350 shivvy . 472K! I saw it myself.

[dickwells]

The previous discussion about the tailgate collapse undoubtedly is talking about the two cables that the gate is suspended by. There have been a lot of complaints about failure of these cables underload and the reason appears to be rust under the plastic sleeve where they are clamped to the end eyes. I think that on some diesel forum they are getting together a purchase for well made replacements. They have discussed it on the Pacific Audio and Video GM truck and SUV forum.

And by the way, haven't you guys seen the discussion about the Chev truck with over a million miles on it. Down south somewhere. He delivered papers long distance and changed with Penzoil every 3K which amounted to an oil change every 3 or 4 days. When he rolled it over I think Penzoil gave him the keys to a new truck.

[ February 02, 2004, 03:45 PM: Message edited by: dickwells ]

 

[Chris B.]

WOW! 1 million miles. Was this on the original engine?

 

[Patman]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chris B.:
WOW! 1 million miles. Was this on the original engine?

---

Apparently yes!

 

[SteveD2]

One thing to think about with the reliability of an american V8 is the fact that it has ALOT of CI for the HP it makes, so it doesn't have to work that hard. A TBI 350 is only making .6hp/ci, where as many smaller/foreign engines are well over 1hp/ci....

 

[therion]

quote:

---

Originally posted by ZmOz:
One thing to think about with the reliability of an american V8 is the fact that it has ALOT of CI for the HP it makes, so it doesn't have to work that hard. A TBI 350 is only making .6hp/ci, where as many smaller/foreign engines are well over 1hp/ci....

---

Wow, i tried the calculation: my 351W (210HP/351) makes .6HP/ci. If you look at the torque though, v8's make massive amounts of torque.

My 109 C.I.D. Audi Turbo motor makes 1.92HP/ci. (210HP/109) I have a buddy with the same motor as mine with over 380whps. So that comes out to be 3.5HP/ci. He has had the set-up for 6 months without a hiccup yet. Just look at motorcycle engines, they have 600cc motors generating 100hp. Someone on automotiveforums.com (BadAssAuditude) said his dad has an old 5000C (2.2L Turbo 5 cyl) with 600,000 miles on the original motor. He changed the oil every 2k and ran Castrol 10W-40.

I have seen lots of VW/Audi 1.8T motors go past 150k without problems though. I think the way the engine is made also plays a big factor in longevity. The foundation for the 1.8t engine’s strength lies in its cast iron block design, with five valves per cylinder (three intake and two exhaust valves), and forged steel crankshaft with five main bearings (even Volkswagen’s 2.8 liter V6 fitted in the Passat only has four).

Now American V8's aren't built the same as small europeon motors. They use cast crankshafts, and 4 main bearings. They spin at lower revolutions and have very large counterweights with low compression ratios. (which give the distant "rumble bumble" of american v8s). Their high displacement and low HP make for a very reliable engine though that can take some neglect.

Europeon V8's on the other hand have almost NOTHING in common with america v8s. Ferrari, Lotus, and TVR use flat planed crankshafts (much ligher than american cranks), with shorter strokes, and lightweight forged pistons. The result is a lightweight V8 that sounds NOTHING like an american v8. The sound resembles that of 2 honda civic engines revving together.

[ February 02, 2004, 09:15 PM: Message edited by: therion ]

 

[JohnBrowning]

No!!! Dickwells it was not cable breakage!! I personely called some friends and had them look up the parts and price of the parts for her. It was both halfs of the endgate. On the other trucks the endgate is sold as one piece on these the two halfs are sold seperately. The sheetmetal was rusted through from the inside. I do not know haw the panels failed to be coated with E-Coat or ELPO in this area. I have watched the panels get dipped and electrostaticly deposited with this coating over and over again at the plants!

THe dealer is fixing it while we speak!

 

[JohnBrowning]

LastZ, I have seen hundred upon hundreds of Toyotas with 300,000 miles on then! I do not get excited about that! I have come to expect that from Toyota. If ever I run across a GM pickup truck with the same owner and 300,000 miles with the OEM engine and transmission untouched except for routine maintence I will report it here. Seeing how I work for GM you would think I might hear about or see someone with one at work that meet that requirment. 1500 cars and trucks in the parking lot and most 85%-90% are GM!

LastZ Your car can not even make it out of warranty with out needing new pistons! Do you not find it odd that a lot of LS1 owners need new pistons? You your self brow bashed GM for lacking quality control ! Either your engine is a knock free gem that does not need to have new pistons or it is defective and needs new pistons!! You can not have it both ways!

If anyone has an insane bias it is you! You have a Carola that is trouble free and it is a turd to you. On the other hand you have a car that can not recipracate it pieces in an orderly fashion that is a gem! You have not even witnessed the vechile with 475,000 miles with your own eye yet you yern for it to be true! How many people do you know driveing GM vechiles with 300,000 miles or more with all origanal power trains? Not friend of a friend or other second hand accounts???

Just last year GM ran apolagetics add's apoligizeing for past quality and durability indiscretions! Even GM knows they have quality and durability issues!

 

[cryptokid]

ha!
heres one for ya.
i have a kia sephia with 75 grand on the clock. only repair ever done was a waterpump. cost me $35 and a couple hours of time.
everything and i mean everything on the car is original except brake pads and the clutch. but the clutch failing was the fault of the previous owner. she had a habit of slipping it for extended preiods of time. cant fault the car company for that. (the new clutch was $120)

with a 8 year old car, and only $35 in repair bills, i am pretty satisfied.

can anyone else beat that? 75 thousand miles and $35 or less in repair bills?

