Sorry if this has been posted before. I did a search and couldn't find anything.
I'm wondering about these so-called low mileage jap import engines. They say that the engines have some low mileage on them like 30-60k. Does anybody else have a hard time believing this? I've heard several stories of why they have such low mileage, but I've never seen any factual information to back up any of these claims, and the stories don't seem reasonable. I'm currently considering replacing the engine in one of my cars, so this has become an issue for me. I've spoken with many people who have bought these engines and say they run great, but couldn't a 150k mile engine run great?
Anybody have any real information on this subject?

 

I think the moral of the story is that mileage on honda engines doesn't matter very much. Put a new timing belt and water pump on it, and new ignition stuff, and it's basically new. The only time you'll have a problem is if it was abused or not maintaned in it's previous life.

 

for the most part the 30-50k mile thing is accurate BUT there is no way to know for sure. as a car in japan gets older it costs more money to register it each year, so after X amount of years its just cheaper to buy a new car and the old ones end up junked.

 

That's probably the most believable explaination I've heard, but how do we know for sure? Have you ever seen documentation of this?
THanks for the information either way.

 

If this was concerning my Civic, I'd agree with you, but it does matter in my case. This involves a Legend. These engines have major problems with head gaskets and other mechanical and electrical problems. I have a real nice Legend with veryhigh miles on it and a tired engine. I don't have the luxury of rebuilding the engine as I can't have the car down that long, so I'm considering buying an import engine for it. But I'm not willing to just go on faith, as I want to know that the engine I buy is going to last another 100k or so, as I think the car will easily last that long otherwise. So I'm looking for information that can at least in general back up the claims of these importers.