High Mileage Vehicle Stories....lets hear um!

[jess01999]

Hello all. I am a first time poster and have not seen a post concerning the high miles raked up by members. If there is a thread that I have overlooked please let me know. I will start out by posting my vehicle.
1997 Toyota Avalon
300K
I bought the vehicle as a one owner from my Engineering Manger at work. He changed the oil every 6K using conventional oil. When I bought the car it had 218K......I swapped to mainly Mobil 1 Synthetic and Mobil 1 filter. I have recently swapped to Pennzoil Ultra/Plat and use Napa Plat filter with 10k OCI. The car has had one timing belt/spark plug change but everything else is original. My plan is to run it until the transmission/engine breaks and then take over my wife's 2002 Lexus ES300 that has 180K trouble free miles......and of coarse by another Toyota/Lexus product.

 

[supton]

Nothing special for me. My VW should hit 280k sometime next week. Three timing belts, pads and rotors front and rear, rear calipers, two intake flap, front wheel bearings, rear shocks, struts twice. One parking brake cable, one clutch, one electric fuel pump and one turbo. Lots of parts.

Oil changes every 12k, transmission fluid every 100k, brake fluid every 2 or 3 years.

Lots of tires too.

 

[jess01999]

OK.....so I did forget a major expense....struts that were replaced a few months ago. I have replaced the regularly required maintenance items but nothing else.

The Jetta TDI should outlast the vehicle by far.....

 

[FXjohn]

Just turned 345,000 on a 96 S10. no motor work ever. I did get the trans rebuilt at 200k but that was before I learned about doing trans flushes/fluid replace at recommended intervals. Cheapest to own vehicle ever and I get about 21mpg.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

My dad had a 1987 F250 5 speed with 250,000 miles on original clutch. Truck just got too rusty to keep up with.

 

[JANDSZIRKLE]

when i graduated high school i bought a 1991 honda crx.

when i got done with it, it had 313000 on it.

5ill ran like heck, and sold it for nearly same price i bought it for.

i am still friends with guy i sold it too, he ran it too 470000 and it died.

great car. wish they made em like that still.....

 

[redhat]

My first car was a 1994 Buick LeSabre that my father drove daily. Bought it off of him with 173k on the clock.

3800 Series I L27

Changed the transmission fluid at 176k. Drove it to a healthy 231k. Used about a half of a quart of oil every 3k miles, puffed a little smoke on startup. Always started and transmission shifted great. We let the car sit for a year before junking it and we started it the day of -- started right up as if it was ran the day before. Love the 3.8s.

 

[Cristobal]

The Beast has 187000 miles and the timing belt has been changed twice. Possibly replacing the CAT @ $250.00 is the next big item to do. I have thought of a transmission rebuild but that can wait for two to three years, maybe four. A local shop will do it for $1400.00. It runs great, it looks clean, and there is no reason in the world right now to get another car. It is so much cheaper to keep The Beast alive.

 

[FowVay]

I'm at 250,000 on my '97 Nissan pickup. Other than routine maintenance it's needed a water pump, a clutch, and a MAF sensor. It's been a great truck!

 

[Clevy]

My fil has an 88 f-150. The odo says over 460000 on the 5.0 and original,untouched transmission. It is sluggish running now and it has a rear main seal leak.
He bought it new for the farm and in the farming months its driven daily,whether to haul hay or groceries.
His commuter from the farm to city is a neon with over 300000 on the odo as well.
Its amazing how long a vehicle can last when not abused and properly maintained.

 

[highe]

I am at 209,000 '05 town & country 3.3
2 water pumps
2 sets of rotors
fuel pump
2 egr valves

 

[NHGUY]

Company I work for always puts 280-360,000 miles on Rangers or (before) S10s...nothing special,no work on engines.They always go over on oil changes (some at 9000 miles on Dino) and it does not effect them at all.However one 02 Ranger got a rod knock at 220K,but I blamed the early 2.3 Mazda engine for that.

 

[OneEyeJack]

My 1984 Honda Civic wagon made it to 422K miles before any engine work at all except for replacing the transmission bearings at about 200k miles. The head was never off. It would not pass California smog because of visible smoke and was just over the NOX limit. It was burning a lot of oil and when I tore it down the piston tops were carboned up and the oil control rings were worn out. The bottom end was fine and I just polished the crank, installed new bearings and pistons and put it all back together. The valves had some carbon buildup but no parts needed to be replaced except the valve seals and after doing the valves and seats it all went back together. I'm breaking it in now and it runs great. My plan is to keep driving the car. It's 29 years old and I'm the original owner. I hope to be able to drive it to my own funeral. I have never had a problem other than the usual maintenance. I do have one advantage. I live near San Diego and we don't have weather here. The car seldom sees rain and has never seen snow or ice. It's parked in a garage and my wife and I are the only drivers. Other than things like alignment, smog checks and and some of the recent machine work no one else has ever toughed the car.

