eli5: How do car engines last so long?

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A car engine basically has thousands of mini explosions happening inside of it, is has parts moving very fast and generating tons of heat, and experiences extreme temperature fluctuations on a daily basis. Yet it is the part that usually dies last in a car.

How do they make them last so long and why are we unable to make other parts of the car as long lasting, such as tires and brakes?

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21 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

I mean – some of the best engineers of the past 120ish years have all worked on the problems engines have had. So many problems have been solved – and more will be.

The current combustion engine is a marvel of modern engineering. Every single part has been optimized and re-optimized, from what alloys are used for each part to efficiency of 4 large versus 6 smaller cylinders.

I know this and I am not even an engineer – I just watch obscure YT videos.

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