I was reading in a thread somewhere over here that mods like an intake, y pipe, catback etc actually cause MORE WEAR AND TEAR on your car thus decreasing the reliability. I agree with the fact that you drive your car harder with mods would that also decrease reliability faster? I'll have to stop modding my car then because I want to keep it for a long time :-\. I thought that mods like intakes, and exhaust equipment would IMPROVE reliability, better airflow, etc...?

 

What the **** are you smoking? Why do mods make your car faster? Because Its crafted better. Thats like taking vitamins to make you function better.

 

yeah, any mod puts a bit more wear and tear on the car, on top of that, something like an intake..... the driver drives the car harder to hear the noise, which is even more wear and tear

 

I guess everyone has there own opinions on it.

 

Damnit! I remember people saying things like an intake etc are GOOD for your car :-\ what's going on?

 

Things tlike that are good, it just depends on the driver and the way he drives the car.

 

Ok let's see a COLD AIR INTAKE draws cold air, cold air is better for performance, and better for the engine than hot air. Correct? A y pipe, and free flowing exhaust frees up air flow. If air flow is restricted horsepower is lost. Correct? A free air flowing exhaust will RELEASE horsepower that was already there. Correct? Than what's causing more wear and tear shouldn't this IMPROVE reliability because your motor is performing better. Granted if your driving your car really hard every day all the time then yes you'll screw things up like your transmission and all. The only place I agree where things can actually cause wear and tear is forced induction, like Nos, or a supercharger with a lot of PSI of boost. Who agrees with me??? I started this topic because I'm reading a lot of people saying that intakes and such cause more wear and tear. Then why the hel* do they increase power, and why do companies design them? And why do people buy them?

 

Actually, I have a SC and my compression after 1 year of being boosted is exactly the same.

Had the car hooked up to the Nissan Consult, and they tell me the car is worn about as much as a car with 45,000 miles on it - and I'm at 79,000.

I don't think even a SC hurts your car - unless you don't tune it properly or "drive it like you stole it" or don't do maintenance.

Granted, I change my oil 2x more often, and plugs every 15k instead of 60k....but I expect my car to last well over 200k.

It has nothing to do with mods - IF they are installed correctly. It has to do with how you drive and how you maintain it.

IanS

 

You prove my point exactly. I didn't mean to say that a supercharger hurts your car in anyways but what about all these people with blown auto transmissions? Depends on how you run it, maintain it, and care for it. So why do you think some people say mods cause wear and tear?

 

Three reasons:

A) They are a mechanic who is scared to work on anything but the stock Nissan things because they don't understand anything aobut basic mechanics and what mods do/how they work. (Like most Nissan dealerships I've run into)

B) They simply don't understand mechanics of engines and some mechanic told them that at one point and they believed it.

C) They are just stupid.

 

LMAO your so right bro. Hey I got a question regarding compression testing, what would be some good figures for a good engine while getting a compression test done and where can you get one done from?

 

It's only about $39.00 for a good compression tester and you can do it yourself.

1) Pull fuel pump fuse (fuse panel inside the car) and start the car a few times until it will no longer start, and only cranks.

2) pull all 6 spark plugs

3) use a zip-tie to hold your throttle open

4) screw compression testing gauge into first cylinder

5) crank engine 7-9 times

6) check the gauge

7) repeat on the other 5 cylinders.

You can also do a "Wet" test by pouring a teaspoon of oil down into the cylinder and testing again. If you get a higher reading when testing again with the oil, then you have bad valve seals.

If you are above 125 and all cylinder read fairly close to each other, then your engine is "good". 165-190 is a "great" rating.

If any 1 cylinder in the same bank variates by more than 15 to other cylinders on the same side of the engine, then look for issues like valves and headgasket.

Expect the rear 3 cylinders to be a little higher than the front 3, although this isn't always the case.

 

mods improve the car. this is why we tune the cars - to improve them. fear of the alteration of a factory spec device creates this heresay. for example, a lightened flywheel immensely HELPS the entire engine's efficiency perhaps the most of any mod i can think of right now. it can enhance gas mileage, DECREASE wear by making the crank turn far easier up to desired rpms. there is less resistance to intertia and friction created with most mods. so that is the blatant reality. basic tuning is skewed to efficiency of use to garner untapped power. you wanna wear out a car, go take it drag racing and run top fuel in it with a SC in 8sec and rebuild the engine before every staged launch. we ain't doing that here.

for me, i don't give one dam@$@#n about noise, either. i love the rumbling throat of the magnaflow and y-pipe, near redline, setting car alarms beserk in LA and noising-up tunnels and underpasses. i absolutely love it. and i will do it more. willingly. just watch. and i will be changing my oil every 2000 mi while doing it. i cannot wait to blow by some as@@hole in a mustang tomorrow.

you wanna wear out a car again? keep the tires underfilled. how about that. don't ever change the air filter. don't ever maintain the son of a b#$#5ch like 3/4 of the 50-thousand dollar SUVs out there. those people don't maintain those. talk to mechanics about that.

ignorance = fear = rumor

 

car doesn't become less reliable with more mods? that's ridiculous? a bad driver makes the car less reliable. if you beat on the thing because you wanna show off your mods ofcourse it'll be less reliable. mods don't make the car break down more often guys, whoever said that is an idiot

 

How does the Nissan Consult measure wear and tare?

