I have been searching for a full size truck for about the last year. I have decided I want the supercrew with 5.4L. While I was shopping around, I stopped at a Chevy dealership to see what they have to offer. I will admit that the chevy silverado seats are more comfortable, and the overall ride is equal to the 150 (maybe a little smoother, but not as important to me). I was really into the truck...except the price, I could get a super crew for the price of their extended cab.... Then the salesman proceeds to tell me that all vortech engines when developed had to pass chevy's marine test?????? I said, "If a Marine can't break it, you guys put the engine in production"?...no apparently that is not the case..According to Joe Bagofdoghnuts car sales man, chevy tests their engine by running it WIDE OPEN for 9 days .(not 8, not 10, but 9) .. Has anyone heard of this, is it true, myth, crap, flat out lie....what does ford do to test their engines??? I think my idea would be more of an accomplishment, give it to one of our finest (the Marines) and tell him to drive it like your chasing Hussein, if it can last nine days of that, its a good engine.

 

I was watching some Off Shore Racing and the highest rated boat was running a couple of Chevy Vortec Marine engines (Probably the 8.1 L too ) and they mentioned that their production engines are "based" off of these Marine motors.....

The guy won the race. Not sure what the others were however..... Does Ford still do Marine Engines?? (ie; Merc Cruiser)

 

Go buy the silverado and have the salesman draw up a contract that states that if what he said proves to be untrue that you get the truck for free. Watch how fast he shuts up. They might spot check one every once and a while but I don't believe that every engine is run for 9 days.

Regards

Jean Marc Chartier

 

What he may have been refering to (although in a very misleading way) is that most engines you find in i/o boats are based on the GM block. Both Mercruiser and Volvo-Penta use the GM block and then modify it. Sounds like the guy was just "puffing" a bit.

 

I dont know about you guys but I would'nt want a new (or old) truck with an engine in it that has been run for 9 days @ WOT!

I'm guessing that they probably run the new trucks on some kind of chassis dyno befor they leave the plant?

 

Would you want to buy a $30k+ truck with an engine that has been run flat out wide open for 9 days?!?!?

I'll pass that one.

Stan

 

I bet they tested the original engine 9 days and based the production engines on them. They suck, though, they're Chevy engines.

 

i do not think every one is run wot for niner days, just that is the test they use till they get the formula right....sounded like LIES to me..just wanted to zing that by you guys

 

http://www.pickuptruck.com/html/fordtough.html

Try this site. I know that Ford has tested the f150 to very hard extremes

Let me know what you think.

mlaugh

 

All productions engines have a quality mil-standard (testing variance of how many per 1000 units are tested and so on), and all the companies have their own stress tests for their engines and all do a pretty good job of it. Never heard of that 9 day wide open. There are several test that all companies use to simulate various things but "wide open" does not simulate ANYTHING for a passenger vehicle.........
There are tests like that for marine engines but of course there is a throttle limiter involved also.
It is sad but the sign of hunger, that some salesman would take some basic info and embelish just to get a foot in the door for a sale. To me, this would blow me out the door , at least with that salesman.
To me, being a professional salesman means selling on the features and benefits of your product and NOT trashing anothers. Of couser, some salesmen just believe we are idiotic needy persons who love to hear this lame diatribe, eat it up and take it back to our nest to spread to others.

 

I don't think WOT would be that bad, as long as the engine stayed cool and there was no load on it.

Would be kind of like a sewing machine, it would be singing along but now working that hard.

No say the engine was ran at WOT with a 50% load, I doubt it would last 9 days.

I think is harder on the engine doing acceleration tests as well. AS the engine goes up and down the RPM range your putting serious stress on the bearing and connecting rods.

I would think that the salesman is full of **** myself, woudln't buy crap from him.

Wouldn't buy the chevy cause I think it's FUGLY with the new grill/headlights.

 

Marine engines are always at 100% load no matter what rpm they are running. Because of the friction of the water. And the major innefficancy of propellers.

Every manufacturer puts their engines through major testing, sometimes for years before it ever goes to production. None of them test EVERY engine.

Your cheby sales guy was surely just talking about the original tests.

Lexus for example froze their v-8 to -20 then fired it up ran it to redline then put a load on it as iif it was climbing a mountain road, they did the repeatedly, then tore the engine down to check tolerences. This was only one test. And yes it was on a dyno machine.

The Ford engines have all been subjected to similar tests.

That salesman is an idiot!

 

I dont have any issues with the engines ability to survive 9 days at WOT. But I would'nt want that particular engine in a new truck considering that a certain percentage of it's useful life had to be consumed up during that test.

My buddy had just bought a new harley and was running it so conservitively so as to break it in slowly & easily. A few months later we took a tour of the York Pa. assembly plant and saw that every completed bike was put on a roller dyno and run up to 100MPH for quality control purposes before it was shipped to the dealerships. Needless to say, my friend lost that warm, fuzzy, nurturing, feeling that he got from babying his new hog after witnessing this.

 

1. Dont buy a Shove-a-lot. 2. Dont buy anything from a salesman that has no idea what he is talking about.

 

Salesman are so stupid. I had one tell my Dad that the new F150's have 4 wheel independent suspension. I told he was wrong and he gave me a stare and said "Sir, I have been through an exstensive class on the new F150 and trained on the new features." I laughed and asked him to prove the IRS. He looked under the truck and said "See, the truck has shocks at all 4 wheels." We left the dealership.