What happens to an engine as the mileage gets greater? I understand that there is wear and tear, but what is it specifically that would cause a decrease in performance or weaken parts?

I guess the natural question after that would be what can be done to the engine to remedy this decrease in performance?

 

rebuild.

 

I guess don't drive it so hard. I don't think there is any economically effective way to keep the performance the way it is. you will need to spend alot of cash.

 

It all depends on how you care for it. My 91 CRX still pulls as hard today as it did new. So does my 93 MR2. Both engines have well north of 160k on them. And it's not like I baby them - They both get driven. Hard. But they're also meticulously maintained (mechanically, anyway. The MR2 needs a paint job that it's not getting for awhile). If you take proper care of an engine, it'll do fine in maintaining performance for a long time. The trick is that most people don't take good care of their car at all, and then when the engine drops in performance, they blame it on age and the engine being "tired," rather than the engine getting damaged because they decided it was too much trouble or too expensive to do routine maintenance.

 

Engine wear is nothing to be worried about. Everyone assumes power declines from the day it's driven off the lot which is far from the truth.

If you look at the curve, there's a ton of wear in the first 30minutes of use (break-in). Then it levels off almost perfectly flat to 300, maybe 400,000 miles and then the decline which is quicker but not as quick as break-in.

For the first 100-200,000 miles you're probably gaining power still, assuming all electronics, fuel system, etc are in perfect order.

Most of the issues with power decline are related to other systems, not mechanical wear.

Absolutely do not use such products as "Engine Restore".

 

As I-hate-cars said, there's nothing to worry about in the department of engine internals. The best thing you can do is meticulously follow the maintence schedule and use quality fluids...

 

Thank you for the feedback.
I can say with confidence that I maintain the service and maintance above par and quite honestly do not drive the car hard, with the exception of a few spirited runs.
My concern of course is the components you don't see, but as stated above that may not be a concern for some time yet.
I do not use any products such as engine restore, I've only ever used seafoam.