Stories of cars you've seen that just ran forever with little of no maintenance

[WobblyElvis]

I have known people that just don't have any interest in maintaining their cars. I might ask them when they last had it serviced and they just look at me like I have two heads and they ask why. My neighbor had a mid 80's Pontiac Parisienne until about 2008. He called it the tank and I don't ever recall his spending any money on it. One day it just disappeared and a new vehicle showed up. Maybe someone has an interesting story......

 

[ls973800]

My brother never did any maintenance or even regular checks of fluids, etc. He purchased a used car once and drove it for about a year before running into the previous owner/seller. The guy asked how he was able to open the hood to check the oil since he had put a lock and chain on it to prevent the battery from being stolen and forgot to give him the key for it. My brother had no idea the hood wouldn't open because he never even tried to open the hood for any reason! He drove that car for another couple of years but I don't know if he ever did anything even after getting the key for the lock.

RIP, Rich!

 

[stangguy]

Many MANY years ago one of my uncles had a 59 ford 6cyl stick, that he drove about 85 miles to work, so about 170 miles per day. He never changed the oil. Did change the filter once in a while, and grease it, and kept it full of oil, but never changed it. He would run it till it got to burning to much oil, which took till around 100000 miles, and buy a remanufactured short block, and put it in one afternoon, and go another 100000.

 

[mrsilv04]

Back in high school, I dated a gal who drove an '86 Fiero 2M6 that was on a rebuilt title (yeah.. and I rode with her in this vehicle... I was young and stupid indeed). Not only had this car apparently survived some sort of calamity that had already cursed it for eternity with a branded title... stress cracks in the fiberglass body that had been repaired, and then it re-cracked... she drove it for years and it got little more than an occasional oil change... and a regular supply of Eagle GT tires.. which it chewed through on a regualr basis... no doubt caused by whatever damage had led to the rebuilt title.

 

[ad244]

rebuilt title (yeah.. and I rode with her in this vehicle... I was young and stupid indeed).

Boy you sure did live dangerously back then

 

[TheLawnRanger]

I had a '99 Cavalier that was in the family for over 20 years with very little work needed.

 

[eljefino]

Coworker had a 98 sunfire that he never did anything to. Seemed like he was always running around on an expired inspection. One year he finally took it in, with the ABS light on. They charged him an hour labor ($80-ish bucks) for an "ABS diagnostic" that was simply clearing the code, and not moving the car until the sticker went on.

It wound up in my hands when he blew the top metal coolant pipe, an oddball thing GM did to make a side-exit water outlet mate to a radiator nipple on the other side of the engine bay. Like the 2.2 OHV engine wasn't meant for a J-body. Anyway he never changed the coolant and this thing rusted through. I did a desperately needed oil change and serpentine belt and he took forever to pay me. Never again. But that darn car kept chugging along.

 

[rob1715]

I had a '99 Cavalier that was in the family for over 20 years with very little work needed.

Knew several people with Cavaliers in HS and all of them said they ran perfectly. For some reason the Sunfires didn't do so well.

 

[KJH]

I've personally seen 2 Toyota 1UZ V8 powered cars owned by my friends back when I was late high school/early college aged, over 400k miles that ran smooth as butter. LS400 and a SC400. Unsure as to the history of them before my buddies got their hands on them but all were driven year round in the northern midwest and beaten the hell out of street racing, winter shenanigans, drifting, even some off road/gravel. These guys were those idiot youtubers that beat the **** out of their cars for fun before it was a internet trend. We got the LS400 up to 150mph on a deserted highway in the middle of the night and it was smooth as glass. The LS was bent around a light pole in a low speed mishap during a winter commute, the guy with the SC400 got into some trouble(i dont think it was traffic related) and lost his license, I believe he sold it after that but I havent seen him in almost a decade so who knows. Theres always at least one LS400 of that vintage with 300-500k miles on internet listings locally "runs and drives". Never had any direct experience with the 2 and 3UZ but I hear its the same deal.

The guy with the SC400 also had a 80s 4runner with the 22r that was absolutely beaten to ****. Thing would climb over stuff that defeated heavily modified Wranglers, and it wore some cheap worn out off road tires and had a hockey puck lift. At some point the rear brake lines started to leak, he crimped them off, and if he stomped/pumped the brakes at 30-40mph repeatedly the rear end would lift off the ground a considerable amount. He liked to shock people waiting at stop lights when he was pulling up to the red light with that. He worked on a golf course and there was an abandoned hole we would off road at, and he caught a rut when doing a wide donut and the thing flipped with 5 of us in it. Not a scratch on any of us, although I had glass in my jean pockets for about 2 weeks. He kept on driving it with a caved in roof, until some people who lived next door to the golf course apparently had enough of the after hours off roading and poured sand into his intake and snipped a bunch of the wiring harness up.

