The Importance of Regular Maintenance: A Cautionary Tale of Engine Problems

As we delve into the world of car repairs, it's essential to understand the importance of regular maintenance. In this article, we'll explore the issues that arise when neglecting engine upkeep and how it can lead to costly repairs.

One of the most critical aspects of maintaining a vehicle is checking its oil levels. Engine oil plays a vital role in lubricating the engine's components, preventing wear and tear, and ensuring optimal performance. However, if the oil level becomes too low, it can cause serious problems. In some cases, when the oil level dips below a certain point, it may appear as though there's an excessive amount of oil, which is actually a sign that the head gasket is starting to fail. This is because the coolant has mixed with the oil, causing the oil level to rise.

When we're dealing with engine problems, it's essential to take a methodical approach. In this instance, the car in question had been driven for 200,000 miles and was showing signs of wear. The owner had noticed that the oil level was higher than usual, but not excessively so. However, when they checked the coolant, they found that it was low, indicating that the engine was burning a small amount of oil. This was a clear indication that the head gasket was failing.

The cost of repairing a head gasket job can be steep, with some estimates ranging from $2,000 to $4,700. In this case, the owner had opted for a rebuilt engine, which was significantly cheaper than purchasing a new one. However, even with maintenance and repairs, it's essential to keep an eye on the engine's performance.

One of the most significant issues that can arise when neglecting engine upkeep is premature wear. The head gasket, in particular, plays a critical role in maintaining the engine's optimal performance. When the head gasket fails, it allows coolant to mix with the oil, causing serious problems. In some cases, this can lead to the formation of "milkshake" oil, which is characterized by its brown and bubbly appearance.

The importance of preventive maintenance cannot be overstated. Regular checks on the engine's oil level, coolant, and overall performance are essential in preventing costly repairs down the line. By taking a proactive approach to car maintenance, owners can avoid dealing with expensive repair bills and ensure their vehicle runs smoothly for years to come.

A Word of Caution: The Importance of Head Gasket Design

In recent years, engine manufacturers have introduced new designs that aim to minimize head gasket failure. However, it's essential to note that even with these advancements, problems can still arise. The V6 engines in the 2000 model year, for example, were prone to head gasket failures.

The consequences of neglecting head gasket maintenance can be severe. If left unchecked, head gasket failure can lead to catastrophic engine damage, resulting in costly repairs or even requiring a new engine.

A Special Case: A Rebuilt Engine with a Twist

In this case, the owner had opted for a rebuilt engine, which was significantly cheaper than purchasing a new one. However, as we've seen, even with maintenance and repairs, problems can still arise. The owner's car had been running well, but with a slight increase in oil consumption. When they checked the throttle body, they found that it was covered in oil.

This was a clear indication that the oil control rings were worn, causing the engine to burn more oil than usual. In this instance, the owner had opted for a rebuilt engine, which was designed to address these issues.

The Cost of Maintenance: A Matter of Prioritization

Maintaining a vehicle is an ongoing process that requires attention and resources. While some owners may prioritize their car's maintenance above all else, others may find themselves struggling to balance their budget with the needs of their vehicle.

In this case, the owner had initially purchased the car for $1,700, which was significantly cheaper than the current market price of around $4,700. However, as we've seen, even with these savings, problems can still arise.

A Life-Size Lamborghini Built from Legos

As the world grapples with the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, it's become clear that people are finding new ways to occupy themselves. In this instance, a 15-person team in the Czech Republic created an incredible life-size Lamborghini out of 400,000 Lego bricks.

This impressive creation was built using hexagonal pieces for the first time, and was custom-painted by Italian artists to perfectly match the Lamborghini's signature colors. The estimated cost of building this masterpiece? A staggering $36,500 – a small price to pay for such an incredible feat of engineering and creativity.

The Art of Lego Customization

While the life-size Lamborghini may seem like an extraordinary achievement, it's clear that there are many talented individuals out there who can create incredible works of art using Legos. In this case, the team's attention to detail and commitment to quality is evident in every brick.

