Questions For People Who Have Put Over 200,000 Miles On An Engine.

In My Humble Opinion
1

If you have single-handedly driven your car over 200,000 miles (321,868.8 kilometers) without rebuilding or replacing your engine, I have a few questions for you-

  1. How many total miles did you put on your engine?

  2. What is the make of your car?

  3. How frequently do you change your oil?

  4. What type of oil do you use?

  5. Do you use regular unleaded or premium unleaded fuel?

  6. How closely would you say you adhere to the service intervals recommended in your owner’s manual?

  7. Would you say that you generally make lots of short trips, or few long trips?

  8. Do you warm your car up to operating temperature prior to driving it?

  9. Would you classify yourself as an aggressive driver or a relaxed driver?

  10. Which of the above factors do you feel played an important role in your vehicle’s longevity? Is there anything else that you believe contributed that I may have omitted??

Thanks.

2

I put 275,000+ miles on my 1980 Toyota Celica before I finally got rid of it in 1995. That car lived with me in Minnesota, Michigan and California. It went on a bunch of road trips and camping trips to get that many miles on it, but it was also my daily commute for those 15 years.

It went off-roading in the California desert as far and wide as its clearance would permit.

I’m a somewhat aggressive driver who is somewhat negligent when it comes to regular auto maintenance. The owner’s manual was mostly unread. Frequently the oil light came on before I changed or added oil. It had the famous 20R Toyota engine which was just about indestructable. In its later years, mechanics always told me that any other engine would never have withstood the mistreatement I gave it.

In its time with me it had the clutch replaced once and brakes about 3 t imes. What a car!

I’m currently driving a 2001 Celica. I suppose an OldBroad looks a little strange in this car, but I’m hoping it will have the same stamina as my previous one.

3

I currently drive a 1994 Saturn SL2 with ~202K. I bought it in 1995 with 13K so I have put most of the miles on myself.

See previous answer.

Every 3000 miles. I will sometimes let it go to 3500 or so but not often.

Whichever 10-30W is on sale.

Regular unleaded.

Not at all.

What do you mean by short trip? I live out in the boonies and commute about 90 miles round-trip every day so anything less than 90 miles is a short trip. I live about 25 miles from the closest grocery store so that would be a short trip for me as well but probably not for anybody else.

No.

A relaxed driver. I really enjoy my work but I don’t feel the need to get there any quicker than it normally takes me. We don’t have any kind of strict tardy policy or anything.

Regular oil changes - it is the lifeblood of the engine. While I have not abused my Saturn to the extent that OldBroad did with his/her Celica, mine is still going and not showing any signs of slowing down. I replaced the clutch this year and an alternator last year, but both of those are to be expected. Otherwise, everything else has just been normal stuff like brakes, batteries, filters, gaskets, etc.

You’re welcome.

4

I’ve put more than 200,000 miles on two vehicles – both Toyota pickup trucks (a 1984 with the 22-R standard engine and a 1989 with the 22-RE). The '84 topped out at about 350,000 and I still drive the '89 at 365,000 mi.

I tended to be pretty religious with oil changes every 3000 mi. Lately I’ve decided to go for 5000 mi intervals. I use the manufacturer’s recommended 10-w-40 oil (not synthetic or anything fancy; but I do try to use the same brand).

I buy the cheapest gas (unleaded 87 octane). I couldn’t even tell you where the owner’s manuals are, let alone what the recommended service intervals are on most stuff.

I have a long commute (120 mi round trip) [that explains a lot, I know…] I’m a relaxed driver as a rule, but I do tend to stay on the high side of the speed limit. I only idle my engine for about a minute to warm it up, but I drive easy for the first few miles. I drive mostly highway miles – I’ve only used up one set of brake shoes in 350,000 miles!! (stay out of my way!!)

Most important thing for my truck’s longevity is staying out of wrecks. I’ve had a couple of close calls, but I stay alert (no phone, distractions, etc…) Toyota has been pretty good for me, too. I bought both of my trucks new, but alas; nowadays they’re a little out of my ballpark financially.

I also have a 1997 Saturn SL (5-speed) well on its way to 200K (I think it’s at about 175K now…)

5

  1. How many total miles did you put on your engine?
    283,000 – Mrs. danalan put about half of it on. We didn’t baby it either – it has 4x4, and we explored the Anza-Borrego desert (in air-conditioned comfort) with it, traveled across country a couple times, pulled trailers, and taught two teenage boys how to drive in it!

