Transcript for:
Exploring Reliable Indestructible Engines

not all engines are created equal and that's exactly why we thought today we'd lay out 10 engines that are reliable durable and well essentially indestructible now most of these engines might not offer pulse pounding performance but they make up for it with their extreme dependability we're kicking things off with the legendary Toyota 1u look folks this is an engine that both matched the Germans in engineering and surpassed them in reliability at the same damn time and though this is a Toyota product the one u z is most remembered for being put in Toyota's most upscale car at the time the iconic Lexus LS400 this 4 L V8 featured a heavily reinforced block and a hefty forged steel crankshaft with eight crankshaft counterweights two more than the conventional V8 of the time because of this as well as its generally incredible all-around engineering the one u z was smooth as silk something that Lexus emphasized with their incredible champagne glass Hood balancing advertisement for the car back in the '90s the Lexus LS400 is designed to stir the soul and not much else of course we can also point to the oneu Z's successors the 2 U and the 3 U as also being incredibly reliable engines because they totally are but it was the one U that started it all and genuinely proved that Lexus was as they say in the Relentless pursuit of perfection but as incredible as the one u z is there's no replacing the king of the V8s the General Motors LS remember this isn't a performance list though some of the engines were offered in performance applications this is about engines that will last forever it just so happens that the ls V8s are capable of doing both the ls debuted in 1997 with the then new C5 Corvette and ever since it's been revered as one of the most trusty American engines ever made like ever thanks to the ls's trick hypotactic Pistons that allow higher in cylinder heat and tolerance as well as the higher flow aluminum heads and Uber strong connecting rods it'll run hundreds of thousands of miles in stock form with minimal maintenance and the maintenance that you do have to do will be cheap because well America but even when modded the ls with stock internals can handle double or even triple the stock output and still hold out just about as long as a stalker from Camaros and Firebirds to Corvettes and more these ls's have been keeping some of your favorite cars on the road reliably for a long time but the ls isn't the only engine that has served multiple models with unparalleled reliability that's because the Honda B series exists this family of four-cylinder engines was found in cars like the Honda Civic CRX and Integra from the late 80s till around 2001 and it did its stob better than anyone could have asked for the beauty in these bite-sized four cylinders is in their Simplicity overly beefy blocks and well-engineered run-of-the-mill internals and of course the B series did oversee the change from single to double overhead cams and would eventually feature more advanced Tech like Honda's legendary VTEC System but the regular Economy Car V series engines were the ones that cemented Honda's bulletproof reputation when it comes to reliability of course we could totally mentioned the other iconic Honda 4-cylinder platforms like the trusty D series and the world beating K series # K swap the world but the B series came through at the right time and at the right place to earn itself a spot in the history books speaking of Japanese four cylinders from the 80s and 90s up next got a little truck Engine That Could the Toyota 22R much like that cute little Honda B series it's the lack of crazy outof the-box engineering that makes the 22R so freaking good no special materials no wild electronically controlled systems and nothing you don't need the 22R has built its reputation as a Workhorse engine in its time in the Toyota Hilux or what folks here in America cleverly called it the Toyota pickup and you can also find it in the Toyota cresa 4Runner Celica and even the ler it had awesome low to mid-range pull and could punch way above its weight in utility applications in fact most people agreed that the only thing you need to make maintain on these engines for them to run literally forever is the timing chain and even that doesn't have to be changed for at least every 100,000 miles I've seen him go way longer I don't know about you but one major service every 100,000 M or so sounds like a pretty good deal to me unlike the ls V8s this engine isn't much of a standout in the power Department though we're talking a puny 113 horsepower at an even punier 4,800 RPM here folks that's why eventually it got retired for good but that's also why it lasted so long it doesn't stress its components by trying to pretend to be a race car engine enough of those damn Toyotas for now Lord knows they always dominate lists like this so let's take a look at something fresh the Ford 3 and 1/2 L Ecoboost V6 since its debut in the Lincoln MKS in the late 2000s the Ecoboost V6 has been a huge GameChanger for Ford but it wasn't until the second gen Ecoboost V6 that things really got pretty amazing key changes to the second gen engine included valve drain improvements an updated turbocharger design a new fuel system and enhanced bottom-end durability it could be found in stuff like the F-150 the Expedition the lincol Navigator and even Ford's most beloved Supercar the Ford GT there's no wonder why these engines keep getting bought up by customers year after year their fuel efficient make just as much power as other engines with more displacements and they will last a long time with proper maintenance in fact looking at only the F-150 80% of them were sold with EcoBoost engines