As a young man I worked for a contractor who gave us an old Econoline van with a straight six. He refused to spend a penny on the truck as long as it started and sorta stopped. He never changed the oil or did any maintenance. One day while driving it the engine began to overheat. A hose had split. I didn't care about the truck and was determined not to be stuck roadside so I continued driving it to the job site steaming all the way. The thing got so hot that it began to seize up or something. By the time I got to the parking lot I had the gas pedal floored and it would only do about 5 mph. It conked out on the lot and I just let it sit while I did my job. At the end of the day I tried starting the truck and amazingly it fired right up. So I taped up the hose, filled it with water and left the radiator cap loose so as to build no pressure. I don't know what all that heat did but it ran with I sould say, 50 percent more power and super responsive. The owner had the hose replaced and we continued driving it on the old oil for months thereafter. I quit the job and that darn thing still was running strong.
Stories of cars you've seen that just ran forever with little of no maintenance
- Thread starter WobblyElvis
- Start date
230, The last year for the "Stovebolt 235" was 1962.
My Friends and I passed around an '87 Jeep Cherokee with the 40l straight six, that was extremely abused by them until it landed in my lap. When I purchased it the odometer read ~260k miles, I maybe put 15k miles on it before the engine started shooting oil all up into the intake, making a small puddle in the airbox. It was dead, and I found out the cam was wiped, all the lobes were circular with just a tiny bit of elevation left on them. So it made it to just below 300k miles, and the engine was shot. Put in a newer motor from the yard with 80k miles on it. Drove it through college and put about 20k on the new motor and sold it for $500 to my roommate. He drove it through college, and it was completely toast. Body, rear spring mounts, everything was shot.. Except for the newer motor, it still ran strong at what estimated to be about 325 miles (the odo failed, we guessed).
The story isn't about the motor, its about the transmission, a manual 5 speed, and a transfer case. Both lasted the entire time with absolute no flaws. No new oil, or oil added at any point in the entire 300k miles worth of college kid abuse. Unreal.
The story isn't about the motor, its about the transmission, a manual 5 speed, and a transfer case. Both lasted the entire time with absolute no flaws. No new oil, or oil added at any point in the entire 300k miles worth of college kid abuse. Unreal.
1989 F150 with a 300 straight 6. My cousin owned it and never did any maintenance. Never opened the hood either. He drove that thing for probably 4 years without changing the oil. I opened the hood one day and the oil was full, and had the consistency of tar on the stick. The radiator was low and full of scale and corrosion. Topped it off water and he never gave it another thought.
The rear axle went out and he finally junked the truck, but it still ran fine. Looking back now I would have loved to cut the oil filter open. I distinctly remember it being one of those bright blue purolator pure one filters.
The rear axle went out and he finally junked the truck, but it still ran fine. Looking back now I would have loved to cut the oil filter open. I distinctly remember it being one of those bright blue purolator pure one filters.
356k mi on my 99 gs400. Of course it has the dreaded bitog timing belt, simple, and starter under the intake, also simple.
Dad bought new a 77 Camaro, 305 & th350. Just routine maintenance on that boat anchor. 385k mi on it when he had the junkyard pick it up. Dumb thing always started. Leaked & burned oil, slow, ugly (beige), but it always started.
Our family car growing up was an 89 Buick Century, 3.3L. We took that thing everywhere, Big Bear every Thanksgiving, brothers soccer tournaments, my cross country & track races. 250k mi on it when my parents sold it. I should've bought it as it was about the time my foxbody went from stock to heavily modded. Worst thing that happened is the crank pulley sheered off. Such a comfy & boring car.
Dad bought new a 77 Camaro, 305 & th350. Just routine maintenance on that boat anchor. 385k mi on it when he had the junkyard pick it up. Dumb thing always started. Leaked & burned oil, slow, ugly (beige), but it always started.
Our family car growing up was an 89 Buick Century, 3.3L. We took that thing everywhere, Big Bear every Thanksgiving, brothers soccer tournaments, my cross country & track races. 250k mi on it when my parents sold it. I should've bought it as it was about the time my foxbody went from stock to heavily modded. Worst thing that happened is the crank pulley sheered off. Such a comfy & boring car.
Had a friend not a friend anymore , now that's a long story I won't go into .
He bought a new 1994 Ford Grand Marquis , all my buddies me include teased the hell out of him , we were all 24-25 years old . Called it a grandpa car .
No maintenance of any kind for 40,000 miles . After 2 years he totaled it . I checked the oil once , there was a drop on the end of dipstick , that could have been from a splash . Considering it was conventional oil that engine did well
He bought a new 1994 Ford Grand Marquis , all my buddies me include teased the hell out of him , we were all 24-25 years old . Called it a grandpa car .
