Is 300K miles unreasonable?

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LouDawg

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I'm shooting for 300K on my new Accord V6 3.0L VTEC. I'll be putting about 40K a year on it, 90% highway, and moderate driving styles, with the occasional WOT. I am/will be diligently changing the oil with a few UOAs in there to keep an eye on things. I'll most likely be using Motorcraft 5W-20 (or TropArtic 5W-20 if I can find it) and going by the OLM for the recommended OCI.

Barring some defect in the engine or tranny that haven't yet presented themselves, is 300K unreasonable? Anyone else have any good or bad luck with this engine?

Thanks!
 
Anything is possible but i hear people that neglect their rides and hundreds of thousands of miles and then you some that baby their rides with all the good stuff and barely get 100K...so as long you enjoy it im sure youll get there.
 
With good maintenance, 250k or more on the original engine should be easy. Be sure to keep the timing belt, water pump, and spark plugs replaced every 100k (along with a valve clearance adjustment).

The AT is a different story. You should be able to get 150-200k out of the original unit with mostly highway driving and good maintenance. My classmate's father got 170k out of 03 TL's transmission before it failed, and that was with nearly all highway driving. Rarely will you see the newer units last more than 200k miles these days.

Not to worry, a rebuild is less than $3000.
 
Your mileage sounds very easy on a car and 300k will come in a short time period. Age and mileage gets to a car.

Assume its an auto tranny and that will be the only major failure(in terms of $$$) point.
 
You've got a good plan, and your expectations are achievable. I had 295,000 miles on my '95 Toyota Corolla before I gave it to my kid (it now has 299K) I used primarily SuperTech oil and filters with oil changes around 3,000-3,500 miles. My driving habits were similar to yours. Highway miles are really easy on an engine and tranny.

The biggest problems are the unexpected stuff. Besides the timing belt, make sure your cooling system stays in good shape.

I currently have a '97 Civic as a daily driver that has 185,000 miles. Honda makes very reliable drivetrains.
 
The tranny has been my biggest concern, too. I've heard some concerns about the earlier 7th gen AT's, but I guess they put an oil jet on 2nd gear now. Wonder if that will help extend the life or if things have gotten any better? I really don't want a $3K AT rebuild in 3-4 years, but if it happens, it happens.
 
Quote:

With good maintenance, 250k or more on the original engine should be easy. Be sure to keep the timing belt, water pump, and spark plugs replaced every 100k (along with a valve clearance adjustment).

The AT is a different story. You should be able to get 150-200k out of the original unit with mostly highway driving and good maintenance. My classmate's father got 170k out of 03 TL's transmission before it failed, and that was with nearly all highway driving. Rarely will you see the newer units last more than 200k miles these days.

Not to worry, a rebuild is less than $3000.

Click to expand...


So what can a person do to squeeze the maximum life out of these AT's? I hear some say to change the tranny fluid/filter religiously, and others say not to touch it. I guess I'll stick with Honda's service recommendations, but if there's anything more I could do, I'm open to suggestions.
 
I assume this is an '06 or '07? If so, then I know that it has an ATF filter & not just the useless screen like the 6th generation '98-'02 cars. I would definitely change the fluid & filter every 30k miles. You might want to change the fluid every 15k miles & then the filter every 30k miles. I am changing fluid in our '02 AT every 30k miles even though it doesn't have a filter.
 
It all depends on your threshold for driving a POS.

My experience is that the cars fall apart around the engine; it's the last part to ________ out.

My father and I have had some fairly high mileage engines- a 180,000 and a 198,000, as well as his current 150,000.

What starts happening is that parts like power windows, power mirrors, windshields, seats, alternators, brakes, etc... start showing their age and becoming worn out. I ended up getting rid of my old Ranger (198K) because it was completely decrepit everywhere EXCEPT the engine. The transmission was screwed up, the seats were awful, the headliner looked like it'd been through a catfight, the paint was coming off, the door dings were starting to really accumulate, etc...

I could have put a reman gearbox in for about $1000 and kept on going, but I was just tired of driving such a POS.
 
Shouldn't be too hard. My brother has 540,000 km (335,000 mi) on his Accord and it shows no sign of stopping. He said the local dealer told him they have all kinds of Hondas come in for service with more than 750,000 km(465K mi) on them.

He's had one valve job, and he's had to replace his exhaust manifold once - possiby twice (if keeps cracking). He's got steel headers on it now instead of the factory cast iron manifold.

His Honda before this one had 480,000 km ( 298K mi) and the one before that had around the same mileage. And they were both running well when he traded them in, and he got reasonable trade-in value for them.
 
It is indeed an '07...

As for the "POS" thing, I'm really anal about taking care of every little system, so they'll probably be well maintained, kept clean, and replaced as needed, so I'm hoping not to let it get to the POS point.

va3ux, that's encouraging to hear about the mileage your brother had. That's what I'm shooting for...did he have any tranny problems or if not, how and how often did he service it?
 
The nice thing about 40k highway miles per year is that you'll accumulate miles fast. You can have 300k miles on the car in 7.5 years. The engine should handle that no problem. And since the rest of the car will only be 7 years old, it won't have been beating to death by time yet.
 
My buddy at work had a Civic DX. He finally sold it with 313,000 on the clock. The engine made it, but it was on it's second transmission. 10-30 Pennzsludge conventional, and Fram filters it's whole life. He knows better now, running PP and AC filters on his new Grand Prix. Shoot, he might even get 315,000 out of it on the synthetic!
 
Changing the ATF and ATF filter every 30K miles is cheap insurance. Use Honda Z1 ATF, buy in quantity on line to save some bucks. When changing the ATF fluid, you're only changing about 50%. Make sure you use new crush washers anytime you change engine/tranny oil.
twocents.gif
 
I'd suggest to get the most live out of your tranny, would be to watch how you drive. Do as less amount of WOT shifts as possible. The higher the rpm when shifting, the more stress put on the tranny. My thoughts anyways... I currently have a 7th gen Civic, with 145k miles, tranny still works fine. I try to keep my foot out of it as much as possible.

Like others have said, do frequent fluid changes, and you might want to look into a tranny cooler, and an inline filter.
 
Quote:

I'd suggest to get the most live out of your tranny, would be to watch how you drive. Do as less amount of WOT shifts as possible. The higher the rpm when shifting, the more stress put on the tranny. My thoughts anyways... I currently have a 7th gen Civic, with 145k miles, tranny still works fine. I try to keep my foot out of it as much as possible.

Like others have said, do frequent fluid changes, and you might want to look into a tranny cooler, and an inline filter.

Click to expand...


Yeah, someone else I talked to mentioned the cooler and inline filter...are they expensive and/or hard to install?

As for the WOT, I rarely do it, and when I do, I'm not even sure it's wide-open. It's more like, "Hey, I pressed the gas pedal a lot further than normal!" But I doubt it'll ever be pushed all the way.

I've never changed tranny fluid...wonder if it'd be better to have the dealer do it?
 
Certainly doable. Most well-maintained quality cars can be like new at 200k... so 300K isnt a stretch at all. With Honda products the rubber parts will rot before you get there if you take more than 10 years to do it... but the engine will be sound.

Do watch that AT especially, as it isnt known for longevity. That said, keeping a light foot is, IMO the best way to get long life.

JMH
 
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