Doesn't have to be a Fiero...

I have an '88 Cadillac DeVille 4.5L with 206,334 miles on it. I've replaced small things like water pump, stereo, etc, but all the drivetrain & major stuff is original.

What's the highest count you have on a current vehicle with original internals?

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Journal of a concept: http://southeastfieros.com >>> Build Thread >>> Parts thread (for project funding)

My Fiero has about 175k miles. That's no where near the most I've seen on an original Fiero, though. I know of one 88 coupe that has over 250k miles on the original Iron Duke.

My Fiero is up to 149K miles on the original engine/trans.

It's the most miles I have had on a vehicle by a long shot. The next closest was in the 70's.

I parked my 1988 Mustang with 190+k miles. Engine and tranny were fine but paint was peeling off. Still sitting in my garage. Sold my 1996 Explorer with 180k miles on it a few months ago. I never had to do anything more than routine maint on either of them. A lot of people talk trash on American cars and Fords but in 15 years I've only been stuck on the side of the road once (ac pump froze up and burnt the belt off).

quote Originally posted by Formula88: My Fiero has about 175k miles. That's no where near the most I've seen on an original Fiero, though. I know of one 88 coupe that has over 250k miles on the original Iron Duke.

Nice... I'd love to see a pic of that car.
The most I've ever seen on one of mine is 206,504 on an '86GT (#1). Since I'm getting close to that magic number again, I thought I'd see who else has some good high-milers!

Maybe we could call this the "high-mile" club... heh

I had a mid 70's 280z with over 250,000 miles on the original drivetrain. There was a lot of wear in the suspension and the engine used some oil, but it still ran and drove pretty good for so many miles.

My formula was at 165K when I was forced to park it and store it 2 yrs ago. So I'm looking at a complete engine overhaul when I get it back on the road. But it ran perfectly before then!

quote Originally posted by Cooter: I had a mid 70's 280z with over 250,000 miles on the original drivetrain. There was a lot of wear in the suspension and the engine used some oil, but it still ran and drove pretty good for so many miles.

Nice! Wasn't that the straight-6? If so, those were pretty bulletproof. They had similar variations of the same design in the big-body broncos, supras, first gen 300zx's, jeep cherokees...

I've heard a lot of people say that you keep oil & water in them, they go forever. I saw one that got overheated so bad the paint melted off the sides, and no telling what was warped/melted inside... And later after coldown, it fired right up and purred...

1982 Dodge Rampage (FWD like El Camino) 690,000 miles.

1986 Chrysler New Yorker Turbo 390,000

1997 Town Car Cartier... 290,000 and still going.

And the Fiero (a 1988)

86,000.

All of the above have original equipment, and all of it is original...

except the Fiero (Northstar)

[This message has been edited by htexans1 (edited 12-25-2008).]

quote Originally posted by htexans1: 1982 Dodge Rampage (FWD like El Camino) 690,000 miles. 1986 Chrysler New Yorker Turbo 390,000 1997 Town Car Cartier... 290,000 and still going. And the Fiero (a 1988) 86,000.

Ok. You win. We should all just give up and bow.

Not exactly, the Rampage was high mileage when I bought it, and it is now dead due to rust.

Others may have higher mileage then me, so lets keep them coming into the thread.

Actually, I think BMWGURU probably has the winner here...
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum6/HTML/060896.html

quote Originally posted by bmwguru: A 1977 Mercedes Benz 230 (123 chassis gas engine). The car has 987,000 miles on the odometer... ... This is a 1977 230 which is a 4 cylinder carbureted gas engine. The cylinder head and valves were done every 250,000 miles. The transmission fluid serviced every 15,000 miles. The oil every 5,000 miles. It is the original engine, transmission, rear, interior etc.

I saw a Fiero with over 400k miles at the FOCOA show in Williamsburg VA, 2001.

Suddenly my 206k miles seem so insignificant...
I can say that I got the Caddy from my dad for $1, don't remember how long ago, but mechanically, no one has touched it but me, and I'm sure I've put 100k on it. It gets new high-mileage synthetic oil & the FRAM super-duper filter every 3,000 religiously. It needs a lot right now... The cracked plastic endcap radiator is what I'm cursing at the moment, but it needs an alignment, motor mounts, coolant fill bottle, new tires, new brakes, rotors turned, full tune-up, injectors cleaned, etc, etc...
My dad had given up on it a long time ago when the fuel filter gave up, but I'm pretty hard headed, so I took it in and started a little bit at a time...
It always gets babied unless some a$$hole refuses to let me merge, and let me be the first to tell you that she still has plenty of torque. The pedal goes down, the hydramatic drops a gear, and you're in the back seat.
I have always felt that the 4.5L & 4.9L are two engines GM took the time to perfect. Getting their roots from the HT4100 in '82, they continued production through '95 (for the 4.9), before they brought out the northstar. Every 4.5 or 4.9 I've seen is in overall great condition for it's age. Love these engines!

hell im lucky if any of my transmissions last me to 100k

My 1991 Beretta made it 318,000 miles with original engine and tranny. Replaced the fuel pump once, the heater core once, the water pump twice, the alternator 2 or 3 times, the starter twice, ignition module once.... It died when some kid slammed into me in traffic.

