is a great time to change your oil if you use such an oil but never have to change based on mileage.

Coolant is also incredibly important. We sell used engines and as such are very familiar with common points of failure in the engines. I’ll share a secret with you: very few engine failures are actually caused by engines. Over 50% of engine failures are caused by a failure at some point in the vehicles cooling system. Coolant is corrosive over time and should be changed after a complete cooling system flush. I have mine flushed annually. It is my experience that even the long life coolants should be changed frequently, especially in older vehicles that have a higher likelihood of some type of break in the system. It doesn’t take much oxygen in the cooling system to rapidly accelerate corrosion damage everything from water pumps to various seals in the engine.

Go ahead and have your tires rotated and balanced and have a good shop check out your alignment. There are two secrets to saving money on your tire rotation and balancing and on your alignment. The first is to purchase your tires from the shop that will sell you an agreement to do so as long as you own the tires. Such an agreement lets you take your vehicle to the shop at a predetermined mileage interval for a “free” balance and rotation. The second secret is to find a shop to perform the alignment which will sell you a lifetime alignment agreement. With such an agreement you can take your vehicle in for a “free” alignment if the vehicle goes out of alignment. This typically will cost what two separately purchased alignments would run. If you keep your vehicles for a long time and buy this early in your relationship with your car, a lifetime alignment agreement can save you a lot of money.

The last specific thing that I’ll recommend for spring maintenance is a good transmission flush. Transmissions today run incredibly hot. Heat is an enemy to fluid and mechanical parts of all kinds. I personally recommend changing your transmission fluid once a year or every 25,000 miles, whichever comes first. Make sure that your mechanic either replaces or cleans your transmissions filter.

I’ll close by asking you to consider the cost of preventative maintenance over preparing catastrophic failures. Several years ago, AutoZone did a study in which they found that lack of preventative maintenance caused Americans to spend five times as much money on repairs as they would have spent following a good preventive maintenance program for their vehicles. Every spring, either look over my vehicle thoroughly myself or have a good mechanic look at over to see what needs to be done. This is how I drive 200,000 mile plus vehicles without worry. Damaged parts damage good parts, so a good preventative maintenance program allows you to drive with confidence and keep your repair costs low.

Good luck in your spring driving! We hope your season is trouble-free and enjoyable. As always, if you need an engine for your car or truck, please feel free to call us at 800-709-9233. We are here to help!

 

 

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A Guide to Maintaining Your Cooling System

August 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

There is one thing I recommend to each customer who purchases a used engine from us: that they thoroughly inspect the cooling system on their vehicle and replace anything in that system that isn’t functioning perfectly. An engine in a vehicle with a failed or failing cooling system has about as much chance of surviving as a fish dropped in the sand in the middle of a desert. Don’t believe me? More than 50% of engine failures are caused because of a malfunctioning cooling system. Not high miles, not no oil – just getting too hot.

Your engine puts out a tremendous amount of heat by design. Part of this is so it can burn up pollutants and meet the requirements the EPA has put on the automakers, ans so you can pass your vehicle inspection, and part of this is because of the thermal dynamics of power transfer: most of the energy an engine produces is lost to heat.

Most people nod their heads when I preach on this, but if you’re not a gear head or a mechanic, you may not know what to you need to do. That’s what this specific blog is about. Read on, learn, and do.

The most neglected fluid in a vehicle is the coolant. It is nasty stuff – corrosive and poisonous. I once forgot to clean off a screwdriver that had come in contact with coolant, and a few hours later, it was pitted and rusty. Brand new coolant contains an “organic corrosion inhibitor” that is supposed to keep it from eating the insides of your radiator, hoses, and engine cooling channels for up to five years or 150,000 miles (if you have “long life coolant). I don’t think they know what five years means, because the corrosion inhibitors don’t seem to do their job well for that long. When the inhibitor goes past the point of doing its job, it starts to eat everything it comes in contact with. GM and Chevy owners have been plagued with gaskets getting eaten through. 3.1L, 3.4L, 3.8L, 4.3L, 5.3L and 5.7L engines are well known by mechanics for leaky intake manifolds which allow coolant and oil to mix, destroying the engine. This is not the fault of the engine or gasket. This is a maintenance issue – the fault of the owner! I do a complete machine flush of my coolant every two years, and my engines and cooling system love me for it. You should do the same thing every 12-24 months as well. In my experience, this will eliminate over half of all cooling system problems. Not only will it keep your coolant from terrorizing your car, it will clean sediment out of your radiator and keep it doing its job more efficiently.