No maintenance of any kind for 40,000 miles . After 2 years he totaled it . I checked the oil once , there was a drop on the end of dipstick , that could have been from a splash . Considering it was conventional oil that engine did well
Hermann
Site Donor 2023
Our 1968 Ford Galaxie 500 302 c.i.d went about 300K between our family use and when we sold it to neighbor. Only maintenance it saw other than OCI's with Valvoline 30wt from WalMart. was when it broke. It was gold with blackwall tires. It was the first car I drove and I gave it the beans often.
ls1mike
$50 Site Donor 2024
1991 S-10 Blazer. The transmission finally went at 410,000 at that point it was pretty well used up.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
What is up with Nissan? My sister had a Nissan Maxima in the early 2000s and they and the Altimas were all over the highways. Not so much anymore. Wife and I saw a beautiful Altima this week with such a miles deep paint job of dark Mahogany shined up so nice you almost needed sun glasses. Why are they vanishing from the roads these days? This one looked brand new.
Because Nissan quality has been horrible for the last 20 years and its nothing what it used to be. My ‘02 Altima was a pile of junk around a half decent engine.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Wow - that is a shame. They sure made some good looking cars in the 1990s and on but I certainly noticed them slowly missing from the roads as of late. The one (think Maxima) my sister had was a really nice auto but (I never really asked why) she did not keep it more than 3 years. All I see around here, well the majority car wise are tons of Mercedes / BMWs and Audi sedans (almost all - young kids it seems in them) , lots of Dodge Chargers and Challengers (mostly young people too) driving those too. The rest of the population seems entrenched in SUVs here or the GIANT pick up trucks with the 20" or ? tires and lift kits... you likely need an elevator to get into them. It sure must be an "event" to fill one of those up at the gas stations lately.
CVT issue.
Altimas are everywhere here, aggressive dealers in the area I think. My neighbor had not one but two of them. My father had a '12 he bought brand new, drove it to 80k without the slightest issue but I suspect the CVT was starting to threaten.
As to the original topic, my youngest son has an 09 Mazda he has completely neglected and beat up and it still drives wonderfully and has not needed anything other than a serpentine belt replacement and a couple of recalls on Mazda's dime. Now at 220k without a whimper, it makes me cringe the way he has treated it (stick was dry last time I checked) but he's gotten away with it.
As to the original topic, my youngest son has an 09 Mazda he has completely neglected and beat up and it still drives wonderfully and has not needed anything other than a serpentine belt replacement and a couple of recalls on Mazda's dime. Now at 220k without a whimper, it makes me cringe the way he has treated it (stick was dry last time I checked) but he's gotten away with it.
My friend/former roommate had an 04 or 05 Jeep Liberty that he ran into the ground, but I'm pretty sure it got close to 300k. He did the bare minimum for maintenance, an occasional oil change and fluid top off, but that was it. The passenger window was held in place with a stick shoved between the gap with the door and it was janky in countless other ways. I remember one time we were driving along and the transmission started violently shuddering. We just started laughing and kept going like nothing was wrong.
My GF had a 2004 Jeep TJ Wrangler. Never did any maintenance other than oil changes. The body was completely rotted and falling apart. Still ran like new with 289,000 miles on it. Actually still got a decent price for it.
Thirty or so years ago, a friend of mine asked me about the RED light lit on his dash. It was RED HOT for coolant. I didn't know much about cars then, but knew it's for coolant temp. Opened the radiator cap to check the coolant level, there wasn't any! I added almost a gallon of tap water, but didn't cracked the radiator.
The car was 85 or 86 4cyl Toyota Van he purchased new and kept driving without ANY maintenance at all for almost 5-6 years and 100k miles. If it wasn't a Toyota, would've been fried a few years earlier. Oh, he mostly drove a lot of short trips.
The car was 85 or 86 4cyl Toyota Van he purchased new and kept driving without ANY maintenance at all for almost 5-6 years and 100k miles. If it wasn't a Toyota, would've been fried a few years earlier. Oh, he mostly drove a lot of short trips.
Of course I know people that had mid-80s corollas that needed nothing aside from oil changes for their useful life, but no one will believe this: We had an '89 Plymouth Grand Voyager LE w/ the Mitsubishi 3.0 V6 and Ultradrive transmission. It started smoking at around 50K miles, it had its first oil change at close to 20K miles and the second around 35K, so the smoking started earlier than normal. Other than brakes, tires, oil changes when it needed brakes or tires, and an occasional battery - and occasionally an A/C repair/recharge, it ran until almost 300K miles when a head gasket let go. Many things on the van had stopped working or fallen off by then, but the powertrain - and the wood sticker - was solid. Which was very uncharacteristic of that particular powertrain. I think the key was that it was a work van and it ran almost non-stop. But that included trailer towing (a small boat) and a landscaping trailer full of construction materials, carrying way too much weight in the back, and general abuse. We probably put 40K a year on it. But it replaced an '86 Aerostar that was hauled away at around 100K miles, we couldn't keep it on the road due to engine/transmission issues, so our results were atypical in many ways.
