If your automobile has special meaning to you and you never plan to get rid of it, we here at Buellton Garage advise that you prepare yourself for the time when your car will need a new engine. Automobiles are machines, and machines don’t last forever. Unfortunately, after a couple of hundred thousand miles, your engine may wear down to the point that it can no longer be repaired. Here are signs that this has happened and that your car needs a new engine.
A Ton of Exhaust
You should never see a ton of exhaust smoke flowing out of your tailpipe. If you do, your automobile engine has a serious fluid leak. We aren’t talking a couple of drops of something; we’re talking a hemorrhage. The color of the exhaust can help you identify the fluid. If the exhaust is black, the hemorrhage is fuel. If the exhaust is blue, the hemorrhage is oil. If the exhaust is white, the hemorrhage is coolant. Losing these fluids to the point of exhaust burn signals a serious breach in your engine.
Knocking Noises All the Time
If you hear knocking noises all the time coming from your engine, this could be a sign of a serious problem in the cylinder block. If the rod bearings have worn down, the noise that you hear is the pistons rattling inside of the cylinders. This can cause serious cylinder block damage. You may also end up with a broken rod, and if this is the case, your engine is a goner.
Metal in the Motor Oil
Another sign that your engine is a goner is finding metal in your motor oil. When the motor oil gets filled with metal shavings, it means that your engine is disintegrating. The destruction of your engine happens so fast that you may not even know that you have metal shavings in the oil. It only takes a few hours before the engine dies completely.
Overheating Constantly
You may also need to replace your engine if it overheats constantly and no amount of cooling system work solves the problem. Sometimes, a cracked head gasket, engine gasket, exhaust manifold, or engine block will make the engine overheat no matter how much coolant you have in it. Repairing these things requires serious engine work, and a cracked engine block requires a new engine.
Finally, Buellton Garage in Buellton, CA, also advises that, eventually, your engine will no longer produce power. This is definitely a sign that your engine has reached the end of its life.