These guys knew how to work on cars, but their nice cars were old BMWs, I never saw them touch the Toyota stuff besides makeshift fixes like the crimped brake line, and I personally saw him top up the 4runner with the bulk oil they used for the riding mowers at the golf course.

Stupid stuff that I have no desire to do again, but it was pretty fun at the time.

 

[oldcodger]

My Dads 1983 Isuzu P'UP diesel is still running with nothing but irregular maintenance. It has in excess of 400,000 miles and even survived two years in Mexico. I swear one day the body is simply going to collapse into a pile of dust. It looks absolutely horrible but the motor keeps on going.

 

[doublebase]

Way back, 30 years ago or so, a roofing company used to get their vans “serviced” at my dealership. These things would come in for bandaids and afterthought “maintenance“. If they were there, they were there for some sort of “keep it on the road” repair, bare minimum stuff. These trucks had 200-300k miles, heavily abused and neglected. Simply work trucks/vans. To stop for an oil change or service, meant that the truck wasn’t running and wasn’t making them money. These things had almost no oil in them when they’d come in, just ticking away. We’d sometimes maybe do an oil change, usually just add a quart or two.

And my brother in law is the absolute WORST. Dodge Ram...pulls into my driveway and I ask, when’s the last time you’ve had an oil change? Oh, I don’t know, maybe last year. He’s always been like this. The power steering pump is screaming, nothing in it. Rack is blown out. I put in some power steering fluid for him and tell him to get it fixed. Three months later I see him and it’s screaming again. Never fixed it. Never rotated a tire in his life. Never performed a coolant change, tranny change (doesn’t even know what that is), never washes the thing, wax, nothing. Three years out of a used car/truck is all he‘ll get. Then trades them in on something new and destroys that. Honestly, an oil change is a big treat for one of his vehicles.

 

[dishdude]

Knew several people with Cavaliers in HS and all of them said they ran perfectly. For some reason the Sunfires didn't do so well.

It's amazing the beatings these Cavaliers would take and just keep running like it was nothing.

 

[JTK]

Knew several people with Cavaliers in HS and all of them said they ran perfectly. For some reason the Sunfires didn't do so well.

Not sure if this had anything to do with it, but If I remember correctly, the Pontiac Sunfire version used a different engine. IIRC, it was an OHC, where the Cavaliers used cam in block. I know in my area, rust took them out before the powertrain would wear out.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

1965 GMC Step Side short bed pick up with straight 6 cylinder and three on the tree transmission. Could make her spin the tires from 1st and 2nd gear. Light and speedy truck for its small 230 or 235? cui engine. Not much power though. Ran like a swiss watch the whole time I had it. Four years of High school.

 

[KJH]

Way back, 30 years ago or so, a roofing company used to get their vans “serviced” at my dealership. These things would come in for bandaids and afterthought “maintenance“. If they were there, they were there for some sort of “keep it on the road” repair, bare minimum stuff. These trucks had 200-300k miles, heavily abused and neglected. Simply work trucks/vans. To stop for an oil change or service, meant that the truck wasn’t running and wasn’t making them money. These things had almost no oil in them when they’d come in, just ticking away. We’d sometimes maybe do an oil change, usually just add a quart or two.

And my brother in law is the absolute WORST. Dodge Ram...pulls into my driveway and I ask, when’s the last time you’ve had an oil change? Oh, I don’t know, maybe last year. He’s always been like this. The power steering pump is screaming, nothing in it. Rack is blown out. I put in some power steering fluid for him and tell him to get it fixed. Three months later I see him and it’s screaming again. Never fixed it. Never rotated a tire in his life. Never performed a coolant change, tranny change (doesn’t even know what that is), never washes the thing, wax, nothing. Three years out of a used car/truck is all he‘ll get. Then trades them in on something new and destroys that. Honestly, an oil change is a big treat for one of his vehicles.

Thats just how many people treat cars. Then they base their idea of brand reliability on which one happens to not blow up in the most catastrophic way. Many years ago my Dad asked me whats a reliable used car as my aunt was in the market, I said Toyota camry without any thought and we started talking about something else and I didnt think about it again. Imagine my surprise many months later when I see her at christmas and she sarcastically tells me thanks for the car advice and shes never buying Japanese again. She apparently way overpaid for the first clapped out POS she saw in the classifieds, knowing her history of cycling through cars probably never did any maintenance, and something or another expensive engine related broke. She inherited my Grandfathers religiously dealer maintained Buick LeSabre, never knew what happened to that but she was in something different two years later. Nice lady otherwise, what can you do.

