The Importance of Understanding Your Engine Type When Repairing Your Vehicle

When it comes to repairing your vehicle, understanding what type of engine you have is crucial. Most Toyota models, for example, have non-interference engines with timing belts. These belts can be replaced without causing significant damage to the engine. However, if a timing belt breaks, the pistons can collide with the valves, resulting in costly repairs or even engine failure. In contrast, modern cars often use chains instead of belts, which are better suited for high-performance engines.

If you're unsure about your engine type, it's best to seek advice from a professional mechanic. The first step is to gather information about your vehicle, including the year, model, and engine size. This will help determine whether your car has an interference engine or not. If it does, it may be time to consider replacing the timing belt or exploring alternative options, such as installing a different engine.

The Benefits of Using Chains Over Belts

Modern engines often use chains instead of timing belts due to their higher tolerances and ability to withstand the stresses of high-performance driving. Chains are also lubricated with engine oil, which helps extend their lifespan. While this means that chains may be more expensive upfront, they can provide long-term savings by eliminating the need for frequent belt replacements.

The Pros and Cons of Owning a Honda Odyssey

If you're considering purchasing a used Honda Odyssey, it's essential to understand the potential drawbacks of owning one. Many owners have reported issues with the vehicle's automatic transmission, which can break down over time. Additionally, the engine has been known to experience cam problems, requiring costly repairs. Rusting is also a common issue in Honda Odysseys, particularly in humid climates like Houston, Texas.

If you're looking to sell your used Odyssey, be prepared for low offers. In recent reports, owners have been quoted around $1,500 for their vehicles, despite the potential need for extensive repairs. One owner reported being offered this price after discovering that his vehicle's frame was severely rusted and needed costly repairs. To avoid this situation, consider taking your vehicle to a mechanic for an inspection before listing it for sale.

Creative Solutions for Repairing Rusty Frames

When dealing with rusty frames on older vehicles like the Honda Odyssey, creative solutions can help extend their lifespan. In some cases, welders have been able to repair and reinforce critical structural components using welding techniques. This approach requires specialized knowledge and equipment but can provide a cost-effective alternative to replacing the entire frame.

In other instances, owners may need to cover rusted areas with steel plates before continuing to drive the vehicle. While this method won't eliminate the underlying issue entirely, it can help prevent further damage and keep your car on the road for longer. Ultimately, understanding the challenges of repairing rusty frames requires a willingness to think outside the box and explore unconventional solutions.

Lessons Learned from Owning Multiple Vehicles

The author's experience with multiple vehicles has taught him valuable lessons about what works and what doesn't when it comes to repairs and maintenance. For example, his 99 Chevy Astro Van is now listed for sale, with an asking price of $7,000. While the vehicle is in relatively good condition, the low offer from a potential buyer highlights the challenges of selling older cars.

In contrast, the author's son owns a 2006 Lincoln Town Car with only 72,000 miles on it. Despite its age, the vehicle remains in excellent shape and has been well-maintained throughout its lifespan. While it may not be as flashy as newer models, this car is an example of how proper care and attention can extend its life.

