Modern engines, much better quality than it was years back.

[W0QNX]

I was just looking around and found this. Guy got 626,000 miles out of his 2014 Dodge Ram promaster cargo van engine. 285 miles a day for 2200 days. He did the oil changes at a normal 8,000 miles with some up to 11,000 miles. The camshaft chain guides finally just wore though the plastics and the engine threw codes. Not a small car wind-road load but a cargo van? Good going.

If you watch the video the engine insides look absolutely great inside. I've been thinking about getting a Jeep Wrangler and the 3.8 engine vs 3.6 (which started in 2012) has been a looking point for sure. But I think either will go many many more miles than most of us will ever tolerate before trading it off. Simple regular maintenance goes a long way.

Check Out How Surprisingly Durable This Chrysler Pentastar V6 Is After 626,000 Miles

See how important maintenance really is.

www.thedrive.com

 

[the Ferret]

lol my brother had a 99 Ram truck with the Hemi in it. He kept it until last year and put about 250,000 on it, but the only thing that was original when he got rid of it was the gas cap I think. Everything had been replaced at one time or another. He traded it in on a Honda Ridgeline.

 

[red one]

My old corolla sits close to 260K miles. Thing runs like a top. After 19 years in the rust belt ( Illinois) salted roads are taking a toll on it so the body will go long before the power train. The 24 yo ST 1100 is so clean inside when I take the oil cap off she is spotless inside. 86K on her. You hit the nail right on the head Raymond maintenance on time is the key.

 

[Al st1100]

I was just looking around and found this. Guy got 626,000 miles out of his 2014 Dodge Ram promaster cargo van engine. 285 miles a day for 2200 days. He did the oil changes at a normal 8,000 miles with some up to 11,000 miles. The camshaft chain guides finally just wore though the plastics and the engine threw codes. Not a small car wind-road load but a cargo van? Good going.

If you watch the video the engine insides look absolutely great inside. I've been thinking about getting a Jeep Wrangler and the 3.8 engine vs 3.6 (which started in 2012) has been a looking point for sure. But I think either will go many many more miles than most of us will ever tolerate before trading it off. Simple regular maintenance goes a long way.

Check Out How Surprisingly Durable This Chrysler Pentastar V6 Is After 626,000 Miles

See how important maintenance really is.

www.thedrive.com

It doesn't mention how many oil coolers he changed. Any one who has that 3.6 knows the oil cooler problem and then there's the P06dd oil pressure control solenoid. At one point a year or so back both were on national backorder. And it's funny when I need a cam shaft and rockers they stock em all. Yea the piston rings, and crankshaft hold up but the other stuff will add up fast.

 

[Daboo]

My Dad told me when I was back in high school (more than half a century ago) that he trades in the old car at 100,000 miles. They just don't last much longer. He was probably right back then.

Today, we think nothing of having a car with well over a 100K or even 200K. My wife's Camry had 220K on it when we sold it. The interior still looked like new and it ran beautifully. The exterior wasn't as pretty as when new, but that's to be expected. And I didn't obsess with maintenance on it. Changed the oil when needed, brakes, etc.

Our motorcycles are the same way. There used to be a time when you had to do a lot of work on them to ensure they'd be dependable for a ride. I had a couple Burgman scooters, a Honda NT700V and the BMW F800GT once I started commuting on a motorcycle. For the first couple times on the first Burgman scooter, I wiped it all down as I'd read other more experienced riders did to their bikes. Then I realized it was both a waste of time and probably going to ruin the paint

They aren't a horse. I put them to bed wet, and pulled them out of the garage the next morning to do the next day's commute. And they ran great.

Chris

 

[Igofar]

Remember when all the Honda CB750’s would disappear from the roads and start showing up in salvage yards around 20k miles on them.
Things have sure changed.
Our 1958 Dodge power wagon went around 400k on the 318 engines my father in law would put in it.
Had three engines that I know of.

 

[Valker]

My 1975 CB750/4 had 50,000 on it when I sold it. Never an issue mechanically other than the hassle of setting the dual sets of points. Never used a drop of oil between changes.

 

[DannoXYZ]

BritainsHighestMileageRider.pdf

drive.google.com

 

[the Ferret]

I think Stan probably meant Suzuki GT 550 and 750. I don't remember Kawasaki making GT anythings. Maybe they did in Britain?