Have 240,000+ on my 99 Silverado Z71 (bought new in July of 99)

Here's the list of repairs

1 battery
2 sets of brake pads
1 set of rotors
1 radiator
1 heater core
1 window regulator
1 set of heater hoses
1 rusted out brake line
1 fuel pressure regulator
1 fuel pump
1 evap purge valve (or whatever it's called)
1(!) tune up
several sets of tires and shocks

It's been an extremely reliable vehicle. My last truck (1988 GMC 1/2 ton 4WD) was just as reliable.

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1986 SE 350 V8

Lets see

GMC S-15 just over 400k when I gave it to my nephew.
Ford F-150 260k, still use it.
Volkswagon Jetta TDI 330k, my daily driver
86 Fiero 170k

Just about every car I have had was over 100k. I do have some low mile Fieros sitting around.

My wife has a 94 Suburban with the original 350 and tranny.
It has been owned by only two women, both were homemakers.
290,000, still runs great and the tranny is solid.
How do two stay at homers put 20k per year on a car?
At $1.50/Gal., that is about $50,000 up in smoke.

My 99 silverado has 302,000 on it. It's the virgin.
My wife's '98 Riviera has right at 400,000 miles on it, original engine and uses no oil.
My '83 GMC service truck is way over 1/2 million, but I really don't know exactly how much over because I've had to replace the speedo about 4 times.

After that we get into the real high mileage stuff.

John Stricker

quote Originally posted by fieroboom: Doesn't have to be a Fiero... I have an '88 Cadillac DeVille 4.5L with 206,334 miles on it. I've replaced small things like water pump, stereo, etc, but all the drivetrain & major stuff is original. What's the highest count you have on a current vehicle with original internals?

quote Originally posted by fieroboom: Doesn't have to be a Fiero... Who has the most miles on ORIGINAL equipment?

1950 male body and brain housing group still intact--operating flawlessly, tho beginning to show it's age. Been around the globe several times. No rust--Top faded to gray. Belly pan sags a bit. Some parts not working nearly as well as they used to--perhaps beyond repair till technology improves in replacement part techniques. ECM is at peak performance. Charging system is not.

quote Originally posted by maryjane: 1950 male body and brain housing group still intact--operating flawlessly, tho beginning to show it's age. Been around the globe several times. No rust--Top faded to gray. Belly pan sags a bit. Some parts not working nearly as well as they used to--perhaps beyond repair till technology improves in replacement part techniques. ECM is at peak performance. Charging system is not.

HAHA, that's pretty good! As long as your CV joints, knuckles, and Universal joints stay well maintained, you should be good for another 100k, right?

I had an 89 bonnieville in highschool and when i sold it it had 413K that was a few years ago and i still see it driving around. We also have a early 90's chevy 1500 that comes up to the shop and last time it was in it had 692K on the odo. Both have the orginal engine, bonnie still has the orginal trans.

quote Originally posted by partfiero: My wife has a 94 Suburban with the original 350 and tranny. It has been owned by only two women, both were homemakers. 290,000, still runs great and the tranny is solid. How do two stay at homers put 20k per year on a car? At $1.50/Gal., that is about $50,000 up in smoke.

I guess the real moral of this thread is that pretty much anything (except a lemon) will last, as long as the owner/driver (whether it's a man OR woman) is dedicated to regular maintenance and decent driving. A lot of people don't realize that even not changing your oil at regular intervals & not performing regular tune-ups shaves life off the engine. They seem like such small things because they take so little time to do, and don't cost much, but they keep the performance alive.
My model DeVille was estimated from the factory at 15mpg city, 22mpg highway, and 18mpg overall, and mine is getting about 17.4mpg overall right now. On long highway road trips, it gets about 22mpg on regular unleaded, and as much as 24-25mpg on middle grade gas. I can tell it's starting to degrade a little though; I think it's time to go ahead and do a full-blown tune up, maybe including a top-end cleaning...

one of my friends has an 80's mercedes diesel with over 600k on it. Im not sure exactly of the mileage, but its all original, he just does regular maintenence on it and its runs like a top. as far as me, I think the highest mile car ive had was a fiero at 150k. that one had tons of problems though. since then, I have had about 7 cars with between 120 and 140k on it. I currently have my 88GT with 142k and an 87 Audi Coupe GT with 143k.

