Got a great high mileage story for you all that you may like AND some questions

Jettech1 · February 27

Today at work, I had a person come out from a fire protection company to look over our fire extinguishers along with our fire extinguishing system at our facility. I was just the tour guide showing him where everything was. We had to go outside so he could check the back flow valves to the overall system and what did I see??? A long bed 22 work truck with the gasser in it. So of course I had to strike up a conversation with him about his work truck. This truck, he had been driving since new from the company, so here we go.

267k miles on it! I showed him my truck as to my interest in his work truck. He said he gets the oil changed when he can, often late because it's a company truck, and he travels around the southeast so he said it's not always easy to just stop anywhere and get an oil change. There was one sensor that he can't remember what it was that had to be replaced. Aside from that nothing!! No oil usage, not a problem at all. He said his biggest problem is staying near the speed limit because his words were "It likes to GO" LOL!! According to him, not one damn problem aside from a sensor he can't remember.....He also said he runs the crap out of it, his boss gets on his ass all of the time for speeding but he said it's so smooth he can't help it. But he did admit he drove it very aggressively and lets it idle for long periods of time depending on weather conditions. I asked him if he uses a certain kind of fuel....same story....whatever is available when I need it. I asked if he's ever had any other maintenance done to it......NOPE....lol....Stock everything, no nothing but the factory stuff. One more note, oil and filter changes only and a few set of tires as well. I just remembered he said he had the rear brake pads replaced "last year" whatever ta hell that means mileage wise...lol....

OK, so hearing this is very cool, but kind of makes you wonder a bit. Like why isn't his intake valves clogged up due to direct injection? I spent 150 bucks on an oil separator that may have been a total waste of money. Sometimes you see something like this and it truly makes you wonder. Did I just piss money away on something due to marketing or should I have just left everything alone and drove it like I stole it? Or perhaps in his case, drive it like it isn't yours? His is still going strong, he loves it but treats it like a company truck which means, do the least, beat the crap out of it and only do the minimum to keep it going. Interesting day of learning for me concerning our trucks, but it did make me proud of mine and the Chevy gasser!

Anyhow, true story. I probably can't answer any other questions if you have them because it wasn't my truck. But if you have any I can try. I did look it over pretty good so I might be a little help.

silveradosid · February 27

my son still drives my 2014 with 205k miles and everthing is still original, i can't believe the 6 speed transmission is still going.

Grumpy Bear · February 27

My 2015 is at 192K and getting her first repair motor work. A set of injectors and HPFP. Other than that I've spent under a $25 in repair parts and less than $200 in labor cost to install them. Still on the OEM brakes and miles to burn on them yet.

Jettech1 · February 27

1 hour ago, Grumpy Bear said:

My 2015 is at 192K and getting her first repair motor work. A set of injectors and HPFP. Other than that I've spent under a $25 in repair parts and less than $200 in labor cost to install them. Still on the OEM brakes and miles to burn on them yet.

That's amazing! Sometimes as owners like myself overthink things and treat our depreciating asset like a gem. I think it's always good to maintain our vehicles to keep them reliable. But on the other end of the scale where people ride them hard and put them away wet with little to no consideration for longevity, and the damn truck keeps going is amazing to me. Kind of makes you stop and think a bit.

Pryme · February 27

2022 work truck models are the good ones. Haha

Jettech1 · February 27

2 minutes ago, Pryme said:

2022 work truck models are the good ones. Haha

I think you're right. They were the inexpensive (at that time) unicorn in the HD segment that needs to be respected and brought up more!

Chuck FB · February 27

Just wanted to clarify a particular comment, so when it was said "just the factory stuff" was that meaning that all other driveline fluids ( as far as this employee knew ) were original as per the transfer case, transmission and diffs ?. Also I wonder about spark plugs, in theory they would last longer with what I expect is pounding on the miles every day vs puttering around and adding piles of hours on an engine and not accumulating the miles on the odometer. I also wonder if those are the original tie rods/ball joints/drag link/idler arm.

With the brakes, the first thing that pops into my mind is that he may not be doing much driving on gravel or on highways that are covered in salt/sand. The difference I've seen to how brakes last or do not is rather astounding depending on what road conditions the vehicle is being used in.

The vehicle without all the bells and whistles that are prone to failing, cameras and all the other gismos and electric mirrors etc, that is always going to be the most reliable unit.

I realize you won't be able to answer most of this but posing these questions for a thought of what most vehicles end up getting replaced or serviced and in some cases often due to the conditions its being driven in.

Jettech1 · February 27

17 minutes ago, Chuck FB said:

Just wanted to clarify a particular comment, so when it was said "just the factory stuff" was that meaning that all other driveline fluids ( as far as this employee knew ) were original as per the transfer case, transmission and diffs ?. Also I wonder about spark plugs, in theory they would last longer with what I expect is pounding on the miles every day vs puttering around and adding piles of hours on an engine and not accumulating the miles on the odometer. I also wonder if those are the original tie rods/ball joints/drag link/idler arm.

With the brakes, the first thing that pops into my mind is that he may not be doing much driving on gravel or on highways that are covered in salt/sand. The difference I've seen to how brakes last or do not is rather astounding depending on what road conditions the vehicle is being used in.

The vehicle without all the bells and whistles that are prone to failing, cameras and all the other gismos and electric mirrors etc, that is always going to be the most reliable unit.

I realize you won't be able to answer most of this but posing these questions for a thought of what most vehicles end up getting replaced or serviced and in some cases often due to the conditions its being driven in.

