High Mileage Rigs And Legendary Powerplants

[LONO100]

We had a 2006 highlander that we gave to a relative about a year ago. It is still going strong with over 250k on the clock. A lot of people trash American cars, but I think people just pile on because of what other people say. I've owned a number of Fords, a 95 ranger that I put 190k on before selling it with no issues other than replacing the alternator. when I was commuting hundreds of miles per day I owned an 03 Focus ZTS that I put 265k (in 5 years) miles on before selling with zero issues, and I currently own my awesome Sport Trac with the 4.0 SOHC engine with 153k on it with ZERO issues.

Other rides with great power trains that I have owned are the 2.5 Subie motor, and the old school fuel injected 1.8 L Honda motor. Those things are bomb proof. We gave our 2004 Forester which I bought new to my niece in 2016. She drove it from Northern Cali to New Mexico where it is still going strong with close to 300k miles. You just have to treat your rides right, take care of them, don't cheap out on parts and you'd be surprised how long they can last.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

thanks, its my wife's baby, for an 18 year old car it still drives great and is heaps of fun.

Back when I had my supercharged integra the altezza kicked off the clear tail light craze! ha ha. My car looked stock on the outside but was all business under the hood. We even modified the stock muffler to have more flow while keeping the sound very much in check and looking boring. As soon as I hammered on it the whine gave it away though! Was heaps of fun blowing the doors off of 5.0 mustangs and camaros all night long!

 

[the_outdoorsman]

My dd is a '96 XJ that is less than 2K miles shy of 200K.

My tow rig is a '95 Cummins with something on the order of 325K.

I would not be surprised to see those vehicles go over double what they are already at. Both the Jeep 4.0L and Cummins 12V are known for their durability and longevity.

DD a 96 XJ with 230k here. Just had to do a cat change on it.

 

[rho]

Our '03 GMC with an LM7 (5.3L V8, woo!) just hit 204k on our Death Valley trip, We keep up on maintaince on the thing and we're expecting to get another 100-200k out of it. My partner LOVES the truck.

 

[Drmiller100]

Ls powered 5.3 suburban 280k on it.
I'm a mechanic and this and Honda's are the most reliable out there.
Jeep 4.0 is really good also

 

[MidOH]

My favorite overlanding truck engines as a master tech:

Ford 7.3 diesel. 98-2003 forged crank versions. All of it's bugs were an easy fix, just don't let the oil pan rust. Too bad the 4 speed Trans was a bit anemic. A modern '17 6r100g would have made that the best truck engine of all time.

Jeep 4.0l. Easy to fix fuel injection. Super reliable. No Jeep engine since has even come close.

Ford 4.6. 2 valve in F150's or Econoline's. All the power a 150 needs. Too weak to Grenade itself. Predates all of the spark plug nonsense.

GM ZZ 383. Yeah, it's a carb'd crate engine. Deal with it. Simple is good. Last time I loved GM anything......it had a carb.

GM 8.1. It drinks oil. So what? It's one of the most reliable engines out there.

Ford 6.2. The engine Ford should have made 20 years ago. Torque via transmission, not from long stroke crap like the 5.4l.

V10. Both the Ram and Ford (2v) V10's were relatively trouble free. Get some double insulated plug wires for the Ram.

GM 6.0. Too weak to hurt itself. One of the most reliable engines that I ever hated, in the absolutely worst trucks that I've ever driven. One ton trucks and Russian quality Express vans.

Mercedes I6 diesel. In junk yards everywhere. Best crawler engine you can get for $350. Every time somebody swaps a Cummins into something smallish, I pitty all of the poor junkyard Mercedez diesels waiting for their forever homes.

Toyota 5.7l. Once you get past the fact that you have to tear the engine apart for a minor starter replacement. And abysmal fuel economy.

Suzuki Drz400s. What happens when you decide to build a cheap reliable 4 stroke dirtbike engine, instead of a high maintenance race engine......you get the most reliable 35hp engine of all time.






Popular overlanding engines that I disapprove of:

Jeep 3.6, 3.8. Way too many sob stories, and lunched cams. Heck, any Jeep engine before or after the 4.0l. Ha.

Ram Hemi. Cams, rockers, same issues as Jeeps.

Ford 300 I6. God I hate this leaky water pump, frozen tstat, freeze plug throwing menace. Whatever made this engine a favorite of the Grey haired Olde timers, was long gone by the time I started working.

GM Duramax. Backwards head gaskets and all of the same fuel pump issues that Ford and Dodge have. But it always get a free pass. That's what annoys me the most. "My Duramax has been perfectly reliable after $14,000 in repairs in just 80k miles. Best truck ever.''. Lol, yeah OK.