The second most common cause of cooling system failure is low fluid. This is easy to deal with – check your fluid once a week. It is easy. On most vehicles, you just pop the hood and glance at the coolant reservoir to make sure there is liquid between to hash marks on a bottle.

The third most common cause of cooling system failure is a non-functional water pump. This can be caused by the pump locking up, the belt that drives the pump failing, or degradation of the gasket sealing the pump against the engine. Fix this problem by following the replacement guidelines of your vehicle manufacturer for these parts. You’ll lessen the chance that you’ll need to call me for a used engine.

Fifth is a faulty thermostat. Go ahead and replace these every two years. The part is $15-30. An engine is $1200-$5000, depending on what you have.

The last common cause of cooling system failure is electrolysis. Electrolysis is caused by a an electrical current being added into the cooling system. This only happens when your vehicle has a fault in the electrical system. You’ll know when it happens because the radiator it destroys looks like someone dumped acid all over it. You should have your mechanic check the current in your electrical system when he does your annual vehicle inspection. It only takes about ten minutes, and it can alert you to many other problems.

Your radiator, even when properly maintained, will eventually lose its ability to cool because mineral deposits will coat it inside, reducing its ability to release heat – the mineral deposits act like an insulator. If you want to be sure your radiator is working, you should check for two things.

  1. Flow. Your mechanic should check to make sure enough coolant can flow through the radiator.
  2. Temperature. Your mechanic should use an infrared thermometer to check the top hose and bottom hose. The top hose should be around 20 degrees hotter than the bottom hose.

If you have enough flow, but not enough temperature reduction, you’ll blow up your engine. If you have enough temperature reduction, but not enough flow, you’ll blow up your engine.

I hope this article will be of great help to you as you strive to maintain your cooling system. A small expense on the front end can have big payoff for you down the road – the continued low cost operation of your existing vehicle.

If you need an engine, please call us at 901-266-9996. We’d love to be of help to you.

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If a Diagnostic Machine Says You Need An Oxygen Sensor, You Might Not OR Why You Still Need a Mechanic

May 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

On board computers and diagnostic computers have made diagnosis and repair of vehicles more efficient and less costly. If you don’t believe me, consider the fact in recent years many shops that used to charge a higher rate for diagnostics than actual repair labor have ceased that practice. Plugging a diagnostic computer into a car is a lot like running an MRI or an X-Ray on a person: you get a quick and exact picture of the symptoms of your patient.

For many repairs, this computer is more than what you need. For some repairs, a diagnostic computer in the hands of of someone who doesn’t understand what they’re working with can be a nightmare. Let’s look at a common sensor issue that causes a check engine light to come on: an oxygen sensor. If your oxygen sensor fails, you definitely need to replace it. But there are other issues that can cause a false positive on an oxygen, or O2 sensor. The main false positive happens if you aren’t getting enough fuel pressure to the engine. If this is the cause, you could either need a new fuel line (if you do, I recommend Gates Submersible Fuel Line Hos or Gates Barricade hoses) or a new fuel pump/fuel sending unit. Not getting enough fuel pressure can cause the O2 sensor to read “lean” and out of acceptable range. So, if this happens, and you go to an auto parts store, get a free diagnosis, and you still get the error after you reset the code, what happens? You’re out the money for the sensor, since you can’t return installed electronics (“we don’t sell parts for diagnosis” – even though they diagnosed you!) and you still have to figure out exactly what’s going on.

If you’re competent at repair diagnosis yourself, you might not need a mechanic. But if you’re not sure, you should definitely pay someone else to work on your vehicle. You don’t always need to take it to the dealership – though they do fine work. You don’t only have to utilize the mechanic just down the road – though he might be the best in town. In that case, use him.

Rather than finding a convenient mechanic, find the best in your area. An experienced mechanic that is good at diagnosing can save you hundreds on each repair and help you keep your vehicle on the road for a long, long time.

If you’ve had your vehicle competently diagnosed and you need an engine gas or diesel for a car or light truck, please, give our sales staff at call at 901-266-9996.

