howdy, im buying a smartlock eb2/ed 4.0l fairmont sedan just wondering how many kms from new will the engine last before it needs work. im just interested as i saw a question on yahoo asking about life span on a au engine.

it all depends on the driver too, motors can last from 150,000km to 1,000,000km, theres heaps of different factors that affect the life of a motor.

Bottom end? I'm not too sure. I believe a headgasket will be considered betweem 260,000km and 320,000 - with some examples a few k's either side.

My first EA - (GL CFi 3spd ) had a reco motor fitted at about 310,000km.. My new EA - (S MPFi 5SPD) blew headgasket at 272,000.. replaced with a new head as well and it's fine (and makes a good sleeper).

As a guess I'm sure there'd be some Taxi's out there - maybe 2 heads later, but 550,000km+ on the original block?

ya dependin on driver how well its looked after and oil and coolant used many factors! my white ea has done 224500 km's and still goin strong!!!!

Our eb11 had done 370odd before I rebuilt it and did not look after it. It now gets looked after.
I did work on a 700k ex taxi (head gasket)
Why do you think most taxis in the 90s where fords. taxis are a perfect world always warm and serviced regular, a taxi company owner said his ford taxis would do 1 mill easy his holden taxis maybe 600 if he was lucky.
Just make sure you dont over heat them.
Also a tuboed 4.0 can make 500hp on standard botom end

on the subject of head gaskets, our white ED did one at 175,000km... after getting stuck in Brisbane traffic with a hole in the radiaror (unknown to us at the time)

your answer is, how long is a piece of string.

Too many variables to consider. in general though, Ford I6 motors are a work horse that providing the maintenance is kept up will keep on going, bit like the bloody energiser bunny.

They are not a high strung motor, generally they do not get reved to hard or to long, Taxi drivers love em because of their durability and ease of access to parts.

Look sideways at the early Gen III V8's some were awesome others were oil drinking piston slapping POS's. the odds of you getting a dud I6 is alot lower than most other cars. and even if it is a bit of a dud, its still easy to fix and with a bit of mechanical knowledge you can do it yourself, they are not a super advanced motor and a big engine bay makes most things pretty accessable.

a piece of string is twice as long as it is from the centre to one end.



but like every one says depends on how it's looked after, servicing, how hard it driven, quality of oil, quality of air filters. stuff like that