Built Ford Tough

[HannibalX]

Click.

Sometime in the next few days, Mr. Schell's van - which he bought used in Monroe, Mich., in 1996 and uses to deliver cargo across North America - will have been driven 1 million miles.

And according to a relatively recent odometer survey from Ford Motor Co., Mr. Schell's van has the highest odometer reading for any E-250 in the country. The van still has its original engine and transmission, neither of which has been rebuilt.

He works as an expediter for Toledo's Bolt Express, driving packages, auto parts, and even single envelopes from point-to-point across North America. "I drive between 80,000 and 100,000 miles a year. I'm always out on the road," he said.

His maintenance secrets for getting a million miles from his van would make most automotive engineers and mechanics cringe: He changes his oil every 10,000 miles, but one time drove it 55,000 miles before an oil change. He adds a quart of oil with every other fill-up, however.

He's also gotten amazing durability out of some of his van's components. He had well over 900,000 miles on the odometer before he had to put in a new exhaust system, and he got 500,000 miles out of his first serpentine belt.

Mr. Schell's regular maintenance provider backs up his claims, with service records that date to the purchase of the vehicle. "Our mechanics always love working on his van because they're always amazed at how many miles he's driven since he was last in," said Brent Gilley, owner of Mytee Automotive, on Holland-Sylvania Road south of Central Avenue. "He puts on more miles in a couple weeks than I put on in a year.".

Shove that up your Toyota and smoke it.

 

[overst33r]

It's not the powertrain, it's how the rest of the car holds up.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: mariok2006
It's not the powertrain, it's how the rest of the car holds up.

Not much to hold up in a cargo van, though.

And funny you say that, because powertrain durability is EXACTLY what foreign car fanboys tout when claiming they're better.

When's the last time you heard someone argue about the durability of an Accord's power window motor vs. a Domestic's?

 

[overst33r]

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: mariok2006
It's not the powertrain, it's how the rest of the car holds up.

Not much to hold up in a cargo van, though.

And funny you say that, because powertrain durability is EXACTLY what foreign car fanboys tout when claiming they're better.

When's the last time you heard someone argue about the durability of an Accord's power window motor vs. a Domestic's?

The way I see it, modern production car power trains are relatively similar enough that they will all last roughly the same amount of time.

 

[desy]

I feel satisfied with my recent choice of not nearly changing the oil so much in my vehicles.
Once a year in the fall with synthetic.
I drive slow '60 mph' and mostly HW everyday

 

[Ktulu]

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: mariok2006
It's not the powertrain, it's how the rest of the car holds up.

Not much to hold up in a cargo van, though.

And funny you say that, because powertrain durability is EXACTLY what foreign car fanboys tout when claiming they're better.

When's the last time you heard someone argue about the durability of an Accord's power window motor vs. a Domestic's?

When all else fails attack the interiors. What's gonna happen when both powertrains and interior components are equal to those of the foreign brands? GM and Ford have caught up in both reliability, style, interiors so now all the domestic haters can comment on are the domestics past.

 

[M0R0NI]

Oh no here we go again! Just remember that a powertrain lasts as long as you take care of it!

 

[CptCrunch]

Eh, thats nothing, my girlfriend's daewoo had 110,000 miles on it before it was total

Kept telling her it should be in a museum, but she wouldn't listen. Also, 10k between oil changes, at at one time, 25k between them.

 

[warmodder]

My Audi has 200k miles on her and she's still going strong--take that German car reliability haters!

 

[desy]

so does my 94 Corsica, I paid a lot less than an Audi

 

[DivideBYZero]

Yet another million miler. It's not the first, you know.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: desy
so does my 94 Corsica, I paid a lot less than an Audi

Yeah, but who wouldn't pay more? :laugh:

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Our old '89 Lincoln recently past the 500k mark I believe with original engine and transmission.

Our Bronco is at 110k with original brakes

 

[thomsbrain]

Very cool! One thing that seems to be common to all these million-milers is that the person driving it drives A LOT. The car practically never cools down, and the actual age of the components remains very low compared the miles. You never read about someone finally cracking the million mile mark in their Gremlin, it's always a car that had its wheels driven off from day one.

 

[Dman877]

In my admittedly limited experience, the domestics I've had were no less reliable than the foreign cars I've experienced. Some people don't like domestics, not for quality problems, but because in a lot of segments, domestics are boring. That's something that might be changing but I've owned compacts from foreign and domestic carmakers and I prefer the visceral qualities of the foreign makes over the domestics.

 

[desy]

I loved that car! for its reliability, that was about it, but I've never been an image or driving experience kind of guy. Its always been, this is a depreciating asset and how can I do it cheap?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Ford, where Quality is Job 1.

Putting out the fire is Job 2.

 

[JulesMaximus]

You know what I find funny? The fact that 95% of the population doesn't keep a car for much more than 5 years. In fact, even when I was a poor high school/college student the most miles I ever had on any one vehicle in my entire life was 140,000 miles.

BTW-I've owned 2 Fords and they were both decent cars.

 

[StageLeft]

He changes his oil every 10,000 miles, but one time drove it 55,000 miles before an oil change. He adds a quart of oil with every other fill-up, however.

If he's going through a quart of oil every 700 miles, it's no surprise he can go basically infinitely on a tank. That means the oil is being turned over quite frequently, though the oil filter would be bad.