 

[N3OO]

1989 Toyota Celica auto....349k trouble free miles ( 2 timing belts ) on Penn yellow bottle. Did not consume oil between 5 k oil changes. 39 mpg highway. Rusted away , in fact u could hear it rusting away.
SOOOooo found another Celica exact car 2 yrs older .....that lasted to 249k....2 timing belts only problem.
But used oil.....even had to use 50wt oil in that sucker near the end , but never failed to start in sub zero weather ! Rusted to a peaceful death.

 

[aquariuscsm]

My dad's 1990 Olds 88. Had over 500,000 miles on it when he gave it to my nephew. Still running to this day. Doesn't use or leak a single drop of oil. Pennzoil 10w30 conventional every 3k since new.

 

[aquariuscsm]

My Olds Toronado Trofeo FE-3. Around 350,000 miles when I sold it to put money down on a 3000GT. Used GTX 20W50 every 3k. Like my dad's Olds 88,it never leaked or used a single drop of oil.

 

[panthermike]

Brother owned a '92 F150 with a 5.0 that had 252K when sold. Not overly impressive, but considering it's lack of maintenance and abuse it did great. First 200K were fleet maintained construction miles by Sunstate and my Dad's construction company. However, from 200-252K the truck had ZERO oil changes. My brother mentioned he would add a quart when it started knocking. He also off-roaded that truck like crazy and used it for jumps, something a Ford Raptor should do(broke a few I-beams doing that).

Actually ran good when he sold it, gotta love those 5.0 motors.

Highest mileage vehicle i've owned personally was an '88 Lincoln TC. Sold with 190K running great, also the 5.0 engine.

 

[UNC017]

My highest-ever mileage vehicle was my 1973 Plymouth Satellite- 318/904. its got just short of 440,000 miles, and drove into the garage the last time I had it running about 9 years ago. It was dog-tired, but everything still worked. That was my daily driven car through high school, college, early married life, grad school, and then pulled out for emergency use on and off for 10 years after THAT. That car was a wonder... she doesn't owe me anything. Too bad she's not a collectible, I imagine the scrapper is her next stop

Then there is the '66 Polara in my .sig below, which made it to 286,000 miles on the original engine (383 low-deck big block.) I pulled that engine and put in a mildly built 1972 440 about 9 years ago when I quit driving the Satellite even as a backup car.

Next was wife's former 1993 Eagle Vision TSi- 260,000 miles. In some ways it was more impressive since it was less tired when we sold it- the 3.5 v6 (first-gen iron block) still didn't use any oil between changes. It did go through a transaxle at 150k miles and routine timing belts/water pumps every 90k, though.

Currently, my daughter's 99 Cherokee (4.0, 5-speed, NP231 transfer case) is the mileage leader among the everyday cars, but only has 170,000. Barely broken in for a 4.0.

For the first time in my life, all the daily driven cars are very low mileage.

 

[ARB1977]

I've got along way to go only 150K on my truck. One day ill get there and report back.

 

[JR]

97 ford 250 w/7.3tdi has200k, just gettin broke in.

93 chevy astro AWD vortec4.3 front diff broke at 398k and was to rust to warrent repair.

98astro awd has 200,250 on clock. Fresh brakes, plugs, wires cap rotor, atinator, tires, and nextgen 5w20. Last 15k front wheel bearings, idler arms, used axle shafts and front diff, and windshield. I plan to do a trip to south cali and back to michigan in about a momth to tack a load of dog out west to a friend who moved out there. I plan to have it 250,000 more miles. I spray on bedlinered the bottum and six-plus inces up the side so it will never rust, it has accent plasic panels body colored on the sides that hide it on the sides.

84 vw rabbit 1.6l idi-diesel
450k motor untouched. Orig clutch replaced at 390k.
Jetta struts and coils up front, pick-up model spring and shocks in back give the car a good three inches plus of lift over stock. It my little fwd suv. 58 to 63 mpg with no idle time except for turbo timer(but its not a turbo, i like to idle down 2.75minutes). Better at 65mph.
50-53mpg with moterate to me idle (if it will be restarted in twenty minutes, leave it run.
40mpg with the heck fuels cheap leave it run.


Ken