High Mileage Vehicles

[KARNUT]

Modern Vehicles with regular maintenance are routinely going 200K miles. There’s lots of talk about if you don’t bla bla bla your vehicle not going to last. Most people on here trade before 200K. I have garage kept old low mileage vehicles that are like new. Not daily drivers. So who really daily drives a vehicle that’s passed 250K in all kinds of weather? What is your maintenance? And repairs?

 

 

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[Bash74]

The wife drives a 1992 Suburban everyday to work once winter hits so about 7 months. It's used a little in the summer. It has 282k and still runs good. Still original engine and trans with no major work done to them. Oil every 3000, transmission was every 30k, diffs are done when I feel like it, plugs every 60k. Heater core I flush every year, because heat is very important and I despise changing a heater core out. The 3 biggest repairs in the last 8 years was water pump, alternator, power steering pump. The one great thing is I can hit any salvage yard and find parts.

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[mrjulian416]

I have a '00 SLE, extended cab, short bed, Z71, with the 5.3.  It has been my daily driver since I bought it new in the fall of 2000.  While not 250k, I currently have 215k on it.

 

Maintenance, let's see....

• synthetic oil (Mobil1) and filter every 5k since new
• front/rear diff fluid change every 50k-ish
• changed trans fluid and coolant at 75k
• power steering pump quill shaft broke, replaced at 60k
• alternator died, replaced at 190k
• fuel pump died, replaced at 195k
• rebuilt transmission at 210k, rebuilt transfer case "while we were at it" (started towing a bigger boat and new I was playing with fire, towing right at max rating)
• replaced water pump at 212k (slow external leak)
• brakes and tires as needed over the life of it, maybe four sets of each
• replaced spark plugs/wires once somewhere around 100k

 

Other than tires and the transmission rebuild, I've done all the other work.  It's using a little oil these days between changes.  I might have to add a quart.  There are some external oil leaks around the pan and probably the rear main.  There is a broken exhaust manifold bolt on each side but other than not seeing the bolt heads, there are no other symptoms of them missing.

 

Funny thing is when my alternator went out last summer, the battery ran down before I could make it to my driveway.  Tow truck driver left me his card saying, "If you decide to sell it give me a call".  Couple months later when the fuel pump went out, different tow truck driver left me his card saying, "If you decide to sell it give me a call".  In January I bought a '21 SLT 2500 CCSB 4x4 with the 6.6 gas.  I'm keeping the '00, no plans to get rid of it.

[KARNUT]

My brother in law always drives large GMs. His wife puts on 200K then he drives them. Just regular maintenance. He’s a plant manager and gets a truck allowance. He doesn’t even wax them and hardly washes them. They always like decent.


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[mrjulian416]

Funny you mention that.  My '00 is the "Pewter", beige color.  I think I've washed it 5 times in 21 years.  Waxed it maybe twice.  I'm lucky to live south of the rust belt so other than normal surface rust on the frame, there isn't any on the body/doors.

[LDM]

Had a 95 Tahoe that was close.  Finally blew a head gasket at 235K driving on the highway one day.  I could have pulled the engine and fixed it but the entire back area was nothing but rust so I decided it was a better choice to finally get a new truck instead.  I certainly hope to keep my 2018 for 250K+, that way I don't have to buy another truck for 30+ years.

[ericarenee]

Not Quite  250k But my  Express 3500 HD  has 236k Miles on it. It works every day of its life Loaded with tools. Ladders on top , We often have tile  and some lumber / flooring loaded in the back of it with a Fork Lift. It pulls a Trailer at least weekly that is usually well loaded.  The van RUNS LIKE NEW.. Its had water pump changed on it. Last year thou i had all new Oil cooler lines, Transmission seals rear engine seal and a few others . It was dripping a bit of oil so anything that was damp they replaced steam cleaned under it. I park on some Very High end driveways and cant have one Drip.. 

 

so  i expect this thing to pass  250k easily.. But like all higher Mileage Vehicles  you never know when something is going to happen. Always  have a backup 

 

[Bash74]

Just don't make them like these anymore.

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[mrjulian416]

42 minutes ago, Bash74 said:

Just don't make them like these anymore.

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I hope you're wrong, but unfortunately I'm afraid you're right. 

[calgator73]

On 3/5/2021 at 10:06 AM, KARNUT said:

 

Modern Vehicles with regular maintenance are routinely going 200K miles. There’s lots of talk about if you don’t bla bla bla your vehicle not going to last. Most people on here trade before 200K. I have garage kept old low mileage vehicles that are like new. Not daily drivers. So who really daily drives a vehicle that’s passed 250K in all kinds of weather? What is your maintenance? And repairs?

 

 

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I've got three daughters with the following cars (not up to your 250k of course)

2006 Corolla 195,000.  Absolutely zero problems mechanically (paint fade peeling) and this in spite of her going over 10k miles on an oil change.

2005 Grand Prix 3800 with 205,000.  Minor ignition module issue at 175k, radiator and upper intake gasket at 200k  Transmission has the typical shift quality issues...waiting for it to fail since 140k miles.

2013 Lacrosse hybrid with 175,000.  Typical 2.4L issues with oil consumption started at 160k  Belt tensioner problem at 165k.  Still runs strong but this is the worse of all the engines mentioned here. 

 

All of the engines run mobile one full synthetic.

[OnTheReel]

The most “modern” vehicle I’ve ran the miles up on is a 2003 Jetta GLI with the 24v VR6. It’s definitely a complex engine design and electronics heavy, but still simple in comparison to my truck. Sold it to my buddy last year and he still drives it every day.
 

It’s probably one of the highest mileage examples around, sitting at roughly 215k currently. Original engine, trans and clutch. And it ain’t even rusty somehow.

 

I never went overboard on maintenance nor did the previous owner. Ditched the pink VW coolant for the normal green stuff. Mobil 1 every 5-6k. Mann filters. I did the tie rods and ball joints a few years ago. Steering rack started leaking shortly after because the inner tie rods broke the seals when I spun ‘em. Had to have that replaced rather than DIY because the subframe needed to be dropped. That’s about it. 

 

[dieselfan1]

86 C10 305 motor. Bought it with 90,000 miles in 88 drove it for work for almost 5 years.
Drove it to the junkyard with 410,000 miles. Still ran good needed a tranny.
All I did to it was replace the carb and timing chain besides normal maintenance.
Probably could have replaced the tranny and put another 100,000 miles on it but I wanted a new truck.


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[silveradosid]

best truck i ever owned was an 88 chev 2500. 305 with 3 speed auto, 470k miles. tranny at 300k , sold to a friend who hauled firewood, he drove it for another year and a half before it finally blew the engine. 5w30 quaker state every 3k

[aseibel]

My last beater was just retired at 204,000 mi. I owned it for about 9 years and 155,000 of the miles.

It was a 2004 grand am v6. Biggest repair was one head gasket replaced. The vent fan went out and got replaced. I had to recharge the air conditioner. I did all the oil changes, generally 3,500 mi intervals. Quaker state 5w-30 & fram filters from Fleet Farm.

 

It was starting to get pretty rusty after living in Wisconsin, garage kept all but 2 winters. Still ran fine, but wife decided she didn't trust it anymore with me taking out of state work trips.

 

The two cars before that started having problems about 175,000 mi. One went because of electrical issues, one had a cracked block.

[Damion Martin Jr]

I drive a 2004 suburban and my trip A says 300,****** currently, my odometer says 141,****** but I looked up a service record from 2016 and it said the vehicle had 229,******. I think the seller rolled back the miles or whatever but I didn’t want to do any major repairs if the miles were at 300k+