What's the deal with cars in japan?

I friend of mine recently just bought an engine from Japan. He bought an H22(Honda Prelude Engine). I have the same engine in my garage ready to be dropped in my car but it is the american version. He is a mechanic at the car dealership I work at. He was telling me about how in Japan if you get pulled over and have more than 60 thousand miles/Kilometers on your car you get in trouble. Is it mandatory to have your engine replaced when you hit a certain milage? Also, He said If the police pop your hood and even see a cold air intake they will impound your car, chop it into pieces and ship it around the world.

There are actually alot of people in the USA that buy these engines from Japan.

 

Sorry, but your friend is talking out of his arse. There is no such rule or law in Japan. Japan uses KM so 60'000 miles is 96'560KM. You DO need to change the timing belt by 100'000km or about 90'000km to be safe but change the engine? Not true at all I'm afraid.

My Subaru Impreza (2006 model) has done 78'547km. Never a days trouble, only had the fan belt changed once and still runs as sweet as the day I bought it. According to your mate, I'll soon have to buy a new engine. Yeah, right.

As for the air intake, again, a load of crap. The police don't do anything like that. Thousands of cars on the road have cool air intakes, even my car does behind the number plate. I'd rather have a scoop for the cool look factor but I bought the car ex-display for a good price, so I can't complain really.

Yakumo

 

Perfect that exact person I wanted to respond to the thread.
Yea I wasn't sure if it was true or not. The story fits though when you look at a picture like this:




All of these engines are "SUPPOSE" to have 35k-60k miles on them. Is that just a load of B.S.
How and why? lol

 

WOW! that is quite a sight. Maybe those are from crashed cars? Or over produced engines? Who knows, but they are certainly not from cars that have done 60'000 miles.

 

2. Do the Japanese have to sell their engines or junk their cars at a particular mileage or time?
NO! The Japanese car Inspection or Sha-ken as it is called in Japan, determines whether it is cost effective for a person to keep his/her vehicle. The inspection is a detailed biannual inspection that is very expensive, especially for older cars that may not pass. The owner is penalized heavily for any failures. The Canada and U.S. Department of Commerce can give you more info on this topic.
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3. Why do JDM engines have lower mileage?
Japanese people rely mostly on public transportation, therefore the cars are driven less. They also have bi-annual car inspection or Sha-ken as it is called in Japan, and determines whether it is cost effective for a person to keep his/her vehicle. Engines are also taken out of cars that have been accidented in the back or the side.
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Straight from TigerJapanese


Damn, I can't believe he really told me that. I wonder where he heard all that crazy stuff he told me.

How is it not cost effective to keep a car with 60k. There is definetly still another 100k to go.

Are "chop shops" big in japan? Do cars frequently get stolen?

 

HAHA man i don't know, it just seems so wierd for them to get rid of perfectly good engines. Those inspection charges must be outragous.

 

Yep, your friend has indeed been watching too many fast and Furious movies :lol:

The shaken does get more expensive the older the car is and type of car but the owner is not penalized heavily for any failures. Basically you pay the fee for the Shaken car test (M.O.T. in the UK) and then see if the car passes or not. No pass, no Shaken which means it's not legal to drive on public roads. Same as any country, really.

My wife's car and mine are both the same age (2006 models) yet her Shaken is half the price of mine due to her car being pretty slow and well, a bit crap.

The point about "Japanese people rely mostly on public transportation" is also misleading. Sure in the likes of Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima and maybe Fukuoka that is true but the same could be said for the likes of New York or London. Where I live, everyone has a car. Many families have 2 cars. One for the man and one for the woman. however, It's normally a good car and a small 3 cylinder "Kei-car" as they call them here.

Yakumo

 

In the past this was true but now Japanese will keep cars for about 10 years. I'm keeping mine for another 4 before I buy another. You do see the od real gem of a classic now and then though along with the odd complete shit box but not many.

 

The summed up answer: the auto industry, like any other industry in Japan, is a racket. Shaken pays people to do jobs computers could do, but for some reason Japan thinks people should do. Other jobs like this? Holding up signs on the street comes to mind.

 

Reverse image search that. It's found on a bunch of pages selling engines.

Chances are its from an early listing a few years back for Type R engines that found its way to the internet and played chinese whispers.

Typically if your about to chop something up you dont spend time, money and equipment lugging about engines into specific orders, you do however if you're selling a bunch and want to proove you have that amount.

 

Right! :lol:

But on the other hand, that particular person would be a jobless hobo in most of any other countries.

 

Well i love classic cars are nicer.

 

Because we all have that friend who claims to have gotten the Triforce in Zelda OoT.

Meaning someone is so full of shit their asshole has been glued shut.

 

I have read somewhere, maybe it was Yakumo on the old forums or someone else on here... that it's more cost effective to replace your car in japan because of changing emmission/mpg standards and keeping an old car in Japan results in higher taxes and purchasing special permits. That's what probably Shaken is...

Japan has higher mpg standards than in the US (theirs is 40 something, whereas the US the average mpg is 18-19mpg), so you tend to see newer cars over there than in the states.

California is where they are sticklers for emissions even though California is number one in pollutants in the air, water and land. Having been somewhat involved in the Honda tuning errr ricing scene, one physical difference between JDM and USDM is that JDM engines don't have EGR systems, hence it will fail emissions tests. Fortunately, living in Florida, air quality is great and no emission laws.

 

He bought a jdm h22 and lsd tranny. I have an h22a4 im putting into my acura cl. Its identical to a 5th gen accord.

 

Why?

 

I used to see those every weekend when I went raving in Austin, Texas back in the 90's.