First hand high mileage experience

[surfstar]

1993 Mazda MX6 2.0L - owned it since 81k when I switched it to M1. Now at 201k, beats EPA estimates for hwy mileage, doesn't burn/leak oil, original clutch and rotors.

I've had first hand experience (oil changes) with the following:
brother's 1993 MX6 2.5L - 190k+ miles, dino oil, burns some, whenever I'm the one to change it-its a quart low, but still runs strong
sister's 1999 4runner 3.4L - 170k+ miles, dino oil, runs great, should keep going another 100k or more
mom's 1992 Nissan NX 1.6L - 175k+ miles, switched it to syn and 7500+ OCIs in the 160k mile range

We usually don't buy cars with less than 80k miles :shrug:

 

[punisher]

93 Taurus 3.0L 2V- pushing 200K miles. One water pump, two transaxles, but the engine keeps on ticking. 30 mpg like clockwork.

As far as the Caddy HT4100 posted above- kudos. To have that engine last anywhere near that long is an incredible feat. My machinist used to pile those 4100 blocks up behind his shop during the year and call in a scrap dealer a week before his vacation, and cash in all that aluminum to pay for his vacations.

 

[MNgopher]

Lets see...

1988 C1500 Chevy Pickup, 4.3l V6 - 237,000 miles. Still runs well and not treated lightly anymore. Primarily a work truck and spends nearly all the time on gravel roads. Whatever 10w30 was cheap and fram filters every 3000 miles.

1989 Chevy Cavalier - 2.0l I-4 - Donated at 164,000 miles. The body was rusting apart but the engine ran well. Head gasket at 80,000 miles, Primarily Valvoline All Climate 5w30 eery 3000 miles.

1997 Ford F150 - 4.6l V8 - 163,000 miles - ran like a top when sold three years ago. Never needed ANY engine work. Still running strong - I saw it yesterday! Valvoline Durablend 5w30 every 3000 miles.

1999 Ford F150 - 4.6l V8 - 145,000 miles - still driven as a daily driver. Same as the '97 - No problems whatsoever. Run on everything from 5w20 to 5w40 on varying intervals.

 

[tenderloin]

'97 Ford Aerostar 4.0 OHV AWD . Now has 232,000 miles. Uses no noticable oil between 5,000 mile OCI's. Used mostly synthetics for the majority of the niles, Trop Artic blend now. Original tranny as well. 25,000 mile pan drop and filter cgange. Using AAmco tranny fluid.

As far as the rest of the car, besides brakes, tires, shocks and other normal items that are replaced I have had to replace 1 window switch, 1 alternator as well as some semsors.

Daily work driver for company. Has earned it's keep and then some.

 

[Pat in Speedway]

2nd owner of a '93 Caprice LTZ, purchased in 2001 with 147K miles. Currently has 234K miles with 5K mile changes with various name brands. Still doesn't use a drop. Switching over to MaxLife 5W-30 in a couple weeks....until I read about the next great lube on here.

 

[harry j]

1993 Honda Civic, 198,000 miles
Amsoil 0W-30 for the last 80,000 miles
Castrol 5W-30 GTX before that.
Runs like new, original engine, averaged 39.7 MPG for the last 10,000 miles.

 

[Tornado Red]

Quote:

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I wrecked my last Saab at 191k miles. It was in excellant shape when I bought it at 100k so I would surmise it had synth changes. I ran nothing but M1 mostly 5 or 10 W30 but once ran 5W20 and once ran 15W50....I changed at 4-5k miles.

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My previous car was a 1984 Saab 900T -- donated at 292k miles. Mostly it ran on Castrol Syntech 20w50, with an OCI of about 7k-8k usually. Towards the end the engine was running great, but so many other things were failing, that I switched to the cheaper synthetic blend.

My 2003 Golf is now approaching 183k miles, increasing by about 4800 miles per month. Not high miles yet, but it will be in another 3 or 4 years.

 

[Racerjk]

1990 Pontiac Sunbird

160,000 miles and all of it is on Q.S. I even used Fram filters for a long time!! I switched to High Mileage oil a few years ago, but it's never used any oil at all. I've replaced a water pump, a timing belt, two alternators and three batteries. It still has the original transmission,CV joints, and wheel bearings etc... I can't believe it's never blown a head gasket!

My wife got the car when it was nearly new, and we've driven it everywhere. She got a 2000 Grand Prix GTP 3 years ago, but we still drive the Sunbird quite a bit. The interior is about shot though. The outside looked great other than a few parking lot dings up until recently. We hit a deer back in May, taking out the hood,right fender, and part of the grill.

 

[therealdeal770]

178k on a 97 chevy cavilier with mostly mobil drive clean and castrol gtx adn royal purple for the last 20k before i sold it last May.oil changes went anywhere from 3k to 12k depending on when i had time to change it and what oil waws in it.
135k on my 2.2 s10.mostly mobil1 5w30 and royal purple 10w30 with 7500 miles between changes.this truck gets drove like a raped ape

 

[cowsareholy]

About 8 years back when i was working for a used car dealer we got a 1987 pontiac sunbird as a trade in that i took and used for a while. It had all the maint paperwork from the first oil change on and the motor was never opened from what i can tell and after the first few dealer oil changes it got what ever quick lube places oil change that was closest. From the records it got dino oil about every 5k. It had 282k on it when the odom broke about a year before. I drove it for about a year and a half 2 years and must of put quite a bit more miles on it as i drove a lot back then. The body was falling apart but the motor was pretty quiet and it drove well. im guessing it had over 300k on it when the clutch stated sliping and i junked it and took another trade in as my own.

