My fourth intake manifold leak. Cheap failing cars

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: MikeHigg
(I don't do the work myself, hire it done)


Exactly as I suspected. People who complain about the cost of auto repair are always hiring the work done.

 

[Robenstein]

Originally Posted By: BubbaFL
Originally Posted By: MikeHigg
American cars.


Well there's your problem!


It is not like Toyota ever made a bad engine...oh wait, the 3.0 was a known sludger that got them sued it was so terrible.

Everyone makes a bad design...Americans, Japanese, Germans,....some just do it more. You think American cars nickel and dime you, talk to Jaguar or Saab owners.

 

[Nick1994]

It looks like you look for cars that are known for bad intake manifolds. Obviously you haven't done car research. If you get a ratchet set and some pliers you can do it yourself. Not that big of a deal.

 

[MikeHigg]

I'm certainly not afraid of working on cars, I never took a car to a mechanic until I was out of college, well, except to have a guy set the dual points on a Chrysler HEMI and time it. I don't have time for much working on them,the maintenance requirements of five cars is enough. But here is the point, how much more can it be in the BOM of a car to have an aluminum intake, not very much. I like Detroit iron, I just hate seeing the bean counters have such an impact on components because you know the engineers don't like it.

 

[artificialist]

Originally Posted By: MikeHigg
I'm certainly not afraid of working on cars, I never took a car to a mechanic until I was out of college, well, except to have a guy set the dual points on a Chrysler HEMI and time it. I don't have time for much working on them,the maintenance requirements of five cars is enough. But here is the point, how much more can it be in the BOM of a car to have an aluminum intake, not very much. I like Detroit iron, I just hate seeing the bean counters have such an impact on components because you know the engineers don't like it.

Sometimes cars get plastic intakes for reasons other than being cheap.

Having low intake air temperatures is a must for good engine performance, and plastic transfers less heat to the intake than aluminum does.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: MikeHigg

What is going on with these cheap parts on these American cars.


I dunno but every single Japanese car we've owned has had a radiator plastic cap failure, while the domestic cooling systems last forever. Ditto for our Euro cars.

Everything has its weak point.

 

[dishdude]

My parents had transmissions in 2 Japanese cars go out before 100k. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't.

 

[artificialist]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
My parents had transmissions in 2 Japanese cars go out before 100k. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't.

+1
My mom had a 1994 Mitsubishi van that got less than 90,000 miles from the transmission.
I later learned that most Diamond-matic transmissions are like that.

I knew my car didn't have a Diamond-matic transmission, so I bought it. Later, I learned that the TC:SST isn't any more durable, and costs much more to repair.

 

[CBR.worm]

Porsche Cayennes and 10 year old BMWs are cars I have had personal experience with failing plastic cooling system parts. I have also had that pleasure with GM cars. Luckily my Japanese cars have not had cooling system issues, but I remember a generation of civics and accords that had radiators that cracked like clockwork.

 

[BigBuck]

Dont buy an 01-05 civic



Originally Posted By: MikeHigg
I just had fixed the plastic intake manifold on my 2000 Crown Vic PI (130,000 miles). The place where a hose attached cracked. Over $500 for this repair using the Dormant updated part.
I had replaced a GM 3.8L intake manifold gasket, a plastic part, 4 years ago on a '98 Bonneville (120,000 miles). I also replaced the same gasket on a salvage engine put in this same car a year later.
I replaced an intake manifold gasket on a GM 3.4L (50,000 miles) about 10 years ago.
What is going on with these cheap parts on these American cars. My sisters Avalon has 185,000 miles, never a major repair. I've spent over $2000 fixing just intake manifolds, pretty d*mn sad.

 

[Al]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
This is a fun troll thread!

+1 lol

 

[philipp10]

No one can deny that GM had excessive gasket (head and intake manifold) in the mid 90's thru the mid 00's. These design failures are single handedly the reason Toyota and Honda grew so much market share since.

 

[Al]

Originally Posted By: philipp10
No one can deny that GM had excessive gasket (head and intake manifold) in the mid 90's thru the mid 00's. These design failures are single handedly the reason Toyota and Honda grew so much market share since.

There is no doubt that the HG issue with (especially) with the 3.1 and 3.4 GM V'6's was a failure of more than epic proportions. The fact that they were able to fend away class action lawsuits is also unbelievably epic.

But to say they contributed to the Japanese market growth even slightly I doubt. The junk like quality the Big 3 produced from say 1977 to 1987 sealed the big 3's doom. Just an opinion.

 

[Robenstein]

Originally Posted By: Al
Originally Posted By: philipp10
No one can deny that GM had excessive gasket (head and intake manifold) in the mid 90's thru the mid 00's. These design failures are single handedly the reason Toyota and Honda grew so much market share since.

There is no doubt that the HG issue with (especially) with the 3.1 and 3.4 GM V'6's was a failure of more than epic proportions. The fact that they were able to fend away class action lawsuits is also unbelievably epic.

But to say they contributed to the Japanese market growth even slightly I doubt. The junk like quality the Big 3 produced from say 1977 to 1987 sealed the big 3's doom. Just an opinion.


Let us not forget the piston slap issues that many GM cars had around the same time. I remember some 3100 engines also had bad cams for a few years. I know the one in my 99 Monte Carlo snapped in half at 110k miles about a week after I sold the car. Felt so bad for the 16 year old kid that bought it, I installed a rebuilt motor for him so he wouldn't have to pay a mechanic.

 

[philipp10]

Originally Posted By: Robenstein
Originally Posted By: Al
Originally Posted By: philipp10
No one can deny that GM had excessive gasket (head and intake manifold) in the mid 90's thru the mid 00's. These design failures are single handedly the reason Toyota and Honda grew so much market share since.

There is no doubt that the HG issue with (especially) with the 3.1 and 3.4 GM V'6's was a failure of more than epic proportions. The fact that they were able to fend away class action lawsuits is also unbelievably epic.

But to say they contributed to the Japanese market growth even slightly I doubt. The junk like quality the Big 3 produced from say 1977 to 1987 sealed the big 3's doom. Just an opinion.


Let us not forget the piston slap issues that many GM cars had around the same time. I remember some 3100 engines also had bad cams for a few years. I know the one in my 99 Monte Carlo snapped in half at 110k miles about a week after I sold the car. Felt so bad for the 16 year old kid that bought it, I installed a rebuilt motor for him so he wouldn't have to pay a mechanic.


Well right, it wasn't just one reason, it was many, over decades. Speaking of the head gaskets, I know of mechanics that specialized in JUST GM head and intake manifold gaskets and you could get them changed quite reasonably. They had done so many they could do them very quickly and knew all the pitfalls. To me, that says something about the frequency of repairs.

That was nice of you to rebuild that kids engine. I would have done the same.

 

[andyd]

I had several AMC Grand Wagoneers. I always thought they had some pretty rinky dink assembly procedures. But the old Ranger out rinky dinks the Jeep big time. Ford engineers its vehicles to be assembled as fast and as cheaply as possible.No consideration is given toward maintenance and repair. The Rat is my first old Ford in 35 yrs. It is a reminder to go at least 35 more before getting another. I may just go find a rust free '88 528e body.