And I just found out that two of the five Caprices I looked at (the 2015's) were V6 3600 LFX engines. Who the hell wants those, not me nor any other ex-cop car enthusiast, I'm guessing. No reason to even try a Caprice unless it's a 6.0 L55. I was not aware that they even made the Aussie Caprice with the V6.

At the same time, the same PD is auctioning one of its last remaining 2011 Crown Vics, also posted with a complete service history. Care to guess what it reveals in 75k of life?

Nothing save brake jobs and battery replacements. Except for one notation in late 2019 ... a special request to KEEP the aged out unit IN SERVICE until the next replacement cycle!

You don't see that with Caprices or Chargers.

I thought about snagging an Aussie Caprice but the 6.0 Holden engine is NOT the same as the U.S. counterpart. I don't know if the differences make maintaining the engine troublesome. My local PD is phasing out TONS of these units and 90% of them have a knock. The DOD system is notorious for failing.

The undesirable impala part is what gets me in the looks department. It's the oddbalness of them that has me intrigued but the looks and engine problem that keep me away.

Yes. Around 100K on it. I forget the hours but it's up there. I was more interested in two others with more mileage but mine was the first one up and I didn't want to get stuck not getting any if there were bidding wars on any of them.

I'm also almost interested in getting a Taurusceptor to try but it's the durability of them that keeps me away. None of them have enough profit margin to make worth buying here to flip especially when none of them are as durable as Crown vics were. And the problem with Crown vics is we're in the rust area so any left at auctions usuaully aren't that great. I've seen better deals thru private sales.

I too would buy a Taurusceptor if I could find one at a good price... meaning with enough separation between auction and retail prices. So far I haven't seen that separation out here in the Rocky Mountains. Taurusceptors are all selling for too much.

To be fair, I'm only looking at the AWD model. But heck, the Explorerceptor is basically the same everything mechanically and I have scored several of those for between $4500 and $5500.

I own a civilian Dodge Charger with the 392 HEMI (6.4 Liter). The build quality on it seems to be decent to me. My only complaint is the cheap, soft paint (which paint protection film and a professional-grade ceramic coating solved for me).

The newer Chargers (2015+) don't have the suspension and brake issues the 2006-2014's did - however, the HEMI tick is still an issue. Idling does indeed hurt HEMI engines, since there isn't enough oil splash at low RPMs. The 4.6's in Vics, by comparison, are force-fed oil in these critical areas at idle, hence their near invincibility to idle hours. Not to mention near indestructible water pumps, which also happen to be easily accessible if/when they do fail.

True! I think a 4.6 could idle damn near till the end of time. A couple of my vics have had squeaky water pumps when cold, but they didn't leak and stubbornly held proper temp.
Still have your vic? Do you like your 6.4 Charger? Did you buy it new? Those are real badass cars.
I can quickly get over the strange elongated-cruze-impala look of the Caprice, the drivetrain is cool as hell. The DOD is an issue though.
[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/RABVm5FGYjo?list=PLlU8I0vOvixBUfR_dICBf7k3T_tdZwjo_[/video]

Don't any of the video embed features on this forum work anymore?

This is a pretty good, and concise reason to appreciate the venerable 4.6.

I responded to a wreck one day, was a '99 red F-150 with 4.6 ... up bank, then rolled onto a car, it was upside down, driver crawled out the back glass, engine was idling still, driver in tears as his Grandpa had given him the truck, wrecker got there, cut a path to get above the PU to pull it up off a car, was hooking up to it when the 4.6 finally clunked and locked up. I know it idled up side down a good 30 minutes just while I was there, doesn't count the time from when the wreck happened until I got on scene. Wrecker driver was amazed.

Just to be clear, the upper end failures with a lot of these modern engines (HEMI, LS, even the later iterations of the mod motors (3V, especially)) are a failure of the bearing in the roller followers/lifters. Those aren't force fed on ANY engine, including the 2V 4.6! They're all drip/splash lubed.

I personally don't believe it's common enough problem on any of them to be of concern.

I'm still suspicious of the real cause. It's interesting to me that, after decades of using roller cams without trouble, so many manufacturers developed the same types of problems with their roller parts right around the same time (mid-late 2000's).

Probably about the same time they started getting parts from China. Surely a coincidence!

I still have the Vic, and I bought the Charger brand new. It’s a fun car, and I’m happy with the purchase. I got a really good deal on it... $34,000 out the door with all taxes and fees. Sticker price was $42,000.

In regards to the roller lifters, yes that’s the failure point from lack of oil. There’s a Youtuber called Uncle Tony’s Garage, he’s been a mechanic for decades. He takes a HEMI apart and shows why and how these engines fail from a lack of lubrication on the top end. Basically, the crankcase isn’t slanted enough so oil doesn’t drip down. He said it’s a really stupid engineering mistake that’s like engine design 101, but said they’re otherwise great engines. He says if you’re above 2000 RPM, the entire engine is being completely lubricated in oil.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dI93-Zdx_nY

Yes, that video's been around.

There's been tons of debate on this for years. Jury is still out on if his analysis is correct or not.

Still doesn't explain the LS and 3V mod motor roller bearing failures.

His video is debatable. There are other vidoes that show how his thought is a non issue.
It still doesn't explain like 2011LX said why there are so many issues with newer roller lifters. They're probably all from the same supplier using the same sub par metal for their bearings.