Would you ever buy a used car with 225,000 miles?

[Frosty]

I know exactly what you mean. And that is part of the reason I liked that z71 because it has a lift but I dont need an extension ladder to get in it.

My wife was more keen on the z71 than that 86 chevy but I do like that its biggest drawback is that its red.

the link wouldn't work for me, did it say what kind of lift kit it had? An awful lot of people throw 2" blocks in the back and put $20 keys on the front torsion bars and crank them all the way up, which just kills your CV joints and your ball joints. Done properly the lift kit will actually lower the torsion bar mounts and the front suspension mounts to retain stock joint angles.

 

[Crbn79]

the link wouldn't work for me, did it say what kind of lift kit it had? An awful lot of people throw 2" blocks in the back and put $20 keys on the front torsion bars and crank them all the way up, which just kills your CV joints and your ball joints. Done properly the lift kit will actually lower the torsion bar mounts and the front suspension mounts to retain stock joint angles.

It didn't look like much of a lift 2-3 inch, it was likely just blocks and T-Twist

 

[CindyE]

We have a Z71 with over 250,000 miles on it, but no lift kit. It is my husband's daily driver. Poor truck has been in 3 accidents over the past few years, 2 within the last month! Starting to look like h#ll, but still going strong. Has lots of parts already replaced, so husband is hanging on to it as long as he can. None of the accidents have been our fault, last couple of settlements have worked out ok, but we are on a salvage title now. Not sure how this latest one is going to work out. We had a C-10 before that, it was a good truck too, but would have been better with 4x4.

 

[CTC B4Z]

I love all the talk about how 'if its a diesel than 215,00 miles and its barely broken in yet!'... Right....

granted, hard parts, pistons, rods, crank, basically your short block is very robust on any diesel, but yea when you do have that milege, look at the other costs associated at that point. Your typical 7.3 with 225k. you better hope the injectors, turbo, and high pressure oil pump have already been done once, if not twice. Do you really want to be sinking $3500 + into doing all 8 injectors with a vehicle that has that milege? Ok say you do, what about the trans then? that isnt cheap by any means. I have seen all the diesels, Duracracks, Cummaparts, Powerbrokes, all have major catastrophic failures anywhere from 50k-200k miles.

thats the thing were starting to battle here is people not wanting to dump insane amounts of money in their rig when it has this kind of milege. this is where it gets good for a guy like. pick up a beat truck, get parts at costs and fix on my own time to flip or keep.

 

[Frosty]

I love all the talk about how 'if its a diesel than 215,00 miles and its barely broken in yet!'... Right....

granted, hard parts, pistons, rods, crank, basically your short block is very robust on any diesel, but yea when you do have that milege, look at the other costs associated at that point. Your typical 7.3 with 225k. you better hope the injectors, turbo, and high pressure oil pump have already been done once, if not twice. Do you really want to be sinking $3500 + into doing all 8 injectors with a vehicle that has that milege? Ok say you do, what about the trans then? that isnt cheap by any means. I have seen all the diesels, Duracracks, Cummaparts, Powerbrokes, all have major catastrophic failures anywhere from 50k-200k miles.

thats the thing were starting to battle here is people not wanting to dump insane amounts of money in their rig when it has this kind of milege. this is where it gets good for a guy like. pick up a beat truck, get parts at costs and fix on my own time to flip or keep.

a diesel will generally last longer than a gas engine, but they aren't semis. The reason semis last so long is because they can put a million miles on them in a few years, so you don't have issues with things breaking from age like you do with older cars. I drive a Kenworth with almost 600k on the clock. Everytime I need a light replaced the mechanics are replacing a pigtail, or splicing in a new wire, the wheel seals and stuff like that are all getting replaced, the damn thing will barely start on cold winter mornings, even with a block heater. I usually put 120-180 miles a day on it, generally it's all stop and go or rough country roads, semis are, for the most part, mainly interstate travel, driving a constant speed, which is a lot easier on everything on the truck.

 

[CTC B4Z]

and you are probably pre-EGR, pre-DPF, correct?

 

[Frosty]

and you are probably pre-EGR, pre-DPF, correct?

Oh yeah, I think the 'ol girls a 98 or 99. We have newer trucks in the fleet with DPF that are always going down to regen them.

 

[88GT]

I love all the talk about how 'if its a diesel than 215,00 miles and its barely broken in yet!'... Right....

Yeah, that's exactly what was being claimed.

granted, hard parts, pistons, rods, crank, basically your short block is very robust on any diesel, but yea when you do have that milege, look at the other costs associated at that point. Your typical 7.3 with 225k. you better hope the injectors, turbo, and high pressure oil pump have already been done once, if not twice. Do you really want to be sinking $3500 + into doing all 8 injectors with a vehicle that has that milege? Ok say you do, what about the trans then? that isnt cheap by any means.

Nothing lasts forever. It is assumed that all parts will eventually fail from use, even with the best of maintenance. I don't recall anybody making the claim that any particular vehicle or engine type was a perpetual motion machine. Repairs on a diesel aren't cheap. But they are less expensive than buying a replacement. If I have a 200K mile truck that needs $5000 in repairs to get another 100,000 miles, am I worse or better off than buying a 100K mile truck at $15,000 or more just to get the same mileage out of it?