  2. What is the make of your car?
    1991 Ford Explorer

  3. How frequently do you change your oil?
    7500 miles

  4. What type of oil do you use?
    Pennzoil/Quaker State/Havoline 10W/40 or 10W/30

  5. Do you use regular unleaded or premium unleaded fuel?
    Regular (87 Octane) until about 190,000 or so, then usually Plus (89 Octane)

  6. How closely would you say you adhere to the service intervals recommended in your owner’s manual?
    I have no idea – so probably not very

  7. Would you say that you generally make lots of short trips, or few long trips?
    Medium trips – Most over 10-20 miles

  8. Do you warm your car up to operating temperature prior to driving it?
    Hell no!

  9. Would you classify yourself as an aggressive driver or a relaxed driver?
    Relaxed

  10. Which of the above factors do you feel played an important role in your vehicle’s longevity?
    3 and 9, but especially 7. You have to warm the engine up completely to boil the water out of the oil

Is there anything else that you believe contributed that I may have omitted?
I think having a manual transmission is essential to vehicle longevity, and that changing the air filter is at least as important as the oil.

BTW, she still runs – and she’s for sale.

6

Two of my cars qualify
1974 Volvo 142 486,000 miles. (I bought the car 4 years old with 100K on it.)
and I replaced that with a 1979 Volvo 240 that had 135,00 miles on it when I bought it, 230,000 miles on it when I sold it to a friend (I still did the work on the car) and it had about 650,000 miles on it when it went to the great parking lot in the sky.

See above

Every 5,000 miles or more often if I thought about it.

If I was buying Castrol, if I got it from the shop, whatever they used

Regular or mid grade, I did try to run mostly Chevron

Depends on the item, some things way more often than the schedule, other not as often. Oil changes were every 5,000.

Define longer. Mostly trips of 10 miles +

Just long enough to fasten my seat belt.

Fast and hard

Regular oil changes, and fixing problems when they are small before they become large problems.
Also starting with a good base product doesn’t hurt

7

1987 Acura Integra, 300K, every 3-5k miles, whatever the lube shop put in the crankcase, regular unleaded, regular tune-ups and timing chain replacement, a mixture of long and short trips, didn’t “warm it up”, fast and hard driver. Regular oil changes and keeping the timing chain replaced.

8

I have a question about oil changes. Now, I never put 200,000 miles on a car, so perhaps I shouldn’t even post here, but this looks like the crowd who’ll know.

I’ve noticed that US drivers change their oil a LOT more often than European drivers. And I want to know why, because I’m pretty sure you’re being scammed. :slight_smile:

Every 3,000 miles - that’s less than 5,000 kilometers. My current car (a diesel) has a service interval of 20,000 km’s (12,430 miles). During this period, it doesn’t need any new oil at all. It’ll do the full 20,000 without bitching and moaning. My previous car (regular petrol) I don’t know the service interval of, but I took it in for major maintenance once a year, which was about 16,000 km’s (9,944 miles). Same for the car before that.

Never a problem, never even SEEN an oil light come on. I know absolutely no one “over here” that changes their oil as frequent as every 5,000 km’s, unless they drive a Ferrari or something.

Obviously, a lot of the cars that are available over here are completely identical to the ones in the US. Minor exterior differences, but the same engines. So what gives? Liability issues? A grand scale scam to benefit the oil companies?

There has to be a reason for this weird discrepancy.

Any of the other international dopers want to chime in about their oil changing behaviour? Australia, for example?

9
  1. How many total miles did you put on your engine?

Over 200,000 - not sure of the actual total

  1. What is the make of your car?

1985 Chevy S-10 Pickup

  1. How frequently do you change your oil?

It gets new oil when it gets low, does that count?

  1. What type of oil do you use?

Whatever is on sale.

  1. Do you use regular unleaded or premium unleaded fuel?

Regular

  1. How closely would you say you adhere to the service intervals recommended in your owner’s manual?

There are service intervals? Recommended in the WHAT??

  1. Would you say that you generally make lots of short trips, or few long trips?

Medium. My house to my work (under 10 miles) then his work (over 10 - 20 miles), back to my work (ditto) and then back home (ditto). Weekends, locally. We have never really taken it on a “long trip”. Unless South Elgin is “long”.

  1. Do you warm your car up to operating temperature prior to driving it?

Well we don’t just jump in, pop the clutch and leave, but we don’t let it idle for 15 minutes, either. Maybe 3-5 minutes. tops.

  1. Would you classify yourself as an aggressive driver or a relaxed driver?

Me=relaxed. Mr2U=poster child for road rage

  1. Which of the above factors do you feel played an important role in your vehicle’s longevity? Is there anything else that you believe contributed that I may have omitted??

Luck. No, I’m not kidding. It hasn’t been a smooth 200,000 miles by any means, but we’ve been lucky that the repairs we’ve had to do were do-able by Mr2U or not that real big of a hairy, expensive deal. Plus, we’ve never ever (well, once!) broken down anywhere but in our driveway. Seriously. Hence, my saying “luck”. :slight_smile:

10

Powerful American made engines!