Anything with a Bosch Cp4 fuel pump. The big three need to pull their heads out of their arse, and get this fixed. You can't keep charging people $12,000 to $18,000 for what a diesel shop can fix for $4000. I'd avoid diesels at all cost, unless you have no choice. Often, it's just one stuck injector dropping rail pressure too low to start the engine. But the dealers replace EVERYTHING because they, and their brand, are incompetent. It's not just bad parts, it's some pretty simple bad engineering. Sadly, it's not rocket science to figure out how to get rid of these issues. Just that all 3 brands have failed to address it.

Mercedes 3.0l Sprinter van. Actually a nice engine, when it isn't eating your wallet. Sprinter fans are hardcore about service records and keeping receipts for engine upgrades for a darn good reason.

GM Iron Duke. 3.0l by now. I think it started off at 2.2 or something. Starter isn't key'd to the flywheel housing, all starting torque is transferred directly into the starter bolts. That snap like a twig. You can actually see the starter flex while cranking. GM 5.0, 5.7, 4.3, and the Chinese copies of those and the 6.2 have same issues 40 long years later. Some manufacturers just never learn, or plain don't care. Next time that I see this in a boat of piece of heavy equipment, I'm putting a pickaxe through the side of the block so that I don't have to drill out those bolts ever again.

 

[Billiebob]

Long life is also dependent on use. The 400K mile 4Runner from 30 years ago was driven by a rural farm country vet who travelled lots visiting local farms. He never carried any payload to speak of nor was it ever abused or off roaded. Generally speaking overlanding with a truck full of gear is going to wear any vehicle faster. And fuel economy is definitely dependent on use. The vehicles, pickups included rated for 25/30mpg are rated empty. Couple up a trailer they do not much better than anything else. I almost bought a new F150 with the eco boost thing until I talked to some guys about towing and realized they do no better than my Wrangler towing.

My TJR with the 4.0L has 400K kms on it, and is on its second engine but it tows 2K# almost every day. I got 280K kms out of the first engine but I only changed it because the oiling system was failing, It was still running strong.

I agree the Mopar 3.6 is a fabulous engine. And I'm pretty happy with the old 4.0L.

 

[Sgtanderson]

My 2000 Super Duty XLT has 215000 miles on the original 5.4 Triton 2V, is it fast? Nope. Does it make huge torque and horsepower? Nope. But for all the cussing and discussion of the Triton (& I don't trust the 3 valve either) this old first gen with standard type spark plugs has been reliable. Of course I don't rock crawl or climb extreme hills, but it does perform well in many off road conditions.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

My 3.8 jeep was 300,000km trouble free, I'm half way there with my pentajesus version. I have no doubt I will surpass that by a long shot with my current jeep. Keep the air filter and oils clean and anything will last forever.

Same goes for my klr650. Basic engine with no issues what so ever.

 

[Murphy Slaw]

Same goes for my klr650. Basic engine with no issues what so ever.

Doohickey ?

 

[Boostpowered]

175,000 plus miles and going on a 2017 2.8l duramax chevy colorado z71, will likely have it at 200k before the end of the year. Then its time for a timing belt and I expect another 200k out of it.

 

[rho]

I'm very curious to see how the 3.6l Pentastar in my JKU holds up long term. I have 165k miles on it and its been ok-ish so far. Its a late 2011/early 2012 motor so I had some head/lifter issues that ended up requiring a new drivers side head.
The only other issues have been an oil cooler that cracked and random sensors failing.

The manual transmission, the NSG370... Well. Thats another story.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

Doohickey ?

had 30k on my 2008 with no doo replace, the bike is still going strong. the doo was only problem 2007 and before.

 

[old_man]

I love the Jeep 4.0L. I bored and stroked mine almost 20 years ago and have 240k+ on the 4.7L stroker. I have seen lots of crappy results with strokers, I believe using an AFR is the solution. The computers do not do great compensating with out some oversight and prodding.

 

[trikebubble]

I have a 2015 Dodge Caravan with the V6 motor in it. At 110K Km it decided to sh1t itself, to the tune of $5 grand in repairs. It was just outside of warranty and Chrysler wouldn't do anything to help me out at all. I'd poke my eye out with a rusty fork before ever buying anything from the Chrysler people that didn't have a Cummins in it, ever. I' probably poke both eyes out if I was forced to but another Chrysler product with their V6 in it. When I researched the issue I had with my imploding motor (something to do with the heads crapping out) I found many reports of the same issues with that motor in different Chrysler products. Apparently at some point they offered to extend warranties on certain Jeeps with the same issue, but no luck for me and my pos minivan.

