Are the engines of automobiles in Japan routinely replaced when the vehicle has amassed a certain amount of miles? A friend of mine stated that the engines are replaced when the vehicle has accumulated 100,000 miles (which IMHO, is not an extreme amount of miles for those types of engines).
He said it had something to do with ‘environmental regulations’. Any Dopers out there know anything about this?
No. The cars are shipped to SE Asia (Vietnam, Thailand) or Russia. THe Japanese Government has strict regulations, based upon the age of the car. By the 5th year, regulations require major overhaul of the braking systems-sometimes, entire replacement is required. This has the effect of making older cars expensive to operate, so people trade them in and buy new cars.
Yes, cars are regularly shipped out of country or go to the junkyard in Japan with fewer than 50,000 miles. This is partly because Japan is small, and people don’t rack up miles like they do here, and partly because of what ralph124c said. The government encourages new cars both to prop up the auto industry and as a perpetual “cash for clunkers” to ensure that the cars on the road have the latest emissions technology.
One of the benefits of this is that here in North America, we can buy imported used engines, usually for less than a grand delivered to your door, that typically have between 35 and 50 thousand miles on them, although the specific mileage is a crapshoot. So if you have an older Japanese car with engine problems, it’s often better to buy a new (used) imported engine than rebuild the one that’s in the car or buy one from a local junkyard that probably has a ton of miles on it.
(disclaimer - check your local laws and preferred internet forum before doing this. Emissions regulations and/or technical limitations may apply).
When I lived in England (1988-1992) used Japanese vehicles were shipped to Ireland. Then they were disassembled and parts, such as engines and transmissions, were shipped to England. Sometimes the entire car was shipped over. Something to do with trade agreements making it cheaper that way. You could get an engine that was in good running order very cheaply. The biggest problem was the different emission equipment as England at that time didn’t require much. Golf tees were popular for blocking off vacuum lines.
The vehicle inspections in Japan are rigorous and hard to pass. Therefore it just isn’t the engine that’s replaced, but the entire car.
I used to be a Japanese car guy (had a few Honda CRXs) and have done a few JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) engine swaps. The story that I always heard was basically the same as ralph124c lays it out, but in contrast to the 100,000 miles that the OP mentions, the engines were almost always advertised and discussed as having approximately 35,000 miles on them.
I will say I had good luck with the engines, purchased from a reliable importer. The Japanese market got higher performance engines than the US market (VTEC engines vs. non-VTEC, for instance) and so these engines are generally considered to be low-mileage, high-performance replacement engines when the stock engine is tired or shot and/or more performance is desired. Depending on the engine you choose, it can be very close to a direct replacement (often an ECU swap is needed as well, and those can generally be purchased with the engine).
My impression is the strict Japanese vehicle standards are part environmental protection/part stimulate the local auto industry.
Here in New Zealand there are a lot of used Japanese imports on the roads. Hell I drive one myself.
We did this (replace US engine with a used import) in a 90 Toyota about 10 or so years ago. depending on how honest the mechanic was (and I have a hint he wasn’t) the engine was supposed to have around 40k on it.
It went tits up in about a year or two. The first car I ever hauled to the junkyard was a Toyota. Go figure.
Close.
The government has a strict inspection system which up until a few years ago was set up that the first inspection was after three years, and then one every other year until 11 years, and then annually. This has changed so these expensive inspections after 11 years are still biennial, significantly reducing the cost of owning a used car.
The inspections themselves are getting less strict and expensive, although they are not cheap. They do not necessarily just focus on the braking system, though. When I moved to Taiwan in last month, I just sold my 2004 Nissan Cube which I had driven for four years. As the inspection has lapsed, I got about $600 less on the wholesale sales price. A private buyer would not have likely bought my car because of the uncertainty of the cost of the inspection.
Prices for cars do drop significantly because of these inspections. I was surprised at the much higher cost of used cars here in Taiwan (which are mostly Japanese, of course).
Very few wind up in junk yards. Most get sold out of the country in whole or in parts.
The vast majority of people in major cities use public transportation for commuting, which is the chief reason for high miles on cars. My nine-year-old car had less than 40,000 km!
For the OP, nope. They do not routinely replace whole engines at 160,000 km. No one ever gets that many.
Reported.