No wait, my charger I took to 157k before destoryed the tranny and had to get it rebuilt. then 200 miles I broke 2 rods in the engine.

RJL

My parts delivery truck was bought with 800K documented on original engine (never taken apart, even for heads). We replaced the speedo at 841Kilometers - and its now rolled over to 411K and stopped working again - this has been for about 1 year so we assume it has about 1 600 000 kilometers but we've stopped even trying to guess. It drives about 800-1000K/ Day (12 hour shift all across the city)

1991
Chevrolet K1500
6.2L N/A Diesel
4x4 - 700R4

I've done - so far
2 transmissions (bad engine mounts cracked trans case)
1 water pump
1 rad
2 sets of batteries
2 glow plugs (of the 8 it has)
1 glow plug timer
1 fuel line
1 lift pump
1 rear end (14 bolt pan upgrade for towing)

...and, of course, plenty of rust work

Never had heads or injector pump done - all orig.

and the OCCASIONAL oil change (we're not very punctual with them since odometer doesn't work)

when all of our trucks break down - this is the only reliable truck that almost everyone here has used at one point or another to get them home and back.

Shes filthy right now, but ill give her a bath and take a pick - one of the nicest looking K1500's in the area

One thing we do it is a new paint job every year - sand blast it - replace any rotted panels with fresh stamped steel - and a new coat of single stage black!

I own an aftermarket parts supply company here in Toronto and i use that as a marketing showcase because every exterior panel except for roof and firewall sections are aftermarket (doors - box - fenders - hood - grille - bumpers - mirrors - inner fenders - cab corners - rockers inner & outer) although the floors are completely rust free and original.

This is whats got me hooked to Chevrolet - my personal truck is a 2004 K2500HD 8.1L and its already got 300K - and i've never had even a check engine light. Still runs strong, i'm sure she'll see close to 6 or 700K before it needs any serious work.

From 2007...500,000 miles on an 88 coupe.

As Formula88 stated, I've got 980,000 on a 1977 Mercedes 230 (gas, 4 cylinder). Original engine, transmission and rear. The valves were done every 250,000 miles, but other than that the rings and bearings are still original. Transmission has never been replaced...just serviced every 15,000 miles.
It is also a one owner car.
Dave

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1987 GT (my toy-see above), 1987 GT (daily driver), 1986 SE with a VW VR6, certified master technician/shop owner
www.njautobahn.com

[This message has been edited by bmwguru (edited 12-26-2008).]

1994 Pontiac Transport with 225,000+ miles. Replaced parts:

2 alternators,
2 AC compressors
1 radiator
1 heater core
1 starter
Getting ready to redo the head-liner

The rest are standard maintenance items.

I'm always amazed by the long term test cars in Motor Trend. They have less than 25,000 miles on them and rack up more in maintenance costs than I have in the parts listed above for about ten times the miles.

1995 Mustang GT convertible 152,000 miles.

However, I'm getting ready to rebuild the T5 manual tranny on it.
It seems to me that all of the high mileage vehicles have iron blocks and heads. Anybody have any high mileage alloy motored cars?

My 5.0 Mustang had 321,000+ on it before every seal finally gave way because I got lazy and stopped taking care of it. Didn't take long of not keeping up with it till it finally gave me the finger. It was an 88 LX 5.0 Convert.

A few years ago, I picked up a '94 Cadillac STS for $950.



When I brought it home, is had just over 194,000 miles on it.



I have no idea exactly how many miles were on it when I quit driving it, but I do know that it had over 250,000 when I retired it. (Nothing wrong with the drive train, I just didn't feel like replacing all of the suspension components that were worn).

quote Originally posted by Deabionni: A few years ago, I picked up a '94 Cadillac STS for $950. When I brought it home, is had just over 194,000 miles on it. I have no idea exactly how many miles were on it when I quit driving it, but I do know that it had over 250,000 when I retired it. (Nothing wrong with the drive train, I just didn't feel like replacing all of the suspension components that were worn).