So let me clarify a bit Chuck. I'm sure, I don't have proof, that he had his air filter changed at some point. As far as the driveline fluids....nothing was changed. For the most part, aside from the engine oil, everything is still from the factory. Like I said, he had one sensor go bad, who knows, he didn't...lol... aside from oil and filter and tire changes and rear brake pads...NOTHING else. Drives it like he stole it and puts whatever gas he can find in it when he needs it. No gas additives, no oil additives, no nothing.

Chuck FB · February 28

1 hour ago, Jettech1 said:

So let me clarify a bit Chuck. I'm sure, I don't have proof, that he had his air filter changed at some point. As far as the driveline fluids....nothing was changed. For the most part, aside from the engine oil, everything is still from the factory. Like I said, he had one sensor go bad, who knows, he didn't...lol... aside from oil and filter and tire changes and rear brake pads...NOTHING else. Drives it like he stole it and puts whatever gas he can find in it when he needs it. No gas additives, no oil additives, no nothing.

I certainly wish most owners including myself would have that sort of luck with these trucks, perhaps his truck had a power surge run through it on the assembly line and it has invincible super powers, or GM decided to make that truck dependable "Like A Rock"

I am only guessing that perhaps if the claims are correct that its not using any notable volume of oil, that in itself would cause less crank case pressures and in theory less oil vapor load to be separated being sucked out of the crank case into the separator system and then the intake and therefore less buildup on the valves although as an article Grumpy Bear mentioned some time back, intake valve timing most likely has an effect as well and I wonder with variable valve timing, if driving more aggressively could change that dynamic. Only by a bore scope or taking the intake manifold off would one discover what the valves look like.

Grumpy Bear · February 28

23 hours ago, Jettech1 said:

A long bed 22 work truck with the gasser in it. So of course I had to strike up a conversation with him about his work truck. This truck, he had been driving since new from the company, so here we go.

267k miles on it! I showed him my truck as to my interest in his work truck. He said he gets the oil changed when he can, often late because it's a company truck,

257 miles a day, five days a week for four years. Very few cold starts per 1K miles; much like an OTR Semi. As most wear happens on cold starts.....yea.... No surprise here. If your driving that much, not much time for everyday long and prolonged idle times either. That's better than 5 hours a day highway time at average NET speed. Better estimate could be made if the engine hours was supplied. ALL the information is rarely available.

The environment, not the fluids and service schedule is the driver. IMO of course.

Jettech1 · March 4

On 2/27/2026 at 9:50 PM, Grumpy Bear said:

257 miles a day, five days a week for four years. Very few cold starts per 1K miles; much like an OTR Semi. As most wear happens on cold starts.....yea.... No surprise here. If your driving that much, not much time for everyday long and prolonged idle times either. That's better than 5 hours a day highway time at average NET speed. Better estimate could be made if the engine hours was supplied. ALL the information is rarely available.

The environment, not the fluids and service schedule is the driver. IMO of course.

Engine hours....totally missed that one. Would have been nice to know if I hadn't been so intrigued by the overall mileage. But yet I see a bunch of these trucks sitting on side of the road idling for hours for road crews, providing heat and or A/C depending on the weather. Lights flashing etc. etc. Hopefully someone that works on a road crew will stumble upon this forum and reach out to us telling us the specifics we all love to know.

davester · March 4

I bought a pair of '12 3500's (one to fix up, the other as a parts truck), both w very high hours for the mileage (over 28000hrs with 215k km. I tore the engine apart to rebuild, as oil pressure was low at startup, and then took a nosedive when hot, it needed to be rebored 10 over (I did 20 over because it was covid and I couldn't find 10 over pistons/rings). So, high hours wasn't healthy for the engine.

Edit: I can't say for sure, but most likely, given how absolutely caked with mud the trucks were, they were used in the oil patch.

Edited March 4 by davester

KARNUT · March 4

I’m my line of work on pipelines it not unusual for high running hours and mileage on our trucks. Two hundred thousand miles with high hours are normal. Maintenance is the key, obviously. Engine failure is very rare even with extreme duty. They do eventually wear out. It would be total fatigue not just an isolated part. I’m retired now and most trucks are gas powered now except for the pulling trucks. The duty cycle hasn’t changed. Luckily most trucks are 3/4 ton and over. So the half ton problems don’t apply.

mrjulian416 · March 4

On 2/26/2026 at 10:50 PM, Jettech1 said:

OK, so hearing this is very cool, but kind of makes you wonder a bit. Like why isn't his intake valves clogged up due to direct injection? I spent 150 bucks on an oil separator that may have been a total waste of money. Sometimes you see something like this and it truly makes you wonder. Did I just piss money away on something due to marketing or should I have just left everything alone and drove it like I stole it?

Unfortunately you probably did piss away that money due to marketing and internet forums. Catch cans, while they do something, don't really do anything to prevent valve buildup in DI engines. I've posted it on here before, there was an actual independent engineering test/study done and the empirical evidence shows blow-by is not the source of valve deposits. It's primarily due to exhaust gas reversion caused by the variable valve timing which is done to create EGR flow to improve emissions. This happens mostly at light load and with cooler engine temps (aka short trips). Your fire suppression guy is hauling ass on the highway all the time, so he's not operating in that condition most of the time.

Yes, a catch can does stop some amount of oil mixed with a larger amount of water vapor, but it won't affect the formation of valve deposits to any real degree. Having said that, I won't tell anyone not to use a can. If it makes you feel better to use one, by all means use one. It can't hurt... unless you forget to empty it and the engine sucks in a big enough slug of water.