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Gates Has a Better Upper Radiator Hose for 1999-2003 Fords with 7.3L Power Stroke Engines

May 7, 2010 By 1 Comment

The 7.3L Power Stroke engine is a great engine, but one thing that has always frustrated mechanics with 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003 Super Duty trucks with the 7.3L Power Stroke engines is the fact that you have to remove the upper radiator hose to replace the serpentine accessory drive belt. The reason for this is that the Ford OEM upper radiator hose goes straight through the accessory belt drive system. This means that to replace the belt you have to drain the cooling system, and that adds cost to the overall job.

Gates has two kits to fix this problem. The first is part number 22434K and is good for vehicles 1999-2002 vehicles produced up to April 28. After an April 28, 2002 production date, the part number is 22690K. The difference is that the second kit has a slightly longer belt.

The Gates kits inclue upper and lower hoses and a “FleetRunner long-life fleet-rated belt.” Gates claims that this package reduces labor on a future belt replacement by up to 50%, so it makes sense to consider this option.

We recommend this kit be considered by any of our customers installing a used 7.3L Power Stroke engine from our company, Low Mileage Engines.

If you’ve had an engine failure in your F-150, F-250, F-350, or any other type of late model vehicle and are looking for a good used engine, please call our sales staff at 901-266-9996. We would be more than happy to quote you on an engine and answer any other questions you may have.

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What You Need to Know About Water Pumps

May 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A properly functioning water pump is critical to the continued functionality of any engine. If your water pump fails and you continue to drive your vehicle while the engine is hot, you will destroy your engine – no ifs, ands, or butts about it. Your engine relies on your water pump to force coolant through its water jacket. By forcing coolant that has just gone through the radiator into the engine, you also force the heated coolant out of the engine and into your vehicle’s radiator where it is cooled as it travels through the radiator, only to come out, hit the water pump, and go through the cycle again.

Water pumps are a belt driven accessory with two main different configurations. The first configuration type involves the power originally coming from the crank shaft pulley. Some vehicles use a serpentine belt to drive all accessories, including the water pump. If this is the case for your vehicle, your serpentine belt is very important. In addition to driving the water pump, it would also drive the alternator, power steering pump, and air conditioning compressor. It does this by taking power from the crank shaft pulley which is typically mounted on the front of the engine. You can also take power from the crank shaft pulley indirectly. For example, I have a friend with a 1968 Corvette with a water pump driven by a double pulley that comes of the air conditioning compressor. The main belt spins the air conditioning compressor pulley not only rotates the compressor, but has a secondary groove with the water pump belt in it. That belt in turn rotates the air conditioning compressor.

The second main type of water pump configuration is one in which the timing belt drives the water pump. This is common in Camry engines, Honda engines, or any vehicle with an interference engine (my 1997 Audi A4 has a water pump driven by the timing belt). Here is something you should know. Any time you change a water pump driven by a timing belt, replace the belt. Any time you replace a timing belt that drives a water pump, replace the the water pump.

There are two reasons for this. The first is that both of these are maintenance items. They have to be replaced at some point or your engine won’t work (I have information on maintenance schedules below).

The second reason is that if your belt or pump breaks, the other unit won’t work. If your water pump locks up, it will strip the teeth on the timing belt. If that happens, and you have an interference engine, you’ll be calling Low Mileage Engines looking for a new motor. While we value our customers and want to do a good job for you, we prefer helping folks who have gotten a lot of life out of their original engine and haven’t had a preventable failure!

You should always follow your vehicle’s owners manual for the maintenance schedule. A General rule of thumb for vehicles made in the last 20 years are that if you have a KIA, you should replace the belt and water pump every 40,000 miles. All other vehicles should be considered for a timing belt change at 60,000 miles. Again, and I cannot stress this enough, make sure you replace the belt driving the water pump when you replace it, and vice versa.

Age should also be taken into consideration in the maintenance schedule. Personally, if the mileage to justify a change hasn’t been reached but the belt has been in use for five years, I would change it because belts can get dry rot over time. Changing a belt is so cheap compared to what could happen  if the belt breaks that it doesn’t make sense to not change it.

You should consider replacing the water pump on any used engine you install, period. As a bolt on accessory, a water pump isn’t warranted and failure could lead to overheating, which voids any warranty. This includes warantees on new engines, used engines, remanufactured engines, reconditioned engines, rebuilt engines, or any other adjective in front of “engines.”