in 2021 goes to show how impressed customers have been with this thing now sure some owners have had some problems but it seems like the majority of them are directly related to neglected maintenance take care of your EcoBoost and it should take care of you a lot of Toyota guys will tell you that the Camry's best engine ever was the old 2G V6 and while they absolutely do have a point I'd argue that the smaller 4cylinder 2A RF could possibly be even better and yes I'm talking about Toyota again sorry you just can't escape him when it comes to anything discussing reliability anyways the 2 AR RF is known as yet another one of Toyota's seemingly unkillable pieces of Machinery it debuted in the 2009 Camry the official car of slogging through the daily commute and it immediately well it it did nothing special just as it was designed to do it was sober with its sub 200 horsepower and relatively understated personality but that's exactly what most people want in an engine no drama whatsoever oh wow it achieved this feed of reliability through things like reduced tension piston rings low friction internals and a variable stage oil pump amongst other clever engineering but you don't have to have a Camry to get this bulletproof for you can also find it in the Rav 4 silent TC and even the Lexus es250 fancy now nobody really does it anything fun with that Camry engine but you know an engine has seen some real the AMC Chrysler 4 L inline 6 this is a cool engine not because it's high-tech in fact its blueprints can be traced back to the mid-60s what makes it badass is it's commitment to things that just work it's got an overhead valve tra a good old camon block design and very dated intake and exhaust ports that reside on the same side of the head when modern engines all have them split to either side for all intents and purposes it's basically a tractor engine but all those components put together make them go forever and ever I actually challenge you to abuse this thing hard enough to blow it up because odds are you probably can't they've been thrown around on the trails and bogged down in the mud for decades all while overheating and being oil starved and they just don't care and if you'd like to experience the luxury of never having to replace your engine you can find these things inside Jeeps like like the old Cherokees the Wrangler kamanche and even the Wagoner all from around the late ' 80s to the end of the '90s now of course Honda is known for their four cylinders I mean the s2000s f20c come on it's one of the best of all time but don't sleep on Honda's v6s this is the Honda J series found in the Honda Accord and odyssey as well as things like the Acura TL and cl the jeries v6s have been an integral part of what has made Honda such a wonderful all-around brand and and they still use this engine family today the J series can also make a great performance engine but it's one you won't have to worry about blowing up like ever it does this thanks to heat resistant Pistons a forged crank and Honda's super intense stress testing in development programs of course in some applications the J series features things like VTEC and cylinder deactivation that help increase performance and efficiency but like many of the other engines on this list the J Ser success is because of its simple improving components that work well in a variety of applications people are putting these things in all kinds of stuff these days these two engines can be found in Toyotas like the 4Runner Land Cruiser Avalon Tundra Tacoma Camry and also a bunch of Lexus models I mean do I really have to say anymore that list of cars is probably a huge portion of many of the most reliable cars ever lists all over the Internet and much of that esteem is thanks to the gr engine family in fact these engines are so popular and adaptable that Lotus of all people used these v6s in sports cars for years with superchargers on them but the bread and butter of this engine is unquestionably cars like the 4Runner V Land Cruiser two cars that you probably see at least a few times every single day and never broken down on the side of the road owners have come to expect at least 300,000 Mi out of these engines over the years and it's safe to say that they consistently hit that Target I mean both the 4Runner and Land Cruiser are in the top five models with the highest percentage of units with over 200,000 mil pretty good club to be in if you ask me but now possibly the most reliable engine of all time and maybe one you forgot about it's the GM 3800 V6 when they talk about strong as an ox this is what they mean they have bulletproof blocks indestructible internals and fantastic ease of Maintenance that makes these engines an absolute dream for your wallet the 38 00 cman cars like the Pontiac Grand Prix the firebird The Bu Regal the Chevy Impala and lumina and even the Chevy Camaro at the time and while they did come in supercharged trim starting in 1998 these aren't the most performance oriented engines by a long way 205 horsepower at its maximum but of course as we've learned from this list so far that means nothing when it comes to reliability and the GM 3800 is just about the goat in that department especially the series two iteration that changed the deck height improved the Pistons in crank and featured a better intake manifold amongst many other small improvements so there we have it 10 solid engines that'll last you till the sunb burns out but it's only 10 of the best there are a ton more out there that we missed so let us know which ones you would sub in down in the comments below and make sure to like subscribe and find more great content to watch right over here on ideal my name's Trav thank you for watching and I'll see you all next week