Re: Expected life of the 2L Alfa engine

["Tony Sims" <simstony@domain.elided>]

Damien writes:

>What is the expected "normal life" of the 2L Alfa engine before having to
>rebuild it? I know that the life of an engine is fonction of numerous things
>and especially of maintenance and good tune up. I also know that, due to the
>wet-sleeve design, head gascket is prone to fail.

I'd be inclined to say that "when preventative maintenance is postponed or
ignored, the head gasket is prone to fail".  Regular checking of head nut
torque, regular oil changes and making sure the cooling system is clean and
functioning correctly will add years to the life of that head gasket.

>For example, it is commun for VW and Audi engines to run well above 300 000
km
>(180 000 miles) without any head of engine jobs.

In my experience, VW water-cooled engine bottom ends are very durable, but
they are known to wear cams and valve guides, and suffer from excessive carbon
deposits, even with regular oil changes.  Plus you have the pesky cam belt
that, if not replaced about every 50-60K miles, will break and give you a very
urgent reason to do some head work...

>My Alfa has more than 100 000 miles on it and I wonder if the engine has
been
>rebuilt during its 16 year of life?
>
>With the except the cylender compression values, is there any evidence to
>decipher if the engine has been rebuilt previously.without dismantle it to
>learn than.

Clean your engine very well (degreaser, + pressure washer, steam cleaning,
etc.)  Then you can look for evidence of a teardown like gasket sealant
(especially silicone sealers) oozing out of mating joints.  It is difficult to
tell if an engine has been rebuilt just by looking at the outside, because
many parts can be R&R'd without the engine being removed from the car.  It has
been suggested that you can do pretty much a full rebuild on an Alfa without
taking the engine out, if you're patient, resourceful and a little
masochistic...

Cheers,
Tony
Portland, OR
74 GTV 2000
70 2800 CS
72 BadVaria
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