Ultimately, owning a used vehicle requires patience, flexibility, and a willingness to learn from experience. By understanding the potential challenges and opportunities presented by older cars, you can make informed decisions about repairs, maintenance, and even selling your vehicle when the time comes.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwell bad news for you bronco fans turns out that the ford barranco is delayed and it's not going to come until summer of next year supposed to be in the spring but they're having production problems so the 2021 ford bronco suv is going to be delayed till later in the summer they say and the sasquatch special off-road one with the manual transmission is going to be delayed until 2022 model they say that's the one with 35 inch tires locking front and rear differentials the real off-road one now this doesn't cover the bronco sport the little one which is available now let's hope this doesn't end up like the ford thunderbird did from 1955 to 1977 ford made thunderbirds they stopped making them 2002 they brought it back but it only lasted to 2005 and they got rid of them because they pushed it the date was late thunderbird when it came back the second time they had all kinds of quality control problems the cars were basically garbage customers of mine was one the engines went out the transmissions went out let's hope the bronco doesn't go the same way it was built for a long time like the original thunderbird and now they're bringing back let's hope ford learned from their thunderbird mistake and that they don't rush it too much and the quality control is intact time will show you know you won't know until people buy them and drive them around but that second generation thunderbird only lasted for three years and that was it for that so let's hope they do a better job in the bronco that they did on the thunderbird well it's happening could this be the beginning of the end gm's crews not their cruise car this pile of junk that's their electronic division is now deploying fully driverless cars in san francisco well figures they do in san francisco right they're putting out vehicles that have no drivers in them because they want to get a robotic taxi service going on now this is two months after california gave permission for them to run fully driverless cars in california they've done it before but there were drivers behind the wheel in case something went wrong these don't have drivers behind the wheel but for the time being they're having a passenger in the passenger seat not the driver's seat but the passenger seat they're being remotely monitored from far away so if something goes wrong the guy looking at just like drones the guy's looking at the monitor see something wrong he can stop the car turning now california has also approved ride-hailing services that can pick up passengers and self-driving cars but they're not trying that yet they're allowed to but they they're pretty smart they're not going to try it right now that could be the end really fast if they wiped out a few people so you won't be driving around with people in the car only it'll be in a passenger seat and then they say they're going to move them to the back seat they're not letting them go out all by themselves just yet now waymo which is spin off from a google project they also have the right to have driverless cars in california but they haven't said yet when they're going to do it they're probably going to watch and see what happens with this company first so if you're in san francisco i guess there's going to be five of them driving around so you see these crazy little cars with white and a red stripe on the back that says cruise you know that that thing is driving itself around i'm sure there's some jokers out there on skateboards they're going to try some faster ones just to see what happens stay tuned we'll see what happens in san francisco with the driverless cars after all they are a gm product so who knows the cars might just break and then you have to worry about them hitting anything beau vlad says scotty got no white chevy silverado 1500 190 000 miles when it come to a moderately hard stop there's a clunk i let go of the brakes it seems to come from the mirror what could it be well let's pray it's your brakes pull the wheels off see if anything's worn if they're loose any springs are gone or the bearing's a little bit wobbly and it's making a noise because from my experience with the silverados with 190 000 miles it's almost always the rear end the differential in the back and they cost a fortune hardly anybody knows how to rebuild them correctly anymore the guys that i used to use in houston they went out of business years ago you have to buy a new one they cost a small fortune you try a junkyard one they all wear out you probably get a bad one then i had a guy tried used ones he went through six of them before he found a good one so you want to pray it's not that but it probably is now if you watch my video finding the source of of scotty on youtube you'll see i used the sound machine with headphones and i could pinpoint it and i would just put one in one part one of the sending units and the other red on the differential if that noise came from the differential when i click to the number two on my sound machine and that's on the differential and i hear it i know it was the differential now you can also pray maybe you got a bad universal joint on the drive shaft that's easy to check you just crawl under there let it neutral and grab the drive shaft and if you can turn it with your hand and the back goes clunk a clunker you'll see the joints went pray it's just a warn universal joint jabram says which of these mobile one oils do you recommend the one 5w20 synthetic engine oil the 5w20 extended performance of the 5w 20 synthetic high mileage oil they're trying to confuse it by adding more and more different types of oil and of course each layer costs more than the other