Aside from that , in 35 years of vehicle owenership I've never had an issue with any other make or model. My Tundra is going along like gang-busters and while I probably wont keep it to see it hit 300+K km's I have no doubt it will. Some guy on a Tundra FB page I'm just posted a pic of yet another Tundra with the 4.7 V-8 hitting 1 million miles.

 

[JimBill]

60s and 70s Small Block Chevy or Small Block Fords.
Throw a fuel injection kit and HEI or TFI ignition.
The history and parts are there to build a rock solid engine for the cost of a stock rebuild.

maybe because I know them so well...……..

Otherwise, a GM LS is pretty stout, but will require some preventative maintenance.

James

Edit:
In retrospect, the most reliable engine I have experienced is a 4.8L (LR4) in a 99 Silverado. 212K miles with oil changes, 2 spark plug changes, one water pump and one power steering pump. That's it! Of course air filters as required. I should have never sold it...

 

[rho]

I have a 2015 Dodge Caravan with the V6 motor in it. At 110K Km it decided to sh1t itself, to the tune of $5 grand in repairs. It was just outside of warranty and Chrysler wouldn't do anything to help me out at all. I'd poke my eye out with a rusty fork before ever buying anything from the Chrysler people that didn't have a Cummins in it, ever. I' probably poke both eyes out if I was forced to but another Chrysler product with their V6 in it. When I researched the issue I had with my imploding motor (something to do with the heads crapping out) I found many reports of the same issues with that motor in different Chrysler products. Apparently at some point they offered to extend warranties on certain Jeeps with the same issue, but no luck for me and my pos minivan.

Pretty much, if the head on my jeep wasn't covered by warranty, I probably would have gotten rid of it then. That said, now that the jeep is a lot more built up... if I have any motor issues in it I'll just swap a new motor in. Though its running well at 165k...

60s and 70s Small Block Chevy or Small Block Fords.
Throw a fuel injection kit and HEI or TFI ignition.
The history and parts are there to build a rock solid engine for the cost of a stock rebuild.

maybe because I know them so well...……..

Otherwise, a GM LS is pretty stout, but will require some preventative maintenance.

James

I personally look forward to breaking 300k miles with the LM7 in our truck. We only have 97,000 to go.

 

[cdavis90]

I inherited my '97 4Runner with the 3.4L two years ago. It had 250k when I got it but blew a headgasket at 270k, which was a bummer. That ultimately lead me to have the engine stripped to its core and rebuilt. 6,000 on the new unit, and it's breaking in nicely. The transmission was spruced up too. It really drives like a new truck.. from 1997. Looking forward to many more miles.

 

[PDB]

"Mercedes I6 diesel. In junk yards everywhere. Best crawler engine you can get for $350. Every time somebody swaps a Cummins into something smallish, I pitty all of the poor junkyard Mercedez diesels waiting for their forever homes."

My cousins are all owner operator hauliers. If they can't get 500K out of a diesel engine they aren't happy. But they trundle around at 50 everywhere and change the oil every 5k. My cousin had the inline Merc 5 in his pick-up and has got over 1 million miles on it.


"Mercedes 3.0l Sprinter van. Actually a nice engine, when it isn't eating your wallet. Sprinter fans are hardcore about service records and keeping receipts for engine upgrades for a darn good reason."

The OM642 was put in an awful lot of high mileage commercial vehicles and GT saloons. They are a very strong engine but I'm glad I don't own a Bluetec version. I don't subscribe to the long oil change intervals and use fuel detergents regularly to rid any water, rust and sludge. The trick is to keep the diesel and the engine oil clean with modern CRDs. I always fill up with a water filter. The complicated emissions systems soon coke up and cause trouble if not. I suppose like most decent engines, it's the ancillaries because of modern complexity and cheaper manufacturing parts that let the engine down. Plastics, seals, pipes, pumps, pulleys, clips etc.

Always good to hear a mechanics experience.

 

[Zarddog]

A little more general here I'm a big fan of inline six engines when it comes to reliability. My first was a 292 ci in a 65 chevy stepside that went to 210,000 when the odometer quit drove it a few more years after that then sold it still running. Later had a 300 cid ford in an 83 F150 pretty much the same story dropped the pan put rod bearings and oil pump in it at 170,000 cause it had a little clatter on cold morning start ups. Slant six Mopars were the same way. Theres a reason most class 7 and 8 dieseIs are inline configuration. I suppose I'm showing may age here but it's fun to reminisce.