Some things that play a factor is how much power and weight is being moved. A Toyota with 90 HP that weighs 2,600 LB’s is not putting a strain on much.

It seem like things other than just the engine go bad and result in the end of a car’s life. The parts of an engine that are oiled usually last beyond the life of other things like interior parts and accessories

ColdFire:
I remember when Jiffy Lube opened in my area. They seem to be the one’s that started the change the oil on every fill up bit and it stuck:o

11

1987 Toyota Camry - 265,000 miles, sold in 1999 for $1,000

1992 Honda Accord - 209,000 miles and still running great

See above

Every 3,000 - 3,200 miles, no exceptions.

Whatever the mechanic puts in.

Used only premium on the '87 Camry.
Used premium for the first 165K miles on the '92 Accord, and after asing a question on the SDMB, switched to regular unleaded.

Never. Only when the mechanic recommends something.

Varied over the life of both cares.

Very rarely do I warm up the car.

Neither. Somewhere in between.

Definitely the make/model of the car. Toyota and Honda have me as a customer for life. Also, I live in NJ, so we experience occasional extreme weather, although it’s pretty temperate for most of the year.

12

DAMN,
I thought my answers would have looked different - I inserted them in your quote.

13

Well, it wasn’t exactly single handedly. But, my car has been in my family since day one.

I rolled past the 200K mark last friday on the on ramp to 128 North from Rt 3 south. :slight_smile:

1995 Ford Explorer.

Try to do it every 3,000. Often times go over that limit to 4K or so.

Jiffy lube, 10W30 cheapest stuff they got. For about the last 50K or so I started using the more expensive higher mileage oil.

I considered switching to synthetic oil, but was advised against it by my mechanic. He worried that switching oils on a car that old could case seals to rupture and such.

Regular unleaded.

I don’t worry about it too much. However, the car has been managed by a single mechanic for it’s entire life. He is good and replaces everything when needed, usually pro-actively before it breaks down.

Mostly in town driving for the life of the car. Also highway driving in rush hour traffic.

Nope.

Aggressive.

Good mechanic is probably the most important thing, IMO.

14

A couple of thoughts…

Speaking for myself, regular (and apparently unnecessary :)) oil and filter changes are purely preventative. I do them myself and it costs about $25 and takes less than 30 minutes per vehicle. Am I doing them too often? Who knows. I currently own three vehicles (the aforementioned 94 Saturn, a 94 Ford Explorer, and a 1978 Land Cruiser) which, combined, have more than 500,000 miles on them. I do not have the luxury to have a couple of “test” vehicles which undergoe oil changes at various mileage intervals to see if there is any difference. Nor do I have the luxury of buying a new car every few years or paying for big repairs when necessary. Neither the Saturn or Ford have sparkling reputations as far as longevity goes so I do what I can - if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

And as far as never seeing the oil light come on, I hope you know that the light is not saying “Please change my oil now” but rather that the oil pressure has dropped to a level where not adding oil immediately can be potentially harmful to your engine. The point of the oil changes is so that you never see the oil light come on, and if you do then you know that something is very wrong.

My .03 euros.

15

Yeah, I know the oil light means “I need oil!!”, not “I would like some new oil, please”. :slight_smile:

I’ve had mechanics tell me that my old 1989 Peugeot 205 (which I owned from 1997 through early 1999) required about a liter of oil at service time, which meant it consumed 1 liter out of its total five during the 16,000 km’s in between. But it was 10 years old, and had more than 200,000 km on the clock, not too shabby for a 1.4 liter engine. My current car, I don’t think it consumes oil at all - although I haven’t checked the oil level during the 7,000 km’s I’ve covered with it so far. As long as it purrs, I’m happy. :slight_smile:

I can see how frequent oil changes have a preventative effect in wear and tear on the engine. On the other hand, all repairs I’ve ever had on cars have been non-lubed parts, except for a broken drive shaft on my Peugeot 306 (result of a broken oil rubber around the shaft). The engines seem to do fine, barring the odd waterpump or alternator. As B&I rightfully says, cars increasingly become unusable for reasons other than engine trouble these days.

But then, maybe my cars WOULD last 300,000+ km’s if I changed the oil more frequently - I simply don’t know. So far, I’ve only had 3 cars, and I got rid of them before they achieved such astronomical figures. My current car should be capable of 300K+, being a diesel and all. But I doubt I’ll be the one driving it by then.

16

I’m in the high 190’s on our Buick Regal. 1990. It would have gone over by now except I got a new car and this one is not being driven any more. It’s for sale.

