ok, i hear that japanese engines are retired, in japan, by law, after like 75K miles on them for emmissions laws. i hear that this is why there is a huge tuner market on these engines. you can get a cheap used one if you blow an engine. is this true???

2004 TB Coupe 6MT

 

True, but I am not sure of the exact mile limit. I heard that it was imposible to ensure a high mile care in Japan though. They come to the West Coast by the crate load. Plan on blowing a motor soon?

 

i dont think it was 75k miles. i heard lower mileage, probably around 50k?

 

Why don't we see like massive R34 numbers over here then?

Black / Black 2004 GcoupeMT. Premium. Splash Guardz.

 

yea and why do japanese car companies make such long lasting engines???

 

I was told it was 20k. You can buy 20k japanesse engines imported here. Why maintain an engine if you had to change it out that soon!

 

My room mate in college was from japan, so he filled me in on this as well. In addition to that, you are not allowed to drive a damaged vehicle either, unlike here, where you can drive with your bumper held up with duct tape. You also are not allowed to buy a car, without showing proof that you have a place to park it. (Parking permit)

Usually when one gets in a wreck in japan, the car is totalled, as its hard to insure a car that's been damaged, due to safety liability or something like that. Sounded crazy to me, but I heard this from more than one person.

So anyways, this was typically why japanese cars did very well in JD Powers Initial Quality, because the short term life of the car was extremely important. (could explain why honda didn't care that the tranny's in the TL were blowing up after 30k miles or so)

 

At 100,000 KM or 62,000 miles or 6 years, Japan has a serious minutely detailed inspection required and the car must be reconditioned to as new, safety wise usually costing $2,000-$4,000..........they just trade and the car gets exported to some third world country.

Japan annual new car sales are only 4.4 million units!

That coupled with the low annual 5,000 mileage [cars are mostly driven on weekends/train used for commuting to work] and high fuel costs make engines available.

Even a 30,000 mile Japanese take out engine might be 6 years old.

Japan has different emission requirements and much higher quality low sulfur fuel enabling direct cylinder injection unlike US.

We buy significant amounts [maybe 20-25 per year] of ES300/GS300 and Q45/G20 JDM engines as replacement for cars where the owner abused oil changes as swappers.

People just don't realize how sensitive Japanese engines are to proper oil changes due to our lower than Japanese quality oils and gasoline..........and the different conditions in US driving cycle.

The right driver position means JDM are sometimes problematic and require significant swapping of exhaust manifolds and emission equipment to make them legal for US use.
The direct injections will fail quickly when subjected to US Sulfur fuels.

http://www.japanauto.com/autoTrends/detail.cfm?id=224

http://www.japanauto.com/autoTrends/detail.cfm?id=265

http://www.japanauto.com/autoTrends/detail.cfm?id=229
http://www.japanauto.com/autoTrends/subjectIndex.cfm

 

Interesting... Thanks for the info. [img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img]

2003 G35C, 6MT, DG/G, Aero/Nav/Premium
2002 Corvette Z06, Electron Blue/Black, headers, intake, exhaust, 380 rwhp

 

Wow, that sucks! I would hate to have to change out a perfectly good working engine every 62k miles or so. I guess if I lived in Japan, I would ride the subways exclusively. Parking there is a pain in the butt anyway.

<font color=purple>2004 G35 Coupe Diamond Graphite/Graphite 5AT</font color=purple>
Premium, Nav., 18" Wheels, Z-Xtreme Hyper Grounding Cables,
K&N filter, Clear Corners, 350Z Aluminum Pedals,
Sony Ericsson HCB-30

 

It is true I got a B16 motor for my GSR with 38k miles on it its a dime a dozen but man is it hard to get everyone is on a list i dont know if its liek that anymore with th import scence but it was when i place playing with my rice rocket

03 6MT Coupe Blk/Blk&gt; Injen CAI, Hotchkis adj Sway Bars, Test Pipes&lt; "Nt G R8D" Aj

 

They don't swap motors as the car [10 year old 60,000 mile car] is just retired to the recycler where the motor and tranny are shipped over seas to the foolish Americans who drive so much.

The English and Aussies want the whole car.......great deal for those right drive countries and old British colonies.

We always have trouble finding engines less than 5-6 years old unless they came out of a wrecked car. Getting the true actual mileage is difficult and less than honest because they just pile the engines up in containers as they strip the cars, no paper work...........buyer beware and always have an expert examine the engine before you pay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We reject about 35% of the JDM engines delivered to us since we give a 12/12k warranty on our work.

In Atlanta there are 3 importers who get engines by the container load every week directly from Japan......Honda, Toyota, Nissan........few off brands

These engines are $1000-$1500 with Honda more [up to $2,500] due to populatity of Vtec. Because of age you usually need to reseal replace all rubber hoses, water pumps, harnesses, knock sensors,etc.

For a while this year, we were changing high mile ES300 sludge bucket engines one per week.

A car can last forever with fresher engines, trannies, diffs, etc.

The only engine I've not seen brought in is the V12 Lexus used in Century Limos.

You can buy the V8 Lexus cheap so many sold in Japan.

 

Q45Tech, what you posted explains a lot. When I was in Tokyo, I saw salvage yards that looked like some of our used car lots. There were beautiful GS's (badged as Toyota's and not Lexus) and other extremely nice looking cars stacked in racks 6 high all having no engines or wheels. I wondered why cars in such great condition would be in a salvage yard. After reading your post of a manditory retirement, this all makes sense now.

Memphis
04 G Coupe 6MT | IP | Clear Bra | 15% Tint | Clear Corners |

 

It's not mandantory, just people want new cars and the $3,000 -$5,000 rehab cost and tighter subsequent annual checks make it not worth keeping a 8-10 year old car.

Most US states don't have severe rigorous annual inspections so our cars get 2nd, 3rd, and 4th owners.

Most of it is the low 5,000 annual Japanese mileage. Same in European cities most use mass transit or bicycles.

US subsidizes poor by lax regulations and cheap gasoline taxes for everyone. Allowing people to drive without insurance.
Allowing low mileage senior citizens to be exempt from emissions.