I'm very impressed. I've had a really bad opinion of the northstars because of the head gasket horrors I've heard & witnessed, but that's good mileage on one. In fact, I had to look it up, just to be sure the '94 had it:

"The 1993 addition of the Northstar System, including the Northstar quad-cam 32-valve aluminum V8 and a new unequal-length control arm rear suspension to the STS helped put the Seville back on the best seller list."
-and-
"The Seville Touring Sedan (STS) also started with the 4.9 L HT-4900 in 1992 but was upgraded to the 295 hp (220 kW) L37 Northstar in 1993"

i had two. first one was a ford festiva i bought because i drove over an hour one way to work. i had 304,000 miles on it. i never changed the oil and only had to replace an alternator once. that thing got me to work and back through some nasty PA winters! most reliable car i've ever had and it's still on the road with the last owner. then once, when i was in a pinch for cash, i needed a car and found an old nissan stanza. bought it for $800.00 and drove it to 352,000 miles and only had to replace the radiator. never changed the oil in that POS either. both of those were cars i didn't care about and just drove them. i junked the stanza when i bought a new car and it still drove up on the wrecker that came to get it. still ran great, just had cancer all over the body.

1995 chevy c1500 262 4.3 v6 5speed

178,341k miles

things done since purchased 5 years ago by my dad, is now my truck past 2.5 years

at 166k clutch finally gave up in it, probally more due that i work the truck than baby it. its my workhorse.

winter before that did a fuel pump, and replaced tank from my 93. as it looked cleaner so it was just a, while i was there. also at that time it needed a water pump.

also at the time found a small coolant leak. determined to be intake gaskets, finally did it two months ago. now thats perfect. it has been through one starter and i don't think we have ever replaced the alternator since weve had it.

the rear is strong and keeps going. its been to minnesota a few times, south dakota towing a 55 gmc one ton back. to iowa once, all over wisconsin. i am going to oh here next week.

other than the above its been regular maintance. oil and filter every 3k, rotate tires ever other oil change long with regrease everything. the usual.

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1984 fiero
1994 pontiac firebird formula v8 baby!
1995 chevy 1500 W/T
1956 gmc 336 pontiac v8
1984 dodge 150 318 v8


u said i need another way to get somewhere? hmm got 4 wheel drive anyone? i need one lol

quote Originally posted by shawnkfl: i had two. first one was a ford festiva i bought because i drove over an hour one way to work. i had 304,000 miles on it. i never changed the oil and only had to replace an alternator once. that thing got me to work and back through some nasty PA winters! most reliable car i've ever had and it's still on the road with the last owner. then once, when i was in a pinch for cash, i needed a car and found an old nissan stanza. bought it for $800.00 and drove it to 352,000 miles and only had to replace the radiator. never changed the oil in that POS either. both of those were cars i didn't care about and just drove them. i junked the stanza when i bought a new car and it still drove up on the wrecker that came to get it. still ran great, just had cancer all over the body.

So... Do you change the oil in your new one...?

Hmm...2000 Hyundai Elantra s/w had 221k on it, original drive train. Trans was going bad when I bought it, but I paid 600 for the car. Totalled it 2 months later. Had about 245k on it when I totalled it. Last time I will ever T tech (power flush) an auto trans...

84 Cherokee 2.5l had 212k on it when I traded it in. AFAIK, its still running, even though the front pump seals were shot on the trans, the rear main seal leaked like a siv, the transfer case gasket was shot, the motor/trans mounts were dust, and the floor boards were rotten.

86 jeep wagoneer V6 had 112k on it. Spun a rod bearing.

92 Eclipse had 96k when I bought it, 130k when I sold it 8 months later to buy the fiero.

Fiero had 107k on it in June when I bought it, almost 118k now.

96 Elantra sedan had about 145k on it. Another 300 car. Totalled 2 months after I bought it (notice a pattern with the hyundai cars?)

quote Originally posted by fieroboom: I'm very impressed. I've had a really bad opinion of the northstars because of the head gasket horrors I've heard & witnessed, but that's good mileage on one. In fact, I had to look it up, just to be sure the '94 had it:

The engine in that was bone stock, and still running strong.

I originally was going to drop the drive train out of the STS, replace the gaskets in the engine, and swap it into a Fiero. Plans changed, however, so I ended up parting out the car; and giving away what was left.

But ya, 250,000 miles out of that Northstar and not a hint of trouble. Just goes to show that not all Northstars have the head gasket problems.

My dad bought a Morris 1100 new in 1965. Used to start it up 10 mintues before goign out everyday to let it warm up. That was after checking the oil and water daily.

Rust got it in the end but it had over 1,000,000 kms on it and had never had the head off the motor.

my 1994 mazda b3000 every thing is what it came with. EVEN THE CLUTCH!!!
lol, she has a little over 222,500 miles.

I will add a few pics. Not a bad looking truck. Do have a few dents and now the right rear tail light is gone becouse of my brothers wife hitting it with her neon.







btw she is my daily driver when i am home.

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Video of the FIERO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcE3f2NTZEs

I had a 1988 Mera with about 205,000 miles on it prior to an engine swap (3800 SC Series III).

165k when i sold it,
new headgaskets at 158k i think

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