One Million Miles and 600qt of Mobile 1.

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That was a good story. Too bad GM is sooo cheap and didn't even offer the guy something as stories like this certainly get my attention and would probably help sell their cars. Interesting tid-bit about head gasket failures due to the heat and shrinking cycles.
 
Does anyone know the oil capacity of that car? For example, if the capacity is 6 qts and he used exactly 600 qts of Mobil1; that would average 10,000 miles per oil change. But if his capacity is only 3 qts (unlikely), then it averages only 5,000 miles per oil change. Of course, most of his driving must have been highway miles to rack it up so quickly.
 
"... but the engine was largely untouched.

The engine head gasket was replaced three times because constant warming and cooling stretched it."

Pretty neat story.
However, I don't consider that the engine was hardly touched since the head gasket was replaced 3 times. If that is hardly touching an engine, I guess the GM 3.1L V6 should be considered a tough engine.
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Still, a million miles is a lot of windshield time.
 
Yes and no .Head gasket retention is arguably the final frontier or the final arbitrator of who and what can really go the really long distance . Still a noteable accomplishment - an average of 333,000 per head gasket on an iron block - aluminum head is substantially above average - by way of comparision something the typical Toyota owner with this combination can only dream about . Its also a good job on catching them in time and reinstalling them properly . The ability to take two head gasket reinstalls reflects well on this engine in other ways as well . And yes , there still is that category of no replacement that you allude to . Most of those positions have been taken by any number of good old fashioned American V8s and a few of the I6s from the 1960s .
 
The transmission was replaced at 200K, so that means he went another 800K on the 2nd transmission?!? I wonder if he used Mobil 1 sythetic transmission fluid.
 
I'm waiting for someone to say
"Yeah, but if he'd used my favorite 'Supersludge xxx Synthetic', he would have gotten TWO million miles."
Oh wait, he parked it because of rust, engine was still running.
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an average of 333,000 per head gasket on an iron block - aluminum head is substantially above average - by way of comparision something the typical Toyota owner with this combination can only dream about




This is something most cannot appreciate. My 3.0 Mitsubish would still be running (it still ran - but was replace with a factory reman) but the corrosion caused the head gaskets to externally leak @ 175k. It lasted over 14 years without issues and the leakage was probably due to semi-long term neglect of a third vehicle's cooling system (probably). I don't think that they anticipated such extended life to engines ..or at least we didn't adapt to it well in terms of perpetual long term care
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Saab's hold 4 liters of oil. Until recently, head gasket replacement was quite common. It's just the nature of those motors. It's not particularly difficult, either... Many older saab owners do their own timing chain/head gasket replacement. Newer Saabs are a lot more reliable than the older ones. Let no one tell you differently. They're just harder to work on. What SAAB owners complain about is the lack of "SAABishness" of the new cars. GM just tries to hit the high notes like putting the ignition in the center console behind the shifter.

Given that Pete claims rigorous fluid changes are part of his receipe, I doubt he ran long drains on anything. Saab owners have historically shunned M1 in the transmission. I believe his car is a manual, so no ATF anyway. Until 1997, Saab recommended mineral 10W30 as manual transmission fill.
 
[ quote ] It lasted over 14 years without issues and the leakage was probably due to semi-long term neglect of a third vehicle's cooling system (probably). I don't think that they anticipated such extended life to engines ..or at least we didn't adapt to it well in terms of perpetual long term care
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Hello Gary ,
Not quite getting that third vehicle ..... ? I too have wondered about your last part . My thinking is that JDM requirments both in terms of mandated " reporting /maintiance " ( when ahem , honored ) and life expectancies can explain why alot of Asian manufacturer's engines can be both reliable and non durable past a certain point . Its a mark of engineering efficiency really , and I wonder if it doesn't point the way to the future . Something like strong performance thru 150 - 200K and then economically untenable after that .

OFF TOPIC : OUTSTANDING job with bypass/filtration ,MMO , and water although on that last I prefer steam . Slower but it keeps me out of trouble .
 
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