 

[Cutehumor]

more love for the GM 2.2L

I have a 96 Pontiac sunfire 2.2L 138k miles. owned since new by my wife. took it over when we got married. never opened up the engine for anything except for a valve cover gasket change. dino it's entire life. uses a quart/3k miles. Everything changed out is maintanence items except for an alternator. A/c is not working and one side of the windshield wiper fluid nozzles doesn't work. This engine has piston slap galore since new when it is below 50 degrees but goes away when warm.

 

[Rickey]

'70 Malibu 307 I know that the odometer had "tripped at least once when I acquired it. I triped it once again. so it had at least 200k on it when it went to the great crusher in the sky due to collision damage. Valvoline 30wt was my favorite back then, and the oil and filter(usually AC) was "usually" changed when it turned black. "85 Camaro 2.8 V6 205K when the timing chain went out and retired to the boneyard. 20w50 Castrol and AC filters usually at around 5K miles. '93 Cavalier 257k and still running. Western Auto store brand 10w30 synthetic until the stores in my area closed in about '98. Then Exxon Uniflo 5w50 synthetic in the gold bottle (anyone remember this oil?). When the synthetic uniflo became unavailable. I started using various HDEO's finally settling on Rotella T 5w40 synthetic. And I sheepishly admit that this car received 2 doses of Slick 50 (pre BITOG). It allmost allways got the AC filters too with around 5K OCI's. None of the above cars ever had consumption issues, and the Camaro Used no detectable amount of oil between changes. The Cavalier has had slight cold piston slap in the #1 hole since purchase and the noise has always disappeared within a few minitues of cranking.

 

[Jim 5]

- '98 Chev K1500, 5.7L vortech v8, I owned it for 6 years.

180k miles
- 3k miles OCI's on Jiffy lube dino
- trans fluid changes every 45k miles and 4L60E was perfect when I sold it (unlike my neighbor's 4L60E trans behind a the less powerful 5.0L vortech. That trans died at 100k miles after never having a fluid change);
- Changed the Dex-cool every 2.5 - 3 years and never had any problems with it.
- replaced alternator, intake manifold gaskets, catalysts, pitman arm, brakes (3 or 4 times front, 1 time rear), spark plugs, 3 outside door handles, 5 inside door handles, water pump 2x, oil cooler hoses, p/s high pressure hose, fuel pump and many fuel filters. Alot of these repairs happened around the 125k mark.

At 180k miles, this truck could still spin 33" tires all the way through first gear on wet pavement, could spin them a little on dry pavement, and could pull the average travel trailer down the highway sideways at 75 mph.

All 8 50k mile platinum spark plugs looked perfect when changed, and it still turned in darn-near new truck mpg's.

Apart from the intake manifold and fuel pump, I did all of the work myself, and maintained this thing religiously.

In my view, that's all it takes to make any vehicle go a long way.

The most expensive thing MANY people neglect is the automatic transmission. It costs as much as a new engine. Change the fluid regularly! (and more often again if towing).

 

[Jim 5]

Oh yeah..this truck didn't use a drop between oil changes. Even when I got "crazy" after discovering bitog and did 5k mile OCI's. I chalk it up to regular maintenance.

 

[Jaybird]

Wifes '91 Pontiac Transport 190,000
I see the young fella we sold it to drive it every day. Wife had dealer change every 3-4k

My '94 F250 7.3L Turbo Diesel 325,000

[
Guy I sold to uses it for a lawn service business.
The truck you hope your truck will be when you first get it.
Fluids changed in "jiffy quicks" and "bubba lubes" from Houston to Boston.
Always organic oil.

 

[ARB1977]

Not near any of those numbers but just turned 65K yesterday and lovin it. Im starting to change out the oil every six months using Amsoil Series 2000 then next spring using up the rest of the Series 3000. Im going to do UOA's on both and go with one thats best. Tranny fluid and remote filter changes every year with Amsoil Universal ATF. I hope to get many wounderful miles out of her.

 

[NJC]

209K 1984 Accord
138K 1989 Volvo

346K 1983 Cousin's Accord. Stopped driving. Smoking too badly.
210K family member's early 1990's Dodge minivan.
>200K miles 2 co-workers Accords.

 

[oldmaninsc]

I currently have a 1995 Ford Aerostar EXT with 4.0 190,000 miles - I bought it when it was a year old w/ 20K on it. I do 5-7K OCI with Valvoline Durablend and about 3 years ago changed to Motorcraft filters. Before that I used (gasp) the 'orange' ones. (Had a lot of start up noise with the orange filters, none with Motorcraft) Currently uses about 1/2 quart of oil between oil changes. Original trans, with 30K filter and fluid changes. Most dependable vehicle I've ever owned. Still runs like it did when it was new.

Previously had a 1982 Ford Escort w/ 1.6 HO engine. Had 61,000 on it, had 280,000 when I sold it. Changed the timing belt about 4 times, water pump once, but never any engine trouble. Was starting to smoke on start up at the end. Body was pretty beat up. Used Valvoline 10W30 most of the time, started using 20W50 during the summer the last 3 years of its life - often towed small box trailer with it in the low desert.

Also had a 78 Ford Fairmont straight 6. Wife bought it with about 80K on it, we sold it with 220K and still running strong. Used Valvoline 10W30 or 10W40 most of it's life.

 

[crw]

The only high miler I have is the

1995 Mazda Protege - 145K, Doing better after I cleaned everything up and did a Auto-RX on it. I aquired this car just last spring.

Also, I'm very close to buying an '88 Chev C-1500 pickup with just over 200K on the clock! The current owner (for the past 10 years) has been using Amsoil! The truck looks "just barely broken in..."

 

[Kestas]

I take care of my girlfriend's car - 98 Escort ZX2 - since new. It now has 176K. She's already bought a replacement car - 02 Volvo S40 - that is sitting unused until she "uses up" her Escort. I tell her that may take a few years.