If your water pump has failed and you find yourself needing a replacement engine, please, call the sales staff of Low Mileage Engines at 901-266-9996. We would be more than happy to quote you on the engine you need, explain what makes our warranty the best in the industry, and answer any questions you may have.

no ifs, ands, or buts

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The History of the Original Saturn 1.9L Engine

November 13, 2009 By 4 Comments

The Saturn 1.9L engine was an engine designed by Small Car Specialists at the GM tech center and was designed for torque more than horse power. After all, torque is what makes things move. The 1.9 engine was mated with an automatic transmission that was designed as an electronically controlled manual transmission. The engineers were proud of the ability of the transmission being able to do a 4-1 down shift allowing the drive train to perform well under all conditions.

As for the engine itself, it started out with a TBI (throttle body injection) induction system, which provided the best gas mileage package in the engine’s history. The 1.9 SOHC engine didn’t remain the same, but continued to develop in all areas. The induction system went to port fuel injection, producing more power and lower emissions out put. Other developments included using a single temperature sensor rather then the original dual sensor set up. The sensor it self went through engineering changes. Originally it had been made of plastic, but this lead to cracking on the early sensors which lead to poor gas mileage and poor performance. The engineer finally changed the material to brass, which fixed the cracking problem.

Strong poinst of the 1.9 SOHC engine were ease of maintenance and constant development and improvement of the design. An early improvement was the upper torque axis engine mount which replace tdhe original shock system mount on the 1991 and 1992 vehicles. This solved the vibration issue of the engine compartment.

Early on, when the the engines were getting actual miles on them  by customers and were no longer just an engineer’s design dream, the 1.9 SOHC did have issues. The first issue was caused by the lost foam casting process. Porosity in the aluminum casts of the cylinder head, found more in the DOHC engine, lead to coolant leaks. Saturn handled this concern in various ways, from putting sealant in the coolant to having to replace cylinder heads under warranty. This is an issue that also happens in the new GM 2.2L engine family also.

Other issues for the engine were age related. Carbon build-up on the cylinder rings could cause the engine to use oil at a rate of a quart of oil every 900 miles.  Saturn tried to fix the issue with top engine cleaner in an attempt to remove the carbon buildup. This was a short term fix in some cases though – the carbon build-up could reoccur. Another major issue was failure of the timing chain, which was enhanced by the vehicles ability to do a 4-1 down shift. This caused the engine to rev too high and in some cases break the timing chain, bending the valves when they hit the pistons. Of course, this is a common problem with interference engines when the timing belts are not replaced. Since the 1.9 engine did not have a serviceable timing belt, going with a chain to shorten the engine length for a smaller over all package. Chain maintenance was not an issue that the engineers thought of when designing the engine. After all, it was a newly designed engine with no history.

Ignition issues arose also, from coil pack failure, to ignition module failure to corrosion issues at the mounting point of the coil pack assembly, cause by different types of metals contacting each other with salt and water thrown into the mix. GM did learn the value of NGK spark plugs, being better then AC Delco plugs originally sold with the engine.

In all the Saturn 1.9 liter engine was an engine developed from scratch which gave the customer outstanding performance. It met the engineering requirements to provide solid performance along with great gas mileage. I speak form experience of ownership and as a factory trained Saturn Technician. For me and many others it was a said day when the only true Saturn designed vehicle was discontinued from production.

This blog was contributed by Walt Johnson. Walt served his country in the United States Air Force beginning in 1979, where he received his early mechanical training. Later, he finished his training with GM as a Saturn factory trained technician.

If you need a used Saturn engine, please request a quote online or call us at 901-266-9996.

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Kia Engines

August 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

More customers call us looking for Kia engines than just about any brand of engine. Why? Well, in almost every case, the customer’s engine has been destroyed because of a broken timing belt or a locked up water pump stripping the timing belt. When this happens, the valve train in the Kia engine goes “out of time,” the valves bend, and the engine is destroyed. Complete engine replacement is recommended by most familiar with Kia engines, though it is possible to replace only the cylinder head (assuming a piston hasn’t been cracked by a stray valve).

This is not a problem with the engine, rather, it is a problem with consumer education. Kia doesn’t make their customes aware that they use timing belts which require changing at 40,000 or 60,000 miles. Honda engines, Toyota engines, etc., can often go 120,000 miles without needing a timing belt change because the quality of the timing belts used is so good. Honda, in fact, uses an interference engine just like Kia, meaning that if a timing belt breaks on a Honda, the engine is toast. This isn’t a problem with Honda’s, of course, because of the high quality timing belts that they use.