synthetic oil is an excellent oil if you're using synthetic oil you can use any of those i would just get the regular one myself or i would go to walmart and find out what the lowest price synthetic oil is and buy that they're all excellent oils this you know high mileage stuff they have a little bit different additives and stuff in them but you know the jury's out does it actually do anything the main thing is to change it regularly and have the oil clean don't go by this nonsense some of them say oh you know you can change it every twenty thousand miles you still wanna change the oil every five six thousand miles some guys will push it to ten with synthetic go ahead if you want but hey oil is a lot cheaper than an engine as you mentioned those things for all the oil you need for your whole engine it's either gonna cost you 28 for the whole four or five quarts you're buying to thirty two dollars so the twenty eight dollar stuff's perfect you find them but like i say walmart has their own brand of synthetic oil it's a good synthetic oil it's probably even cheaper go ahead and use that if you change it every five six seven thousand miles you're not gonna have any problems either way and there's no miracle if you've got a worn out engine and you put the most expensive oil in it it don't make any difference it's still going to burn it it's still going to wear out it's not a miracle it's just lubrication and you want to keep it clean german car says what do i do my car's timing belt broke it won't start it made a weird noise a few days ago i tried to start it made a different noise but it just cranks sounds a little bit different it won't start first thing you got to figure out is you can give the information maybe send another email giving more information what is your year make an engine in if let's say it was a toyota almost every toyota ever made had a non-interference engine with the timing belt you just take it apart and get a book a chiltons or climbers or all data diy online follow directions replace the timing belt it wouldn't do any damage but if you had like an infinity volkswagen lots of cars have interference engines with timing belts then when the belt breaks the pistons hit the valves and you can say goodbye engine so first thing you want to do is find out what kind of engine just send another email give the year model engine size and i'll tell you it's an interference engine or not if it's interference engine pretty much give up either put another engine in or give up on a car if it's got a ton of miles and it's a timing belt it's probably pretty old because most modern cars use chains modern engines have a lot higher tolerances and the belts wouldn't last that long so most of them have gone to chains which is a better idea in the first place because the chain is lubricated with your engine oil generally if they're made right they can last forever conor lux car said after driving my family work fans my first vehicle 99 chevy astro van i'm getting ready to sell it i'm listening for seven grand with an 0-4 lincoln town car with 72 000 would be a good idea well yeah it would be that's the panther platform they're strong if you don't mind the gas mileage that they get they're okay on the highway they're kind of gas hogging in town and you might not be driving that many miles you might not care all that much man you're going to be the luckiest man on the planet if you can get seven grand for a 22 year old chevy astro van now if it's in really good shape and you live like in california or hawaii where cars go real expensive yeah maybe you could but in texas i could find people buying those vans all day long they buy them for you know two grand at max so good luck on selling that but yeah the lincoln town car if it really only has 72 000 miles could still be a really good vehicle they're not making them anymore but they were solid built vehicles everybody's going smaller and that's why they stopped making the big ones gas mileage and stuff like that plus it's cheaper to make a small car there's less metal gordoff says i got an old one honda odyssey with only 50 000 miles it's in beautiful shape i was going to sell it for 4 500 a guy comes and says just as i thought rusted out like the rest i thought he was trying to screw me over but i looked down and part of the frame is rusted out and crumbling my minivan i put new brakes new tires and battery there's a rear chassis restaurant i don't know what to do if you went into the past and had a time machine you could have listened to scotty and not bought it in the first place honda odyssey vans have had lots of problems their automatic transmissions broke all the time they had cam problems in the engine that one cam would wear out and wallow and rattle and you have to rebuild the engine well rusting's also another one i personally have to deal with that much because i was in houston texas cars don't rest that much there i didn't get the rusted ones except the ones that moved down from detroit and buffalo into houston and yeah they rotted away like that you're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place you said this guy is offering you 1500 bucks because he said it's gonna cost three grand to do the frame over which is true if you did the whole frame over you take the whole vehicle off body and everything put a new frame put it back together again which really wouldn't be worth doing or you could just drive it until the wheels fall off generally since they're front-wheel drive vehicles if the back frame is rotting away a little a lot of times you can get guys to weld big pieces of steel back there like i did in my son's tacoma that was rusted out and that was five six years ago and it's still driving down the road so you might either learn how to weld or find a welder's willing to weld cover plates on it and then keep driving it because i mean you put all your money into it you're only gonna get 1500 why not put a little welding on and