How to Make Your Car Last 200,000 Miles

[bourne]

Originally Posted By: artificialist

Nissan 4-speed transaxles worked well at that time. It is amazing to see ho many 1989 and later Maximas are still on the road.


Agreed. I traded my 1997 4 speed maxima in at 227k miles with no history of trans service ( i was poor ) and it still shifted just fine. Those cars were built to last , its getting harder each day to find such bulletproof reliability.

 

[azjake]

Originally Posted By: artificialist
In most cars, the engine will be able to reach 238,000 miles, and in some the transmission also reaches 238,000 miles.

However, the interior is falling apart, the A/C either doesn't work or has been repaired, electrical items can't be counted on, an expensive in-tank electric fuel pump gets replaced, most suspension parts had to be replaced, and there are multiple leaks.

So people get rid of their cars for some reason other than a dying engine or transmission.


I agree. You can sink a small fortune in those type of repairs even if the engine and tranny are in good shape.
Don't under estimate the importance of reliability also. Maybe you don't mind occasionally getting stuck along the side of the road on the way to work in exchange for no car payments, but your boss might if your late too many times.

 

[ag_ghost]

Originally Posted By: Rick in PA

My wife's Windstar just rolled over 200k, in fact, I'll be doing the 200k mile oil change tomorrow morning. It did take a set of head gaskets, but they were known for that. And the intake runner control solenoids had to be replaced. Oh well, nothing's perfect. Overall, I've been happy with the Windstar, it's been a good vehicle. Your's will make it.

Thanks for the encouragement and my wife is glad to hear it. Good on you too, especially in PA.

A friend/engine builder/auto veteran of nearly 40 years advised me to swap out the camshaft synchronizer and position sensor as preventive maintenance. Painful but glad we did it. Perhaps as importantly, the power steering fluid was worn out so we replaced that while we were in there. I was very disappointed in the vehicle until Ford reprogrammed the engine computer in '03 during a recall and then it became a keeper.

 

[Benzadmiral]

My late lamented 1986 W126 Mercedes withe the smaller (4.2) V-8 of those days made it to 198K without serious issues. But it was totaled while parked in July of '04 by a (probably drunken, probably cell phone-yakking) teen driver.

At the time I fully expected it to hit 200K in the next few months. I'd only had it since 138K miles, though.

 

[morris]

MMO, MMO, and MMO

 

[CBR.worm]

I've found the best way to go more than 200k is to not let it sit still for long

In some places it is the salt that kills it. Here in S. Florida, the sun kills the interior of just about anything before the cars wear out.

My FX is on it's 3rd dashboard, the G35 has cracks on its dash and the 528i dash is warping at the ends. On all of them rubber is cracking and falling off from misc places and plastics are yellowing.

All of them have door trim that has unadhesed on at least 2 doors.

That's one thing I can say for my old Toyota's with hard plastic - there was no degradation over time. Looked and felt like [censored] plastic when new, 20 years later they were exactly the same.

At any one time, two of these cars are parked in the garage.

When I used to drive 50k a year, my cars were like new at 200k...and 4 years old. Now that it takes me 10 years, the condition is not as good at that point.