 

[bdalameda]

My 02 Dodge Ram Cummins had 575K miles on it when I sold it some years back. Put one fuel pump and a couple of belts only. My parents gave me a 1957 Mercedes 190 sedan on my 16th birthday, it was formerly my mom's car. It finally succumbed to a traffic accident when my father borrowed it one day and someone ran a stop sign. It had 775K miles on it. It had one valve job, original transmission, rear end and drive line. One set of brakes I believe. Absolutely bulletproof vehicle.

 

[bdalameda]

I think Stan probably meant Suzuki GT 550 and 750. I don't remember Kawasaki making GT anythings. Maybe they did in Britain?

Suzuki stopped making the Gt550 and GT750 in 1977.

 

[the Ferret]

Suzuki stopped making the Gt550 and GT750 in 1977.

True

Mystery solved they were called KZ 550 and KZ 750 here in the states

 

[Hound]

My brother had a GT550 and later a GT750. Solid, shaft-drive inline fours.

 

[SMSW]

Why didn't the owner just swap out the engine if the rest of the van was in good shape?

The turning point for mileage life on cars was when gearboxes routinely had an overdrive that dropped engine rpms significantly at cruising speeds. Cut the number of piston feet per mile and you increase the engine's life.

 

[catcher]

Engine rpms - yes, and also the number of heat cycles. Shorts trips vs long distance highway use.

 

[Al st1100]

The turning point for mileage life on cars was when gearboxes routinely had an overdrive that dropped engine rpms significantly at cruising speeds. Cut the number of piston feet per mile and you increase the engine's life.

Not completely. Piston rings are made thinner and of different material than ductile steel rings. They seal better and requires less tension which causes less wear on rings and cylinder walls.

 

[the Ferret]

My brother had a GT550 and later a GT750. Solid, shaft-drive inline fours.

Hmmm our Kz550 and 750 were chain driven. You guys get all the good stuff

 

[tpasco1995]

In December I sold a 2005 Prius that I bought from my parents in July 2022, who bought it from the first owner in 2007.

330,000 miles on the engine, electric motors, axles, etc. The big battery had been replaced once at 260,000 miles, but I did that myself in 2 hours in their driveway for $500 in parts. The original rear brake shoes finally needed replaced at 329,000 miles. A capacitor in the dash failed at about 310,000 miles; 45 minutes and $0.10 to fix that.

What did in the car for me was replacing the parking brake cables. One of the cable bracket mounts was heavily rusted from Ohio road salt, and when I went to unbolt it the weld to the body sheared. I fabricated a new bracket with scrap steel, and welded it back onto the car. Good as new.

If I hadn't been a flipping idiot and forgotten to disconnect the negative battery wire. Electrocuted 3 ECUs in five seconds of welding. Smart key, immobilizer, and ABS.

The teardown to the immobilizer ECU would have been about six hours. I then would have needed to replace the key slot in the dash, the immobilizer ECU, the three door sensors, the key fobs, and the Smart Key ECU with a matched set from a donor, then programmed them all to the CANBUS from the laptop. It would have been another 20-30 hours of work, plus sourcing, and probably $1,000 in components. At that point I decided it wasn't worth it.

I reprogrammed the ECU with Techstream to deactivate SmartKey and the immobilizer, to rely on the key in the slot only, and I replaced the ECU for the ABS. Good enough to sell for $2,000 to someone who just needed a car that ran.

Ultimately, if not for this dumb-dumb, that Toyota would probably have been in perfect condition for another 20 years and 300,000 miles. Freaking tanks of engineering.

 

[amorley]

We are on a road trip out hiking in northern Arizona in our 2010 Volvo XC70. 3.2 litre inline six cylinder engine. Still going strong after 170K miles and regular services. Replaced the coils last year. My mechanic says it has at least another 150K miles, and if we want to sell it before then he'll buy it.

 

[SMSW]

Electrocuted 3 ECUs in five seconds of welding. Smart key, immobilizer, and ABS.

I reprogrammed the ECU with Techstream

Ultimately, if not for this dumb-dumb, that Toyota would probably have been in perfect condition for another 20 years and 300,000 miles. Freaking tanks of engineering.

Clearly, you have skills that most of us do not. I only dispute your prediction that the Prius would last another 20 years exposed to Ohio road salt. Unless, of course, they use it sparingly in Columbus. Up here they mix sugar with brine and spray that on the roads before the snowfall, and then add rock salt once the precipitation begins.