I am doing a project for my accounting class, and I need an estimate of the life expectancy of an LS1. I was thinking if my L98 will last probably 175,000 miles before it needs a rebuild or major work, that an LS1 might last 200,000 miles before it needs a rebuild. What do yall think of that estimate? Too high?

 

i dont know that would be hard to estimate it would depend on how you treated it. how often you changed the oil, if you race it ect. but if you treated it really well 200,000 might be right.

 

Drive any car like a granny & maintain the engine as much as possible, it'll last forever.

 

Just make something up, the prof will never know the difference!

 

That's a good point!

 

From what I know, GM used teflon patches instead of skirts on the pistons. If that's true, teflon wears off after a while...

I wouldn't expect the LS1 to last longer than an L98...

 

Well, I just finished the project, so thanks for the input!

In case you're wondering what I needed that info for, I was comparing keeping my 87 IROC or buying a 98 Z28. I used sale price of each car, gas costs, insurance, maintenance costs, and salvage value for each car, and came up with a cost per mile of $.38 for my IROC, and $.35 for the Z28. I don't know how accurate those numbers really are, but they will do for the project .

 

Will you post more detailed results?

It would be interesting to see how well everything breaks down - It MIGHT be a great tool for everyone to rationalize buying a 4th Gen...

Uh-Oh.

James

 

Yeah, I can post some info. Give me a little while to figure out how to post the info, since it is in Excel right now. I may just post the Excel file to my website, and give the link.

 

You can export excel documents to html format but they end up being just as big in terms of size...

If you dont figure out a way to make posting here feasible I'm still interested in the data

James

 

You can just take a picture of it (print screen) and paste it into an image editor and upload a jpg if you can fit in in screen. I'm not sure about teflon wearing faster, though. Teflon is some tough stuff.

As far as one or the other lasting longer, I haven't the slightest clue. I've heard of warranty engine rebuilts on LS1s for using too much oil, but that may have been pretty rare. Like Dan said, you could probably make any engine last a long time if you treat it right.

 

One more thing. The cost per mile figures I gave above are based on the IROC lasting 175,000 miles (it has 125,000 miles now, so it has 50,000 more miles left on it), and the Z28 lasting 200,000 miles (I assume that it has 50,000 miles on it when I buy it, so it would have 150,000 more miles left on it). If I change the life expectancy of the Z28 to only 175,000 miles, it makes the cost per mile $.37, instead of $.35.

 

Correction! I had a math error, so the cost per mile of my IROC is $.28 per mile from the time I bought the car (at 105,000 miles) until it reaches 175,000 miles, and $.37 per mile for the 1998 Z28 assuming I buy it now with 50,000 miles and keep it until it has 175,000 miles. Sorry!