As we explore the world of car repairs and maintenance, it's essential to remember that even the smallest details matter. By prioritizing our vehicles' upkeep and taking a proactive approach to maintenance, we can avoid costly repairs and ensure our cars continue to run smoothly for years to come.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enrev up your engines okay here we have a toyota tacoma that's having overheating problems everything wears out eventually okay it does have 320 000 miles on it as you can see the engine's got some blue paint on it it's a salvage yard engine and it has less mileage than this but it's still around 200 000 miles now you always look for the obvious things in an overheating car first and of course he was wise and changed the thermostat new hose he even put a brand new radiator in now it doesn't matter that it's made in taiwan they work perfectly fine but after a while of driving it starts getting hot gets three quarters or so which is hotter than a toyota should of course run now of course he did the most logical things you can do because often if a car after you're running a well starts getting hotter it is the radiator the radiators are made out of plastic but it's not the plastic that goes bad problem is the cooling fins inside they're made out of aluminum internally they get corroded and as they corrode they can't dissipate heat correctly they'll dissipate heat but if you find you're driving your vehicle in town and it runs okay but you turn the ac on and it starts overheating if you see that the cooling fans are working but it's still getting too hot that means that the radiator is worn out because the heat of the condenser in front of the radiator is building up from the air conditioner throws extra heat in the radiator and the radiator's too worn out to take that extra heat so turning the ac on makes it go higher but this thing you changed the radiator it made absolutely no difference and since it's not leaking anywhere really the only culprit i can think of is the engine so let's get out a test kit now we're going to check the fluid make sure that it's cool enough this is warm but it's not bubbling over only you can see it's up to the top now we can't check it that way so we'll get a little battery filler and we'll get some excess out we can't suck coolant into the tester it'll give a false result now we gotta suck a bunch of it out so there's more air in here get a whole bunch of it out just put it in the reservoir you can put it in something else if you want we want it so there's just air in there you get the block leak test that sticks over the top so it sucks air out and we get the leak fluid now we need to hook it up to a vacuum line so here's a good vacuum line right here we'll plug it on and in a vacuum line will suck all the air out of the radiator and if this blue turns color we'll know there's a problem with a leak inside the engine oh starting up we'll see what happens well it turned out that vacuum line wasn't good enough well i make a good vacuum line just make sure you don't suck any of it in your mouth you can see it's bubbling now now this car isn't really losing cooling but it's running harder it's on the cusp of something now you got gotta run this test for quite some time but when i suck it in i can actually taste the tiny amount of exhaust there so that means that it's starting to go inside the end it's just started sometimes it won't even change color but i can taste if it's really bad this will bubble by itself because it builds up the pressure which it isn't well i found a better vacuum line so we can run this for a little while now we're going to sit it for half an hour sucking on it saying so find a better vacuum on it right here as you can see it's sucking like mad so we'll let it run for 20 30 minutes and see what happens now if you notice it's still blue but when we look inside you can see it's a little foamy if you look close to what i scraped out you can see there's tiny little black specks well that shows that there's something floating in there he used the bars head gasket sealer on it now he put the sealer in after he changed the radiator he ran it a while and then he got most of it out there's still a tiny bit floating around in there in this case he gets up to about three quarters but it doesn't get any higher so my educated guess here is that the bar sealer has helped seal the leak in this engine it gets to three quarters but it doesn't get to h and he's not losing any coolant now if it would stay that way forever it's really not going to hurt anything he made one mistake when he used the bar sealer it said oh you can use it with any antifreeze no don't listen to that do it with pure water and no thermostat he did change the radiator but then he put the sealer in and the sealer seems to have sealed the head gasket pretty good but i think it's also sealed some of the little fins in the radiator so it's no longer working as efficiently take my advice if you ever try any sealer in an engine take the thermostat out get a garden hose flush everything out of the radiator flush everything out of the engine block then fill it with just water and sealer and drive it for a week or two of course during the summer when it's hot not in the winter when it might freeze and destroy your engine that would be stupid you find that it's sealed then you change the radiator because then you're gonna have anything mess with the radiator they're tiny little holes in there and they'll clog up real easy over time now since this isn't overheating he's not losing any cooling it's just running