then drive until the wheels fall off and then never buy another honda odyssey so if you never want to miss another one of my new car repair videos remember to ring that bell youwell bad news for you bronco fans turns out that the ford barranco is delayed and it's not going to come until summer of next year supposed to be in the spring but they're having production problems so the 2021 ford bronco suv is going to be delayed till later in the summer they say and the sasquatch special off-road one with the manual transmission is going to be delayed until 2022 model they say that's the one with 35 inch tires locking front and rear differentials the real off-road one now this doesn't cover the bronco sport the little one which is available now let's hope this doesn't end up like the ford thunderbird did from 1955 to 1977 ford made thunderbirds they stopped making them 2002 they brought it back but it only lasted to 2005 and they got rid of them because they pushed it the date was late thunderbird when it came back the second time they had all kinds of quality control problems the cars were basically garbage customers of mine was one the engines went out the transmissions went out let's hope the bronco doesn't go the same way it was built for a long time like the original thunderbird and now they're bringing back let's hope ford learned from their thunderbird mistake and that they don't rush it too much and the quality control is intact time will show you know you won't know until people buy them and drive them around but that second generation thunderbird only lasted for three years and that was it for that so let's hope they do a better job in the bronco that they did on the thunderbird well it's happening could this be the beginning of the end gm's crews not their cruise car this pile of junk that's their electronic division is now deploying fully driverless cars in san francisco well figures they do in san francisco right they're putting out vehicles that have no drivers in them because they want to get a robotic taxi service going on now this is two months after california gave permission for them to run fully driverless cars in california they've done it before but there were drivers behind the wheel in case something went wrong these don't have drivers behind the wheel but for the time being they're having a passenger in the passenger seat not the driver's seat but the passenger seat they're being remotely monitored from far away so if something goes wrong the guy looking at just like drones the guy's looking at the monitor see something wrong he can stop the car turning now california has also approved ride-hailing services that can pick up passengers and self-driving cars but they're not trying that yet they're allowed to but they they're pretty smart they're not going to try it right now that could be the end really fast if they wiped out a few people so you won't be driving around with people in the car only it'll be in a passenger seat and then they say they're going to move them to the back seat they're not letting them go out all by themselves just yet now waymo which is spin off from a google project they also have the right to have driverless cars in california but they haven't said yet when they're going to do it they're probably going to watch and see what happens with this company first so if you're in san francisco i guess there's going to be five of them driving around so you see these crazy little cars with white and a red stripe on the back that says cruise you know that that thing is driving itself around i'm sure there's some jokers out there on skateboards they're going to try some faster ones just to see what happens stay tuned we'll see what happens in san francisco with the driverless cars after all they are a gm product so who knows the cars might just break and then you have to worry about them hitting anything beau vlad says scotty got no white chevy silverado 1500 190 000 miles when it come to a moderately hard stop there's a clunk i let go of the brakes it seems to come from the mirror what could it be well let's pray it's your brakes pull the wheels off see if anything's worn if they're loose any springs are gone or the bearing's a little bit wobbly and it's making a noise because from my experience with the silverados with 190 000 miles it's almost always the rear end the differential in the back and they cost a fortune hardly anybody knows how to rebuild them correctly anymore the guys that i used to use in houston they went out of business years ago you have to buy a new one they cost a small fortune you try a junkyard one they all wear out you probably get a bad one then i had a guy tried used ones he went through six of them before he found a good one so you want to pray it's not that but it probably is now if you watch my video finding the source of of scotty on youtube you'll see i used the sound machine with headphones and i could pinpoint it and i would just put one in one part one of the sending units and the other red on the differential if that noise came from the differential when i click to the number two on my sound machine and that's on the differential and i hear it i know it was the differential now you can also pray maybe you got a bad universal joint on the drive shaft that's easy to check you just crawl under there let it neutral and grab the drive shaft and if you can turn it with your hand and the back goes clunk a clunker you'll see the joints went pray it's just a warn universal joint jabram says which of these mobile one oils do you recommend the one 5w20 synthetic engine oil the 5w20 extended performance of the 5w 20 synthetic high mileage oil they're trying to confuse it by adding more and more different types of oil and of course each layer costs more than the other synthetic oil is an excellent oil if you're using synthetic oil you can use any of those i would just get the regular one myself or i would go to walmart and find out what the