how long do recon engines for cars last for?

[fredwilkins]

how long do recon engines for cars last for?

[northernbloke]

What a daft question! You may as well ask how long is a piece of string, there are many variables at play.

[Surfer01]

What a daft question! You may as well ask how long is a piece of string, there are many variables at play.

That is not a vey helpful answer!

[citizenB]

It was indeed a bizarre question, but agree with Surfer that northern bloke's response was very unhelpful, if not downright rude.

[northernbloke]

Not rude at all, although I agree, not very helpful! The poster was asking rather a vague question.It is true that there are a lot of things which can affect engine life, correct servicing, how well it was reconditioned, how it's driven etc. If such details were provided then people may be able to judge whether or not his engine was up to scratch.

[heliosuk]

Hardly rude either but have to agree with northern. Far too many times we see posts without any real details behind them and then the suit grabbit and run brigade launch a tirade about SOGA rather than asking for some substance on which a valued assessment and comment can be made.

[stunned_monkey]

The quick answer is of course "it depends"... but I would caveat that with "it depends on the particular engine".

 

If the engine has a known fault with a known fix, then a "recon" engine may simply be a repair hopefully correcting the original flaw which means it's now as good as an engine that's never been apart. (eg Rover K-Series head gasket failures)

 

Smart For2 engines (Mercedes generation) have a high but pretty consistent failure rate and are cheap and easy to do a proper job of rebuilding so what you get back is basically as good as new.

 

If I were in your shoes, I'd look at the reputation of the engine and the reputation of the person/people who've done the "recon" and make sure to get a full list of what's been replaced.