hotter than normal he could probably drive it for some time but there's only one qualm i'd have with this engine okay this is a 2000 and the original engine somehow blew it was before he bought the car and someone installed the used engine put it in this is a 2000 or so used engine back in 2000 toyota admitted they had problems with the head gaskets on these and they replaced quite a few of them free to their customers i'm assuming this engine which now has probably 200 000 miles on it still has the original head gasket and what happens is they start to run hotter as they wear it's not blown yet and the sealer he put in probably prevented it from blowing any further and if it stays at three quarters and never gets higher you could probably drive it a long way that way but i can just about guarantee that at some point in time this head gasket is going to blow because it was a design flaw the sealer will fix certain holes for a certain period of time but it's not a miracle and if you got a head gasket that had a problem with failing eventually it's either going to fail where the oil goes through it or where the coolant goes through it and then you're going to have problems so especially on these engines you want to check the oil a lot because if it starts to get milky it gets over full now this isn't milky it's clean it's a little bit low because it's burning a little bit oil but if it would have been over full on the oil dipstick look unless you got some clown pouring oil in here engine that's the coolant mixing with the oil and then it makes the oil level go higher so if all of a sudden you sell my car's got a quarter too much oil in it nobody touched it that means the head gasket's starting to blow and of course when they're really bad it turns into a milkshake and you check your oil it's all brown and bubbly it looks like a milkshake then you know the head gasket's going but from my experience of these things with the v6 engines in the 2000 they all eventually will blow a head gasket now he really likes the truck i have them do a head gasket job on it i'm for sure this thing is i got 200 or something thousand miles on it and it would be very good preventative maintenance because otherwise i've seen these engines go five six hundred thousand miles just this year they had a problem with a head gasket design and the new design doesn't have the problem now really the problems are just starting in this thing with it running three quarters but not losing any water but it is burning oil and he mentioned when he cleaned the throttle it had a bunch of oil in well that means that the oil control rings are worn but your piston rings for the compression are working and when they go down the oil control ring is supposed to keep that pressure from getting inside the engine in this case when they're worn the pressure goes right into the engine then it's sucked in here and oil will pool up inside so basically the engine is just starting to wear i looked at price as a new one i used to get them for 1700 for perfectly good rebuilt ones from a pro now the same engines are 4 700 bucks so you've got to drive it a while and see what happens you can also take pilot luck in a junkyard i had a customer used to get one for 500 bucks a couple years ago and it ran perfectly fine when they're done you're always gambling with that because on this even if you don't only do the head gaskets the professional mechanics are going to skim the heads and do everything you're looking at at least a couple thousand bucks since it runs good now runs a little harder as long as it doesn't get in the h it's not boiling the coolant and it's working okay you can kind of live with it but the oil in the engine it tells me the oil control rings are wearing 200 something thousand miles on the engine the original one obviously went less than that because it had been replaced so everything wears out eventually even toyotas you play it by ear with this one doesn't get too hot yeah keep driving and see what happens he hasn't even had to add coolant yet if he had to start adding coolant then yes then you'd have to decide you want to try to rebuild it replace the head gaskets or shake the dice and look for a good used engine it's your choice but at least with this way you know what you're dealing with so you can make a wise decision and here's some bonus questions and answers again with the coronavirus we have people with time on their hands so lego built a life-size lamborghini out of legos 400 000 pieces now i bought lego for my kids and grandkids and i know how expensive those things are you can imagine what 400 000 legos would cost and it marks a milestone it's the first time they ever used hexagonal pieces on lego custom made for this thing and they wanted to be exact so they had lamborghini paint the legos to perfectly match the lamborghini paint now there's an expensive lego model that weighs over two tons that's a lot of legos now there was a 15 person team in the czech republic that did it if you bought the legos alone it would have cost you thirty six thousand five hundred dollars for those four hundred thousand legos and of course the italians painted them free because it's an ad for the company too right imagine what they charge you to paint them if you wanted them to paint your lego skin color but as it goes on people get more insane with time on their hands they don't know what to do so they're making copy of italian exotic cars with legos and having them custom painted by the italians so if you never want to miss another one of my new car repair videos remember to ring that bell you\n"