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Good Mechanics – how do I know if I have one?

July 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Finding a good mechanic is very important. You need someone you can trust, not only when dealing with a major project like replacing your engine, but to help you with normal preventative maintenance. If you find such a mechanic and bring your car to them twice a year, you can save a lot of money on costly major repairs.

“What are some characteristics of a good, trustworthy mechanic?” you might ask.

  1. A good, trustworthy mechanic will always take the time to explain to you exactly what is wrong with your car. They don’t sell “magic,” they sell 1) their diagnostic skills and 2) their repair skills.
  2. A good, trustworthy mechanic will always offer to give you your old parts back after a repair has been completed. Do you know how many mechanics will, for example, say they replaced a fuel filter and only wipe said fuel filter off? The answer is a lot.
  3. A good, trustworthy mechanic will always have a clearly posted shop rate and call you before doing repair work that exceeds their original estimate. I don’t have much work done at Firestone – I get my tires there, rotations, alignments, etc – but I have always referred customers to them because of the fact that they do such a great job calling before continuing work if repair costs are going to exceed their estimate.
  4. A good, trustworthy mechanic will not act offended if you seek a second opinion in your first dealings with them.

A few years ago, we sold a 3.8L engine to a customer in Illinois. He was a do it yourselfer who could talk your ear off, but he wasn’t going to tackle the engine installation himself. This guy just didn’t have the equipment. He gave us his mechanic’s address, and we made our normal courtesy call to the shop to make sure they knew the engine was coming, had our phone number, and a copy of our warranty guidelines. The shop owner was a fantastically nice guy. We got to talking, and found out that he had a frustrating history with our customer. You see, over the years, our customer had the habit of bringing his car to this shop, getting problems diagnosed with the shops free estimates, and then doing the work himself or, even worse, taking his car to another shop to get the problem fixed cheaper.

Good diagnostic mechanics are hard to find. They are the kind of mechanic who will save money by figuring out the problem the first time and not “part swapping” until you’re bankrupt. Their shops are full. They typically don’t have the cheapest labor rate, but they can save you money. If you have one, don’t abuse them. Don’t let your car get so bent out of shape that it takes three days of work to get it fixed. If you find a good diagnostic mechanic, bring your car into him right away when your check engine light comes on or when your car starts driving differently. Doing so can save you the cost of buying a new engine.

As always, if you need a quote on an engine, please call us at 901-266-9996 or request a quote online.

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Great Video of an Audi A4 Timing Belt Swap!

July 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

This video speaks for itslef. It’s a time lapse A4 timing belt swap.

Most people who call us looking for a 1.8L Turbo engine have either had a timing belt failure or are dealing with a sludge problem. So make sure to replace your timing belts!

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Our Warranty on Used Engines is Unmatched!

February 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment

When we started Low Mileage Engines, we had a saying we threw around the office – we wanted to do “Business by the Golden Rule.”

For seven years, that’s what we’ve done. We started out by giving customers 30 day warranties. As this was (and in fact still is) the industry standard, our customers were pleased. Since we ship excellent products, we soon decided to step out on a limb and offer a 199 day part warranty. At the time, we were a very small company, and offering such a good warranty was intimidating. You see, unlike some companies, we stand behind our warranty. When we rolled out our standard 1 year warranty with an option 3 year, unlimited mile warranty, we shocked the industry. Not only does our warranty surpass that of other used engine suppliers, it rivals the warranty of a remanufactured engine.

When you purchase an engine from us, you have assurance that as long as you follow our installation guidelines and keep the simple documentation we require, the longblock and its internal lubricated parts are under warranty for a year!

Some of our competitors try to get around the warranty issue by either simply not talking about the warranty, or by not putting anything in writing. For example, one of our largest competitors says in their warranty only that “customers deserve a warranty.” We agree. That’s why our warranty is clearly stated in writing and documented on the invoice that you receive. We joined the Better Business Bureau to express our commitment to excellence – both warranty wise, and customer service wise. No ambiguity, no weaseling. Just engines with CARFAX mileage verification, the best written warranty available, and a commitment to excellence.

If you need an engine, please feel free to fill out a request for a quote or to call us at 800-709-9233.

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