I wasn’t fanatical about changing the oil. I would guess it got changed about every 5-6,000 miles or so. No special oil - whatever Valvoline put in it or my husband had at home.

Only used regular fuel. As far as service goes, my husband is the car guy in our house and he can diagnose and fix potential problems based on noises that only he hears. We service cars according to his schedule.

I would call myself an average driver, maybe more on the relaxed side. The first 100,000 miles were mostly highway, the last 100,00 0 from shorter trips around town.

No special treatment, and really didn’t have to put much money in big repairs at all. We kept up on things as they wore out - brakes, tires, etc.

I think people now are really afraid of cars with high miles. I hardly notice the milage when I look at a car to buy, I am more interested in the condition of the car. The car I drive now had 70,000 miles on it when I bought it and I think that was the first car I ever had under 100,000. That was low milage to me.

We are having trouble selling the car because of this. People see the milage and lose all interest, never mind that the car is in good condition and has some good years left.

17

I have a 1992 Buick Regal with the 3.0 V6. My wife put the first 60,000 on it, I put the last 140,000.

Oil Changes: 5-10,000 whenever I remember. I’m not a fanatic.

Oil: Whatever the shop uses for that make of car. 10W30 or 5W30, I’m not sure.

Gas: 87 octane.

Service manual: Never looked. Just kept my eyes and ears tuned to running condition.

Trip mileage: used to be 90 miles/day. Did that for at least 3 years. Almost all driving was long distance.

Driver’s attitude: on the aggressive side. I like to drive over the speed limit. 10 mph over or more.

Never warmed up the car. My wife did. I just drove a little more slowly when it was real cold until it warmed up. And it was usually in a garage.

I attribute the longevity to: a 6 cylinder engine. Always keeping oil in it. I don’t think it is necessarily the amount of changes, but NEVER let it run low on oil. I learned that lesson with 1983 5.0 Mustang. BAD BAD BAD.

I have had very little maintenance on the car. Almost none to the engine. Only when needed. I keep a pretty good eye on the oil level and serpentine belt condition.

I have had very little problems with this car.

I gave the Buick to the kid. But I would not let him drive it long distances on the outside chance that things will start to go out and he will be stuck somewhere. He just drives around town.

Now let me tell you about my 1983 Mustang. Being the stupid kid I was then, I let it run low on oil. I have heard that the 5.0 engine for 1983 had problems. Be that as it may, you will have problems if you let the oil light tell you you need oil. By then it is too late.

Live and learn.

Oh by the way, my '97 Pontiac Grand Prix (3.8 V6)has 200,000 miles on it. I bought it a year ago and only put 10,000 miles on it last year. I think it has a few good years left.

18

  1. I will be passing the 250,000 mile mark next week.

  2. Nissan Sentra '94 XE 5 speed manual

  3. I try to change it every 5000 to 7000 miles. I can remeber when one of the oil manufacturers used to have the ad that had the catch phrase, " You can pay me a little now, or a lot, later. " IIRC, at that time it was suggested to change your oil every 5000 miles.

  4. 10w 30, usually.

  5. Regular unleaded. As Jackknife alluded to earlier, if you car isn’t designed to run on premium, than it doesn’t help to pay for the higher octane.

  6. Not very.

  7. The first 160,000 were mostly shorter (under 25 mile) city driving trips. For the last year and a half I have been driving 180 miles a day, mostly interstate (70 mph+).

  8. I only warm the car if it’s windows are frosted or iced up.

  9. Moderately aggressive. I want to get where I am going, but I try to not weave in and out as much as I did when I was younger.

  10. #2. I have never been kind to my vehicles

I have replaced the clutch cable, the rear CV joint (before it was necessary ) and the brakes twice.

19

**
214,000 and counting.

**
1993 Honda Civic DX hatchback

**
I have always tried to do it every 3,000 miles, but missed a few times.

**
Brand varies. 5W-30, I believe.

**
Regular.

**
Moderately closely, more so when it was new.

**
Over the course of owning this car, my one-way commute has varied from 15 minutes to an hour. I also make a lot of trips to visit family 200 miles away. No really long trips (1,000 or more).

**
No.

**
Relaxed, definitely. Honda Civic owners who drive agressively look really silly, not unlike your grandmother would challenging Mike Tyson.

**
I’ve heard equally knowledgeable people on both sides of the change-oil-every-3,000-miles debate. I just consider it insurance.

A majority of the miles were highway miles, which probably wear less than stop-and-go traffic jam miles.

I rarely speed, if I do it’s not by much, and I think this has helped – again, this car wasn’t made to go really fast.

No, thank you – this was good idea for a thread. When my car finally calls it quits, I will refer back here.