Life Cycle of an Automobile


The automobile, like most other great inventions, is based upon discoveries made in the human body. An automobile, like the human body, needs to breathe, eat, digest, cool itself, exhaust waste, and circulate vital fluids to all of its major organs in order to survive. A vehicle breathes through its air intake system. It eats by injecting fuel. The combustion chamber is like the stomach and the esophagus acts like the vehicle's manifold, feeding fuel to the combustion chamber. The heart, liver, and the arteries may be compared to the oil pump, filter, and the oil passages in a vehicle.

Like the body, by removing the contamination build-up that has altered the performance, and ultimately causes breakdowns, we prevent mechanical failure and allow the vehicle to perform the way it did when it was new.

From the first mile you drive, the extreme heat and pressure generated by a combustion engine begins breaking down the oil into two components: carbon, which causes your oil to turn black after only a few thousand miles and varnish, a sticky amber colored polymer that coats your engine and becomes visible within a few thousand miles. As oil passes through the engine, varnish is deposited on all parts where oil flows. As varnish begins to build-up on the oil pump screen and in the oil passages, it slowly reduces the amount of oil reaching vital parts of your engine. This condition increases friction, decreases performance, decreases fuel efficiency, and increases wear.

In less than 20,000 miles, the varnish build-up on the lifters, valve guides, and other parts of an engine, has already begun restricting movement. This affects valve timing and consumes horsepower. The valve spring, which is designed to close the valve between strokes, was not designed to overcome the resistance created by carbon and varnish build-up. Today's cars, at cruising speed, operate at approximately 3,000 rpm's. This means more than 25 times each second, the valves in the engine move up and down and must complete their movements at precisely the right time in order to achieve maximum performance. These facts make it easy to see how only a small amount of resistance can have a dramatic effect on valve timing and performance.

When the exhaust valve does not close on time, exhaust fumes are drawn into the cylinder during the intake stroke, reducing combustion. This affects performance, gas mileage, exhaust emissions and adds hundreds of dollars in extra fuel cost.

While spending hundreds of dollars paying for the effects of varnish in added fuel costs, the carbon in the engine is being mixed with condensation and varnish, creating sludge. As sludge accumulates in the engine, serious restrictions begin to occur in the oil flow passages, which will ultimately lead to engine failure.

Similar, but chemically different, occurrences take place in the automatic transmission, the cooling system, the fuel system, and the catalytic converter. All of these occurrences shorten the life and/or affect the performance of the respective component.








[This message has been edited by fordtec2001 (edited 03-17-2001).]

 

testing

 

Are you talking about oil from the 1950's? Todays oils don't do that anymore.
And todays cars cruise at 1500 rpm.
My boat on the other hand cruises at 3500 rpm and the cam is designed for it.

 

no not oils from the 50s oil still breaks down

 

fordtec2001:

That's a pretty good analogy.

I infer from your prognosis that the engines may be suffering from hardening of the arteries.

Actually, I'm concerned my honeypie's vehicle may be coming down with this disease. She typically makes only short trips of one to three miles, and only occasionally drives it to full operating temperature.

I guess we had better give our vehicles some exercise, build up a sweat and keep the heart pumping.

Wilk


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'97 F-150 4x4 Super Cab; XLT 139" Wheelbase Flairside; Silver Frost Clearcoat; 4.6L. (Romeo); 4-spd Automatic Transmission; Preferred Equipment Package 507A; 3.55 Limited Slip Axle; Electronic Shift 4x4; California Emissions; Sliding Rear Window; Trailer Towing Package; Off-Road Package; 6-Way Power Driver's Seat; Remote Keyless Entry/Anti Theft; 6-Disc CD Changer; Ford Bedliner; Ford Running Boards; Ford 600 Plus Vehicle Security System; Ford Nose Mask; Roll n Lock Tonneau Cover; Ford PremiumCare Extended Service Plan (5 year/100,000 miles).

2000 SVT F-150 LIGHTNING XLT; 120" Wheelbase; Flareside; 5.4L EFI SOHC V8 SC Engine; 4-SPD Automatic; Silver Clearcoat Metallic; SVT Online Store Lightning Front End Mask; Roll n Lock Tonneau Cover.

[This message has been edited by wilywilky (edited 03-18-2001).]

 

I think that maybe some of us have too much time on our hands???

 

this product claims it can keep your car running 500k

 

test

 

What product? And what vehicle could last (or would you want to keep) 500K even if the engine did.

 

its called enginewity

 

markedman its in florida

 

It is said that a motor that is properly looked after should outlast the body and frame of a vehicle. Preventive maintainence is more important than all these trendy additives. The Triton motor can last 200-300K miles easy. If you have to rebuild a motor to bring it back to factory specs at that point I think you are doing good. Jay.

[This message has been edited by SVTCobra (edited 03-20-2001).]

 

Excercise is the best thing you can do for your health, so if your theory is correct, "excercise" would be the best thing for your engine. That is why I beat the living hell out of everything I own.

And just think, I thought that was the problem but I was really helping the situation.

If it only worked that way.

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1997 f150 4x4
extended cab, xlt
4.6, 5 speed 3.55 gears

 

to markedman i been working on this for awhile i got the machine last week works good on smog test

 

What vehicles cruise at 3000 rpms today? My F150 cruises around 2000 rpms at 70 mph. Same with the wife's OLDS LSS with the GM 3800 motor.

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Dennis