V8 vs V6: which lasts longer

[firefly1246]

So my church does an event a couple times a year where we change oil for free for Single Moms. The majority of these vehicles have had a hard life and Maint is only performed if something is broken. This last time we did 87 vehicles mostly old Honda’s and Toyota’s, but we had 8 Explorers, most popular suv or van by far. 7 of them were 3rd gens and 1 sport Trac. All of these had very high mileage 200k+ and most visiblely had faded paint, and wore out interiors. They all had replacement upper ball joints or they were shot and needed replacement.

However every single 3rd gen had the 4.6 V8. Didn’t have a single 4.0 V6 except the Sport Trac.

My assumption is the 4.6 last longer without needing big money spent to keep it on the road. I assume that the 4.0 V6 all end up being junked once the timing chains in the 4.0 give up the ghost. The other thing to note (outside of the v6) is they must be cheap to keep going down the road and minimal things to go wrong compared to other similar vehicles.

-Scott

 

[MrPulldown]

UPPER ball joints. ehhh. Front? How can you tell they were going bad just from doing an oil change.

 

[firefly1246]

UPPER ball joints. ehhh. Front? How can you tell they were going bad just from doing an oil change.

Very easy. Look at them, the ball joint boots are completely ripped open or there isn’t even a boot anymore.

My job for the day was to do an inspection on each vehicle after the oil was changed. Mostly to note anything to the owner that needed attending to and verify oil/filter/plug are installed before starting up. On most vehicles it was tires that needed replacing, brake pads almost worn out, CV axle boots cracked open, etc. One Dodge Caravan had a cracked coolant hose and had zero coolant in it, have no clue how that engine was still running. On a 1st gen Durango the owner said it would go “Bump Bump down the road”. The tire had been worn to the belts and had a huge bubble in the sidewall plus the lower ball joint was sheared off and the lower a arm was wedges into the knuckle.

-Scott

 

[MrPulldown]

OK. I am good then.

 

[XploX]

Very easy. Look at them, the ball joint boots are completely ripped open or there isn’t even a boot anymore.

My job for the day was to do an inspection on each vehicle after the oil was changed. Mostly to note anything to the owner that needed attending to and verify oil/filter/plug are installed before starting up. On most vehicles it was tires that needed replacing, brake pads almost worn out, CV axle boots cracked open, etc. One Dodge Caravan had a cracked coolant hose and had zero coolant in it, have no clue how that engine was still running. On a 1st gen Durango the owner said it would go “Bump Bump down the road”. The tire had been worn to the belts and had a huge bubble in the sidewall plus the lower ball joint was sheared off and the lower a arm was wedges into the knuckle.

-Scott

There is NO way the ball joint was sheared off, and the vehicle was driving down the road. If the lower ball joint is sheared off, the bottom of the tire would kick out, and the nose of the vehicle would drop. There is absolutely NO way it could drive in that condition.

 

[firefly1246]

You know what now that you mentioned it, I agree with you. It didn’t inspect that particular vehicle but it did have negative camber. Maybe it was shot but not broken. Anyways it was having a bad day.

 

[Scurvy]

The one thing I've noticed locally is that the V8 models sell for much less than the v6 (close to half the price for a v8 vs v6 of similar mileage/condition). That could help explain why single Moms with limited income drive them, but you would have to look into whether that price differential exists in your area too.

As for the ball joint, when I blew one doing donuts in my old VW I needed to get it towed home as the wheel was no longer attached and the whole front CV shaft was pulled out of the tranny...