How to tell if a car part is actually damaged
Even when a component looks abnormal or seriously damaged, a lack of obvious symptoms like oil leaks makes it difficult to judge the severity. This forces people to guess whether parts are completely cooked from other engine failures, leaving them unsure of what needs replacing during a rebuild.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Posting pictures to online mechanic forums to ask for expert estimations.Did this help you?
- 2Looking up reference images of the adapter or replacement part online to see if it has the same weird cutouts.Did this help you?
- 3Using a borescope to inspect the catalytic converter visuallyDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“It looks like some serious damage to the thing that holds onto my oil filters.”source ↗
“So in your estimations, how bad is this? It doesnt leak oil at all. But clearly its not supposed to be that way.”source ↗
“Had bad power problems but also blew a ring so I’m rebuilding the engine. Wondering if it coked up the Cat and cooked it in the process of dumping too much gas?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 13How to tell if a broken car part needs immediate repair
- 16How to tell if car suspension bushings need to be replaced
- 14Are new brake pads with a chipped corner safe to use?
- 2Are structural support beams supposed to be wobbly?
- 20Is it safe to use a plastic fuel filter near a hot engine?
- 4Is my car dipstick shrinking?