lowest price synthetic oil is and buy that they're all excellent oils this you know high mileage stuff they have a little bit different additives and stuff in them but you know the jury's out does it actually do anything the main thing is to change it regularly and have the oil clean don't go by this nonsense some of them say oh you know you can change it every twenty thousand miles you still wanna change the oil every five six thousand miles some guys will push it to ten with synthetic go ahead if you want but hey oil is a lot cheaper than an engine as you mentioned those things for all the oil you need for your whole engine it's either gonna cost you 28 for the whole four or five quarts you're buying to thirty two dollars so the twenty eight dollar stuff's perfect you find them but like i say walmart has their own brand of synthetic oil it's a good synthetic oil it's probably even cheaper go ahead and use that if you change it every five six seven thousand miles you're not gonna have any problems either way and there's no miracle if you've got a worn out engine and you put the most expensive oil in it it don't make any difference it's still going to burn it it's still going to wear out it's not a miracle it's just lubrication and you want to keep it clean german car says what do i do my car's timing belt broke it won't start it made a weird noise a few days ago i tried to start it made a different noise but it just cranks sounds a little bit different it won't start first thing you got to figure out is you can give the information maybe send another email giving more information what is your year make an engine in if let's say it was a toyota almost every toyota ever made had a non-interference engine with the timing belt you just take it apart and get a book a chiltons or climbers or all data diy online follow directions replace the timing belt it wouldn't do any damage but if you had like an infinity volkswagen lots of cars have interference engines with timing belts then when the belt breaks the pistons hit the valves and you can say goodbye engine so first thing you want to do is find out what kind of engine just send another email give the year model engine size and i'll tell you it's an interference engine or not if it's interference engine pretty much give up either put another engine in or give up on a car if it's got a ton of miles and it's a timing belt it's probably pretty old because most modern cars use chains modern engines have a lot higher tolerances and the belts wouldn't last that long so most of them have gone to chains which is a better idea in the first place because the chain is lubricated with your engine oil generally if they're made right they can last forever conor lux car said after driving my family work fans my first vehicle 99 chevy astro van i'm getting ready to sell it i'm listening for seven grand with an 0-4 lincoln town car with 72 000 would be a good idea well yeah it would be that's the panther platform they're strong if you don't mind the gas mileage that they get they're okay on the highway they're kind of gas hogging in town and you might not be driving that many miles you might not care all that much man you're going to be the luckiest man on the planet if you can get seven grand for a 22 year old chevy astro van now if it's in really good shape and you live like in california or hawaii where cars go real expensive yeah maybe you could but in texas i could find people buying those vans all day long they buy them for you know two grand at max so good luck on selling that but yeah the lincoln town car if it really only has 72 000 miles could still be a really good vehicle they're not making them anymore but they were solid built vehicles everybody's going smaller and that's why they stopped making the big ones gas mileage and stuff like that plus it's cheaper to make a small car there's less metal gordoff says i got an old one honda odyssey with only 50 000 miles it's in beautiful shape i was going to sell it for 4 500 a guy comes and says just as i thought rusted out like the rest i thought he was trying to screw me over but i looked down and part of the frame is rusted out and crumbling my minivan i put new brakes new tires and battery there's a rear chassis restaurant i don't know what to do if you went into the past and had a time machine you could have listened to scotty and not bought it in the first place honda odyssey vans have had lots of problems their automatic transmissions broke all the time they had cam problems in the engine that one cam would wear out and wallow and rattle and you have to rebuild the engine well rusting's also another one i personally have to deal with that much because i was in houston texas cars don't rest that much there i didn't get the rusted ones except the ones that moved down from detroit and buffalo into houston and yeah they rotted away like that you're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place you said this guy is offering you 1500 bucks because he said it's gonna cost three grand to do the frame over which is true if you did the whole frame over you take the whole vehicle off body and everything put a new frame put it back together again which really wouldn't be worth doing or you could just drive it until the wheels fall off generally since they're front-wheel drive vehicles if the back frame is rotting away a little a lot of times you can get guys to weld big pieces of steel back there like i did in my son's tacoma that was rusted out and that was five six years ago and it's still driving down the road so you might either learn how to weld or find a welder's willing to weld cover plates on it and then keep driving it because i mean you put all your money into it you're only gonna get 1500 why not put a little welding on and then drive until the wheels fall off and then never buy another honda odyssey so if you never want to miss another one of my new car repair videos remember to ring that bell you\n"