The only way I know of is to measure compression and tollerances throughout the engine which the Nissan Consult does not do.

 

The only thing the CONSULT is good for is to tell the mechanic that the car has been modded and he should give the owner of the car a bunch of BS about mods hurting the engine.

 

Which came first the chicken or the egg?


Maybe people who are afraid of their cars say things like mods will damamge your engine.

My car runs better now than it did when I bought it. Currently at 119000 miles.

If you do not maintain your car it will cause more wear and tear. The greatest cause of automatic tranny failure is....HEAT which is caused by old ATF which breaks down.

Do what you feel is good based on how your car performs. I am of the opinion most of the horror stories we hear on the .org are directly related to abuse and lack of proper maintenance

Big Cracker

 

Different mods will have different effects on reliability. A CAI (assuming you can keep it out of deep puddles) is not going to give you any problems except if it's not bolted down securely or if you leave off some factory part like a sensor or flext tubing etc. If you turbo your engine yourself, expect to be tweaking and fiddling with it a lot until it's right.

The quality of the work you do affects reliability also. If you do the turn signal mod with 3M wire taps, then expect to revisit that again in a year or so. If you use solder an heatshrink then you'll never hear of it again. If you install your FTSB carefully and don't overtorque the bolts then it'll be fine forever - but if you strip a thread, or you feel it start to strip and just say "screw it" then woes will follow.

A perfect example of quality of install work on a mod affecting reliability is the MEVI butterfly screws (those who didn't use loctite) No offence intended for these guys, but a dab of loctite on those screws would have prevented all the problems that some guys are having - ie ejj had to swap out his engine because of his engine ingesting a couple of screws. This is a *fatory-designed* part - it's not like it should fail or anything, yeah? Those who *did* use loctite are not having butterfly screw issues.

The reliability issues come in with parts that are not factory OR off-the shelf. The design quality of aftermarket mods is generally good and won't give you reliability concerns, but when you start making your own mods without giving enough thought to the design process then you'll be in for trouble (ie home made CAI drinking water from a deep puddle )

 

Ian, if you get better compression after putting a teaspoon of oil in the cylinder it indicates problems with your piston rings/bores - that's because the oil drips onto the pistons and then down onto the rings, temporarily improving the seal.

You cannot diagnose valve stem seals with a compression test (other than good readings across the board will rule out rings/Hgasket failures as a source of blue tailpipe smoke). Valve stem seals are diagnosed by a puff of blue smoke out the tailpipe when you start a car that has been sitting for some time, but no blue smoke after the car has warmed up (especially at WOT).



Other notes on the compression test;

- Low values in two adjacent cylinders is consistent with failure of the fire ring on the head gasket between the two bad cylinders.
- If low compression doesn't improve after you put a teaspoon of oil into the cylinder, that is consistent with the valve seats not providing a good seal.

 

The COnsult measures compression and Injector pulse width. - this is what I was talking about.

My cylinders and injectors are in good shape.

And yes, the COnsult II does measure compression - goes through each cylindr 1 at a time - it's pretty neat to watch.

 

How does the consultII work? Is there some guy running around plugging crap in or is it automated? They can't really test compression automatically during any cycle where they have the engine running (unless they have robot arms screwing in the compression tester - that WOULD be cool! )
I thought it just plugged into the OBD2 port and read stuff through there...

 

your partially correct, is your right foot that puts the wear and tear on your car, you can have a Turbo and never boost so whats going to tear on your car? nothing, mods dont tear up the car is the driver. If mods tore up the car I would not be driving my modded maxima. You can use mods to your advantage, better gas mileage which saves you money etc..I use it to my advantage specially when I travel

 

I know what you mean - but just to clarify....

Even if you have a Turbo and boost responsibly, there will be no more wear and tear on your car. As long as you don't boost 18PSI all the time and you tune it properly, then occassionaly boosting won't do anything detrimental to the car.

But yes, boosting every time your foot is on the gas is detrimental - but if tuned properly, I don't think any more than flooring a stock car all the time.....which you shouldn't do anyway.

Besides, I LOVE the feeling of being able to just cruise leisurely knowing the power is there whenever I need it, and knowing that I'm simply choosing not to use it at that moment. That's a good feeling.

IanS

 

and that sums it up right there

 

nissan tech guys are bound by law and obligation to keep everything stock and operating to spec. they will never support tuning culture mods and such. they can't.

 

I wouldn't follow this advice...this is from the same person who
said that you should change your calipers if they have rust on them...

any IMPROVEMENT to your car extends it's life because the same driving
can be had with less engine effort...end of story!

FLO_BOY

 

if mods made car worse, we would not all be on this org. ultimately, we must keep our cars in top shape, as much as we can, because most of us do not have bottomless pits of money. of all people, we cherish our cars a little more than most, perhaps.

 

its the way people drive modded cars that makes a huge difference and how people maintain/modify them

 

when I do drive i take it out at night and go at extreme velocities but then again so do you... but you have all that CF making your car lightweight which means you need less brakes