 

[SteveD2]

quote:

---

Originally posted by cryptokid:
can anyone else beat that? 75 thousand miles and $35 or less in repair bills?

---

My '96 cherokee went about 170,000 before the radiator and cat needed to be replaced. That's it so far at 200,000.

 

[JohnBrowning]

Try going 33 years 1971-2004 and only have to take vechiles in under warranty for repair twice. Both times they were TOyota trucks made in America!

We have never had a single unit fail to start or drive in that same 33 years.

Never had electrical componet fail in 200,000!

We have never had to rebuild an engine or transmission in that time.

Basscly we have never had to do anything other then maintence scheduled in the owners manual and replace breaks friction material.

As much as I abused my parents vechiles as a young punk teenager I could not kill one.

In most cases relatives knew how well we maintained vechiles and would buy our's off of my parrents!

I have one uncle that has 387,000 miles on his rusty 1987 TOyota 4x4. The spedometer and odometer quite working about 3 years ago! It finaly quite running. The fuel pump gave out. It has nothing but oil, plugs, wire, cap and rotor, and brakes pads and shoes in it's entire life. He is a union carpenter and the truck was abused from day one!

I reliase that not everyone that owns a Toyota is going to have my experince but I have never met anyone that took care of their maintence that has not had simalr results.


This is what I expect from all Automotive manufactures products!

 

[buster]

One thing I find amsuing is how we keep debating two things on here: GM vs Toyota and Thick oils vs Thin.

GM makes some great engines that last a long time and Toyota has been the over all quality leader for 20+years. Thin oils work if they are made well and are used in the right engines. Why can't all agree to this? Is it not reasonable?

 

[tpi]

quote:

---

Originally posted by buster:
One thing I find amsuing is how we keep debating two things on here: GM vs Toyota and Thick oils vs Thin.

GM makes some great engines that last a long time and Toyota has been the over all quality leader for 20+years. Thin oils work if they are made well and are used in the right engines. Why can't all agree to this? Is it not reasonable?

---

How about: Thin oils work if they are made well, used in the right engines, and not used in any of my engines for extended duty cycles in 90 degree F. plus temperatures.

I can certainly agree on the GM Toyota thing.

 

[sprintman]

Australia has thousands of 350 Chev's, 289, 302, and 351 Windsors, 302 and 351 Cleveland engines all still running OK since purchase since the late 60's, 70's etc. Majority probably run/ran 20W50 and have huge mileages up. Doesn't seem unusual to me at all.

 

[dustyjoe1]

that is why In the past I bought all my cars with at least 70,000 miles on the clock. Saves on warranty work

 

[wileyE]

One thing nice about the old v8's is when one hole goes flat they'll still run around just fine on 7. When you lose another one they'll lope around on 6 for a year or two before they finally die. Try running a 4 cyl with one low hole, won't even idle in drive with a auto trans and won't have enough power to get out of it's own way.

 

[99]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chris142:
Customer brought in an 89' Chevy 1/2 ton truck today. I did a double take when I wrote down the milage. It was 472,xxx.x

I asked the fellow if it was the original engine. He said it was, never even replaced the timing chain or valve cover gaskets.

Said that he bought the truck new, drove it home and changed the oil that day. It's only seen Pennzoil 10w-30......it did have a Pennz/Fram filter on it too. Changes the oil every 3k.

Uses 1qt in 3k.

When he wasn't looking I poped the oil filler cap off and could see the casting #'s on the head....No sludge, just a medium brown coating.

After I replaced the radiator I ran it to test the T-stat and to burp any air from the system. It started and seemed to run ok, No dead holes or smoke.

Guy does time trials on El Mirage lake and uses the truck to tow his racer to the lake and back. Said the original 700R4 trans made it to 305K Which also may be a new record for that trans LOL.

---

Yep, older SBC engines will run forever. Keep them tuned up and change the oil regularly and they'll outlive the car/truck they live in. Even if you try to blow one up they won't blow...they'll just go into valve float and/or just overheat. Let it cool off or let off the gas and it'll run like nothing happened. Try doing that with a newer LS1.

 

[brianl703]

quote:

---

Originally posted by 2533a:
Didn't odometers on domestic vehicles of this vintage read only up to 99,999.9 miles?

---

Most of them..it's why most people think that older domestic vehicles can't make it past 100K..."well I never saw a single one with an odometer reading over 100,000..."

 

[brianl703]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chris B.:
I have done lots of work with carbon steel making knives/cutlery and some kitchen knives(yes, lots of kitchen knives are carbon steel) are about the same stock as sheet metal and in salt tests they form a pitina that slows the rust if neglected and I have seen this in cars as well.

---

When I bought my 1988 Mustang in 2001 it was in desperate need of a paintjob--the factory paint was peeling off of it and it had surface rust in several spots. I have no idea how long those rust spots had been there BUT I continued to drive it for another 2 years that way until November of 2003 when I got it repainted.

From that, I would guess that it takes somewhere between a long time and a **** of a long time for the sheetmetal on a car to rust all the way through. I asked the body shop instructor at the local high school (where I was originally going to get it painted but they were never able to work it in the schedule) about it and he said it would take YEARS for it to rust through.

 

[Steve S]

The engines were not the light weight "thin" castings of today.

 

[Jon]

I have 288,000 miles on my 1992 Buick Roadmaster, which is the 350 cid non-vortec throttle body. Semi-regular oil changes with (usually) Mobil-1 from 5W-30 to 15W-50. It's been used and abused and it's towed and, well, it still runs like a top with just a bit of piston slap when cold.