Right now I have 104k on the odometer and I was wondering at mileage, assuming that I change the oil every 2000 miles and keep up the maintance, would the 60 degree V6 start to die?

 

It varies on how its driven during those miles. I have 143,000 on my 85 (original). My 83 neded a new motor at 154,000 (when I bought it).

The earlier ones didn't have a good a track record as the 85-up motors due to smaller main bearings.

From what I'd gather, you drive conservatively,and take care of the car. I'd estimate somewhere around 300,000 you might encounter some problems.

 

my first question is: Why do you change your oil every 2000 miles? Do you live in town or do a lot of stop and go driving? If you don't put many miles on the car, or are doing a lot of stop and go, then you are helping yourself. If not, then you are just wasting money. I live about 8 miles out of town, so every time I drive my car, it gets up to full temperature. I have 170K miles on my 3.1 liter, and I change the oil every 5000 miles. My dad has a 1991 GMC sonoma with a 2.8 liter throttle body V6 and a 5 speed. It has 317,000 (not a misprint!)miles on the original motor, which has never even had the valve covers off of it. It had the oil changed every 5000 miles. Of course, he drives 60 miles to work every day, so that is how it racked up so many miles. The motor still does not smoke, and will be about 1 pint low of oil after 5,000 miles.

I say, keep it in tune, keep the oil changed on a regular basis and always use the same type and viscosity of oil, every once in a while run a can of injector cleaner through there, watch your gages, and you should have more than 100K miles left in it without much trouble. The main thing I think that kills engines is that people let things go, as long as it is still running. In other words, they don't fix problems that arise, and also they rag the thing out. If you take care of things, then they last a lot longer. That's always been my philosophy, and in my family there are 6 vehicles over 150K miles, and 2 of them over 250K miles.

 

3.1l, pushing 150k and still on the road.

Hopefully after I get house, can talk mrs into 3.4l block swap

 

Yes I do drive conservatively, I only occassional floor it for a couple of seconds when I see an open stretch of road or when I am passing a car.


pontiacguy1,

I change my oil every 2000 miles because it takes me about 6 months to go that many miles. I rarely drive my car at college because everything is within walking distance or one of my friends always gives me a ride to mall or Wallmart.

 

i got my car at 114K after my dad drove it for awhile, the last 12K i put on it were harsh miles, i fixed alot of things my dad never fixed, just did the water pump for the first time, and im about ready to do a timing chain

 

Id say somewhere around 1985-86 a car will 1000,000 miles became normal and no big deal/

I remember when a car with 75,000 miles was cheap and people were ready to sell. But that was just an old myth.

now a days most cars are just started to get broken in at 100,000 miles.


Mine has 205,000 miles and running stong as ever. But at 200,400 my T5 went out.

 

Yep, you are doing good. I wouldn't let a car go more than 6 months without an oil change, no matter what the mileage. I would say that you probably shouldn't worry about it at all. Keep it in tune, and watch the miles go by.

 

Didn't someone here say they had or knewo of someone with a 2.8L going on 450,000.

 

I've got just under 130k on my '91 and it runs stronger than some new cars. It seems GM did us a favor by making the v6's awesome long living engines. I'm starting to get kind of worried about the auto tranny though, I hear they start to give trouble around 130k.
David

 

My 1990 V6 has 192,000 on it when I pulled it out of the car (the engine is still running strong though) to put a V8 in it... It saw mostly regular oil changes, with the occasional going into the 6,000 mile interval, was driven on the highway a lot, and in the city a lot. It's been a surprisingly good engine for me.

 

My dad's Sonoma has a 2.8 liter that has 317,000 miles on it. I have never had the valve covers off of it. It gives just a puff of smoke when you start it, and that is it. If every vehicle made went as long with as little need of service as that truck, 3/4 of the garages would have to close down.

 

Should I be worried about my timing chain at 105,000 mile.

 

I probably wouldn't...check your timing, make sure the mark doesn't jump around too much, and I believe Karl had a nice test for it..something like pop the cap off and turn the crank with a ratchet and see if there's any crank movement before the rotor turns..rotor must turn IMMEDIATELY upon turning the crank..anything but that is a loose timing chain.. My V6 had 107,000 before I sold it and the timing only fluctuated by a degree or two...timing chain was just more work than I wanted to put into the car. I was only going to do it if my water pump decided to go on me... BUT, if you do replace the chain and plan to keep the car for some time, I'd recommend a double roller timing chain set..Summit has one for like $95 I believe...thats the only one they carry for our application.

 

I think most of it is better machine work and bearing that last forever. Long as you can keep oil pressure its fine. Even older cars they would run forever if the bearing didn't wear and the oil psi was good.

Too many people not checking their oil and working them front bearings, valves , rockers and cam. I have seen too many low on oil motors and them very front part wear big time but the rest of the motor is fine. I like too check mine after I shut it off warm. So it is full when warm with oil in the top of the motor.

 

Mine went 164,000 miles before it died, but that was due to the lower radiator hose blowing off because of the fan motor dieing. Who knows it could have 200,000 by now if the fan didnt die.

 

My 83 had appox. 125000 miles and was still running good[although down on power] when I decided to install a holley 4bbl. and cranecam #250531. Decided it would be a great time to install new rings,bearings,and timing set. Bore,journals,etc. were all within standard limits believe or not. It's better to rebuilt your engine before you start having major problems ,by that time you will probably require major machine work.