I have seen all the diesels, Duracracks, Cummaparts, Powerbrokes, all have major catastrophic failures anywhere from 50k-200k miles.

Yay! Anecdotes offered as statistical evidence. Does this mean that because I have seen a 900K mile Ford I can argue that Ford diesels are better than the rest? Or that because every make and model out there has suffered a major catastrophe in the same time frame that we should all just go back to horse and buggy because all motor vehicles are ****? Seriously. It's assumed there are trade-offs. It's assumed there are opportunity costs, some of them monetary. I'm not afraid of high mileage. Nor is the claim that high mileage means the end-of-life for a vehicle true.

thats the thing were starting to battle here is people not wanting to dump insane amounts of money in their rig when it has this kind of milege. this is where it gets good for a guy like. pick up a beat truck, get parts at costs and fix on my own time to flip or keep.

Yeah, too bad that wasn't mentioned already.

 

[CTC B4Z]

Not sure I compute

 

[Lucas156]

For 5k I wouldn't even touch it. Just a couple thousand more and you can get a damn decent truck with 130,000 miles

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Thanks INGO. I think I may pass on that one then. Still looking around though, because I really like older style trucks as well. I found this one last night but know nothing about these trucks.

1986 Chevrolet C10/K10, $2,600 - Cars.com

If that's not a scam, that's a good price if the pictures are accurate and it runs under its own power. The price seems way too good for the truck pictured, though, and I'd be pretty cautious about it.

 

[aaron580]

If maintained, sure. If not, no way.

 

[Bucko]

Depending on if I knew the owner, possibly.

I'm the original owner of a 1994 Grand Am. Has 270k for mileage, and I would have no problem driving it across country now. It's a car I let my kids take turns driving as they need. It's still on the original engine, and trans both. Oil has been changed every 3k miles religiously. (negotiated free oil changes for life when vehicle was originally purchased). Sure, a lot has been put into the car for maintenance, but I still consider it dependable. I've had 3 offers to buy the car in the last month, all above blue book value, and I still refuse to sell it, because I know the history on it, as did our friends who wanted to purchase it. With any used car something can go wrong at any time. We all know that, but if you know the person who had it before you performed regular maintenance, then yes I would buy it no problem.

 

[LANShark42]

Would I buy a car/truck with that many miles? No. No way. But let me add I'm not a mechanic. I change my own oil, but that's about the extent I'll work on one. It's hard to imagine a truck with that many miles not needing work in the future. Maybe a LOT of work. YMMV (quite literally.)

 

[Leo]

I have driven my own cars to the 200K mark, but I would never buy one that worn out. Even if the engine is fresh, by that time a lot of other stuff is worn out. Suspension bushings, body mounts, latches, locks and regulators, radiators, heater cores, A/C evaporator and condenser coils, HVAC controls, the seats, door hinges, wiper drive linkage, pretty much every gasket and all the body/window seals, etc. And we are not even getting to body work, rust repair, scored windshields, etc. I can and have done all the repairs in that list. It still takes lots of time and lots of parts money to get it back in shape. It takes a lot more if you have to pay for labor. You either have to continually spend money to get it back in shape, or settle for driving something that leaks, rattles and wobbles and whistles. If your just banging through the woods occasionally, I guess it would not matter.

 

[gvsugod]

If that's not a scam, that's a good price if the pictures are accurate and it runs under its own power. The price seems way too good for the truck pictured, though, and I'd be pretty cautious about it.

Well I will find out soon, I emailed the seller. I think its in Chicago though, I swore I would never go to that miserable place. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

 

[Crbn79]

Well I will find out soon, I emailed the seller. I think its in Chicago though, I swore I would never go to that miserable place. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Tell me about it! I lived 40 mins south of Midway Airport and it was still too close! Becareful with bad titles, there has been a scam in Chicago where they use a clean title from a junker, a lot of people don't catch that it's a few numbers off.

 

[Valvestate]

I bought the cheapest thing with a decent body and powertrain. 97 k1500 with about 212k for 2800. It's no surprise I'm having small wear parts go out only a few months later and small leaks all over, but for the mileage, I'd rather get the cheapest and put new parts in than spend 4k+ and things fail in a few thousand miles as they haven't been changed.

edit: Bought it as a horse and to tackle snow. Nothing more.

 

[Bowman78]

Definitely would rethink going north for a used car buy.. This area is called the rust belt for a reason.. I work on cars daily as a career.. You wouldn't believe the amount of corrosion that can occur in 5 + years of Midwest winters...

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Well I will find out soon, I emailed the seller. I think its in Chicago though, I swore I would never go to that miserable place. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Good luck, but it shows multiple signs of being a scam. Its mislisted as a crew cab, its really nicely detailed for a private seller, the pictures appear to be at a business and not at a private residence/street. The price is way low. I'm going to guess there is no truck to sell.