Shove that up your Toyota and smoke it.

A guy with an accord has already done better than this, his odometer turned over.

He puts on more miles in a couple weeks than I put on in a year.".

He does 2k miles/week. This guy doesn't drive more than 4000 in a year?

Very cool! One thing that seems to be common to all these million-milers is that the person driving it drives A LOT. The car practically never cools down, and the actual age of the components remains very low compared the miles. You never read about someone finally cracking the million mile mark in their Gremlin, it's always a car that had its wheels driven off from day one.

This is very true.

 

[Arkaign]

It really comes down to good maintenance and a solid drivetrain from day one. I've had great domestics and some awful ones. I had a Neon that died with under 60k miles, all dealer serviced, never overheated, but the motor must have been made from used spam cans. On the flip side, had a family Ford F250 (81 or 82) that went well over 500k miles with Mobil 1 used from day 1.

FWIW, I've heard nasty things about the GM 2.8/3.1 motors, and glowingly positive things about the 3800 series. So even on a mfg to mfg basis, there are still critical reliability chasms between makes/models/motor/transmission selection. The previous-gen Acura CL/TL automatic transmissions were notoriously questionable, and although Acura bent over backwards (covering OOW most of the time) taking care of the customer, it doesn't change the fact that the car was less than optimally reliable leaving the dealership in the first place. Most of those failures occurred with well under 100k on the clock.

IMHO, what is acceptable for a car is that it last to 200k miles with regular maintenance and average driving habits. Some interior wear, and the odd part or two failing here and there is fine, but a drivetrain breakdown during that time shouldn't be happening. My last car, a '95 LeSabre, is still running with the 3800 @ 210k miles, all original motor/tranny/etc. Just plugs, wires, belts, oil, lube. The interior is shot, the driver side window doesn't work, various bits falling off here and there, but a reliable beast regardless.

 

[phreaqe]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

He changes his oil every 10,000 miles, but one time drove it 55,000 miles before an oil change. He adds a quart of oil with every other fill-up, however.

If he's going through a quart of oil every 700 miles, it's no surprise he can go basically infinitely on a tank. That means the oil is being turned over quite frequently, though the oil filter would be bad.

Shove that up your Toyota and smoke it.

A guy with an accord has already done better than this, his odometer turned over.

He puts on more miles in a couple weeks than I put on in a year.".

He does 2k miles/week. This guy doesn't drive more than 4000 in a year?

Very cool! One thing that seems to be common to all these million-milers is that the person driving it drives A LOT. The car practically never cools down, and the actual age of the components remains very low compared the miles. You never read about someone finally cracking the million mile mark in their Gremlin, it's always a car that had its wheels driven off from day one.

This is very true.

i only drive about 6000 a year. i live 2-3 miles from work and all the stores i need to get to are within a few miles. i bought my car in july(something like july 10) and since i got it i have only driven 3700 ish miles and a large chunk of those came over christmas and new years going home a couple time and it is 250-300 miles each way.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
You know what I find funny? The fact that 95% of the population doesn't keep a car for much more than 5 years. In fact, even when I was a poor high school/college student the most miles I ever had on any one vehicle in my entire life was 140,000 miles.

BTW-I've owned 2 Fords and they were both decent cars.

I must be one of the 5% cause we've never owned a car under 5 years. We owned our 1989 Lincoln Town Car for 14 years when we gave it away, and its still going at 19 years old. Our Bronco Eddie Bauer will be 13 years old this march. Our newest addition, our Expedition, is less than a year old for us, but technically 3 years old, and we expect it to last just as long.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
You know what I find funny? The fact that 95% of the population doesn't keep a car for much more than 5 years. In fact, even when I was a poor high school/college student the most miles I ever had on any one vehicle in my entire life was 140,000 miles.

BTW-I've owned 2 Fords and they were both decent cars.

I must be one of the 5% cause we've never owned a car under 5 years. We owned our 1989 Lincoln Town Car for 14 years when we gave it away, and its still going at 19 years old. Our Bronco Eddie Bauer will be 13 years old this march. Our newest addition, our Expedition, is less than a year old for us, but technically 3 years old, and we expect it to last just as long.

Getting your money's worth FTMFW! :thumbsup:

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
You know what I find funny? The fact that 95% of the population doesn't keep a car for much more than 5 years. In fact, even when I was a poor high school/college student the most miles I ever had on any one vehicle in my entire life was 140,000 miles.

BTW-I've owned 2 Fords and they were both decent cars.

I must be one of the 5% cause we've never owned a car under 5 years. We owned our 1989 Lincoln Town Car for 14 years when we gave it away, and its still going at 19 years old. Our Bronco Eddie Bauer will be 13 years old this march. Our newest addition, our Expedition, is less than a year old for us, but technically 3 years old, and we expect it to last just as long.

same here.

had a 1984 Caprice Classic that had 400,000 km on it before I junked it. Replaced it with a 1987 Crown Vic that now has 160,000 km. Had a 1977 Volare wagon that had over 300,000 km on the slant six.

drive'em till they die, that's getting your money's worth out of them.

 

[imported_Truenofan]

in the sig. and i only have one major problem with it. the front drivers side headlight motor drains the battery when its hooked up. other than that. mechanically sound.