 

[bilibako2]

My neightbor 06 Honda Odyssey minivan my neighbor at 145k very neglected from oil change not in time like -0 on oil monitor and always low on oil until present engine sounds okay,power steering leaking for last few years noise and hard to steer,brakes always wait until noise grinding on rotors front and rear,atf change once drain and fill,timing belt/water pump/coolant none yet.spark plug OE still,air filter about 3x,cabin filter every few years very dirty,serpentine belt original.He is looking for replacement car now,he called me few weeks ago that he needs oil change with 20% oil monitor will see,one time he had 1.5 quart on sump lost 3.5 quart when monitor is -900.He is very nice but not nice on his car's,oh well.Wait until he find out that buying car now is a nightmare due to shortage.

 

[AutoMechanic]

My Mazda truck. Haven’t done anything to it besides maintenance. The battery will be 8 this year it has had the same one since I bought it in 2018 and it’s an Interstate so I’m pretty sure it will last for a long while more. Haven’t changed the oil in it since April 2020 as much as I hate to say that but I just don’t drive it hardly anymore. It’s had roughly 500 miles on it since the last change. Mainly because the pulley bearing failed again but i should not have gotten a cheap one first. And because it’s slow to take off it makes a whopping 85 horsepower lol. It would not be good going to work as I deal with impatient drivers who fly around you. I plan on changing the oil soon I wanted to do it last year but just got so busy. I would take it to work and do it this week along with the other fluids since it’s so slow but it’s supposed to snow the next two days and that thing spins like heck in the snow it’s a RWD. Back when it was being driven everyday all I ever had to do was put gas in it and add washer fluid from time to time. Of course I checked everything weekly in it and still do as I am not going to neglect it. I trust that truck to go anywhere in the world it maybe 33 this year but that doesn’t make it unreliable. Never broke down on me except when I ran out of gas because I was sitting on a hill and the gauge said 1/4 lol. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve taken it to rescue somebody who had broken down somewhere.

 

[alcyon]

My neighbors 1989 Corolla. The thing smokes and valves clatter. The paint has faded badly. The dude is an Indonesian construction odd job worker. The car still runs and gets him and his workers + equipment moving where he needs to be.

 

[walterjay]

My Mazda truck. Haven’t done anything to it besides maintenance. The battery will be 8 this year it has had the same one since I bought it in 2018 and it’s an Interstate so I’m pretty sure it will last for a long while more. Haven’t changed the oil in it since April 2020 as much as I hate to say that but I just don’t drive it hardly anymore. It’s had roughly 500 miles on it since the last change. Mainly because the pulley bearing failed again but i should not have gotten a cheap one first. And because it’s slow to take off it makes a whopping 85 horsepower lol. It would not be good going to work as I deal with impatient drivers who fly around you. I plan on changing the oil soon I wanted to do it last year but just got so busy. I would take it to work and do it this week along with the other fluids since it’s so slow but it’s supposed to snow the next two days and that thing spins like heck in the snow it’s a RWD. Back when it was being driven everyday all I ever had to do was put gas in it and add washer fluid from time to time. Of course I checked everything weekly in it and still do as I am not going to neglect it. I trust that truck to go anywhere in the world it maybe 33 this year but that doesn’t make it unreliable. Never broke down on me except when I ran out of gas because I was sitting on a hill and the gauge said 1/4 lol. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve taken it to rescue somebody who had broken down somewhere.

Awesome little truck. We had one that was bought at auction. We removed the bed and put a tool /parts bin bed on it for plumbing. I drove it for several years and seldon did anything to it other than gassing it up. I would run the heck out of it winding it out to get some power. Never had a mechanical failure. Almost totaled it colliding with a deer. Put it back together with used parts and actually had to silicone the headlight in place. Drove it for several years and finally gave it away to a guy who used it on his property to run through fields and whatever. And I know he was a cheapskate and probably never did anything to it either. And BTW with the tool bed that thing would go through snow like a tank. Used it to rescue another employee who was stuck in the snow with a chevy van.

 

[Nick1994]

I do enough maintenance on the Camry to keep it happy and nothing else. It's got the cheapest brakes (Durago), the cheapest rear $39 struts (FCS) and some $9 Gabriel's waiting to go on the front, the cheapest tires (Sentury), the cheapest oil (clearance 15w40 diesel oil), and has had a cracked windshield for 5 years. Left rear corner is smashed from an accident almost 6 years ago.

It's a trooper.