 

Yeah better safe than sorry.. My V8 felt like there was nothing wrong, like it was running cherry..but in actuality it was running extremely rich with 9.5 mpg and the #8 cylinder is down to 125 psi compression..should be 155-160. I'm thinking the magic happy juice it used to run blew a ring... So...goes to show, sometimes you never know....

 

Heh Im around 167K miles, approx, had to replace the speedo a couple of times. My 2.8L is still strong, 17/31 MPG so its not going through gas that fast..maybe a pint of synthetic old every couple of months too. To my knowledge the engine has never had work done on it. Though when it does go, I have the excuse I need to drop in a 3.4 or 3.8 SC

 

Hey Scott (Pontiac1) you have 170,000 and you have been hitting it with the spray for what 100,000 off and on

How many bottles have you put through it in that time?

Eric

 

i'm at 192,000 and i beat the **** out of it..........i bought the car with 160,000 and i am pretty sure it was babied until i came along

 

Let me guess...you're beating the bloody **** out of so you have an excuse to do that 350 swap sooner right?

 

91 RS 220,000 and still going strong

 

how did you know?

 

Your sig...

 

its a while off, still gotta build the damn thing
10:1 hyperutectic flat tops clevite 77 bearings
416 heads tpi.................. i have everything, just havent gotten around to putting it all together

 

Out of curiosity..why'd you go with the hyperutetics? Price? Or just no desire to run insane amounts of nitrous....?

 

yeah price

hypers arent good for Nos
their too brittle, their tough, but not enough

 

At 246,217.2 miles, your ignition switch might break, and prevent you from turning the car off. But add 30 miles or so to that, and that's how many miles my original motor has on it; still running! Third trans, though.

As long as you keep up with your major tuneups, and more importantly, your oil changes, you should be fine. I changed my timing chain around 189,000 miles.

 

Hey Tom....you just reminded me... The 2nd to last day I owned my Camaro I almost flipped out because my key stuck in my ignition tumbler... Took me 5 mins of cursing and wiggling to get it to release it...it was stuck between ignition and off...I could start the car and turn it off, but that's about it... I believe my words were something like "Oh HELL NO...."

 

Yeah, the car had about 75K miles when I put the nitrous on it. I don't use it very often anymore, mainly because I have to drive 40 miles or more to get the bottle filled up around here. When I was in college, I would only have to drive about 5 miles, and the guy gave me good prices too. I imagine that I have run probably 25 full 10 pound bottles of laughing gas through there or maybe more. When I first got it set up, I would go through one about every 2 or 3 weeks. Now, I get it filled up about once or twice a year. A 75 shot will not drain the bottle down as fast as most people's nitrous systems, so it lasts fairly well. I can hit it 15-20 times or more on one bottle, depending of course on how long you are holding it down. It has worked out surprisingly well, and my engine is 100% stock except for the nitrous, a high flow cat, and a catback with a dynomax.

In my opinion, hypereutectic pistons aren't much good for anything. I guess they are OK in computer controlled engines where the CPU can keep the thing from detonating. As someone above said, they are very brittle, and the ring lands will break on them quickly if you run into any detonation whatsoever. I haven't had much luck with them. From now on, I will stay with stock cast pistons unless I need to step up, in which case I will go straight to forged units.

 

Scott, do ya think the bottle would fit in the spare tire well? My wife is oddly anti-n2o. I could hide the bottle there, hide the switch.......

Eric

 

High milage cars thread.
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...threadid=31804

 

Eric, do what the prev. owner on my Mustang did for the switch.. Wired it to the horns! I discovered this today after I heard the car was run on Nitrous by the previous owner..it's got a system arm switch on the passenger side of the shifter, which is too large and sloppy to be an activation switch...and then I noticed that the horns don't work........ I knew there was a reason I had a red safety-cover switch in the car, non working horns, and a STOCK intake assembly on a car with an aftermarket intake manifold and full exhaust....

 

I would say that you could probably get it in there. You don't have to use a 10 lb. bottle either. They have all different sizes of bottles that can be hidden almost anywhere. The 10 lb. bottle is definitely the most common, and would last a good while between needing to be filled. I have my activation switch hidden under the dash. I have to do three things to get the thing to spray: (1) Open the bottle. I always wanted a remote bottle opener, but never got around to getting one and installing it. (2) flip the switch under the dash, (3) floor it! I have a micro switch rigged to the throttle body so that it activates only at WOT. That is really the best way, that way you are always getting the same amount of fuel, etc...

Your wife might be mightily pissed at you if she ever has a flat tire and opens up the spare tire well to see only a blue bottle, and no spare! I will attach a picture of my bottle installation to give you an idea of how big a 10 lb. bottle is.

 

Put a sub box over it

 

I use a plate with two Kicker 12" subs in it. It is hinged and folds down over the amps and nitrous system. When you open the rear hatch, all you see are the speakers. It isn't the absolute best in speakers, but they sound good and give me the room for the bottle. I used to have a box that I made to fit down in the hole. I had to get rid of it to have room for the bottle. Priorities, priorities...

 

Hah, cool, with the amps right there, it's kinda like a home-made bottle warmer! The louder the music, the higher the N2O pressure!

 

ive got an 83 with 237K not sure what kinda engine work was done to it before me