Any REALLY High Mileage Qs out there?

[Mint Q45A]

I came across this article about a 1991 Chevy truck approaching 1 million miles:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ne...story

I found it very interesting that the engine has not been overhauled, but has gone through 5 transmissions, a few radiators, fuel tanks, water pumps....

What's the highest mileage for Q still running?

Just curious...

[ILuvNkdChx]

1,000,001

[Haitian_King]

I came across this article about a 1991 Chevy truck approaching 1 million miles:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ne...story

I found it very interesting that the engine has not been overhauled, but has gone through 5 transmissions, a few radiators, fuel tanks, water pumps....

What's the highest mileage for Q still running?

Just curious...

That's insane! I wonder how it looks cosmetically?

[Q45tech]

".. 300 oil changes and tuneups, every 3,000 miles......four radiators, three gas tanks, five transmissions and six water pumps, but the engine has never been overhauled, putting on about 85,000 miles a year.

That's the trick driving interstate/highway not so much local and many miles between cranks.

The most I ever drove on my Q was 38,000 in a year and now the 18 year average is down to 17,500 per year.

BMW /Mobil 1 got a million miles but they only stopped engine to change oil and do mainteance..............24 hours per day on track.

Cold cranks [lack of instant lube] are what destroys engine.Mathematically it appears that he changed oil every < 2 WEEKS!!!!!!!!!300 oil changes from June 1996.

As we keep pointing out 90-95 was the epitomy of vehicle design and potential reliability for every brand MB, Nissan, GM, even Furd.

[captainluigi]

Why no pre-oilers on petrol engines?

[Q45tech]

Why no oil and coolant heaters so that the temps are maintained just above 100F overnight and when parked. Preoilers are great except that engine oil does NOT lubricate until it exceeds 100F.

A summer start still takes oil 2-2.5 minutes to reach 100F vs 6-10 minuts in winter so every winter start is 3-4 times worse than a Florida summer start.

Any start causes more damage than driving 100-200 miles!

[Haitian_King]

Why no pre-oilers on petrol engines?

If you could get one of these pre-oilers on a VH45DE, engine wear would decrease significantly right? Could I turn the oil pump by hand before cranking to "juice" up the internals? Or is that something that can only be done when the front cover is off?

[paranoidjack]

Why no oil and coolant heaters so that the temps are maintained just above 100F overnight and when parked. Preoilers are great except that engine oil does NOT lubricate until it exceeds 100F.

A summer start still takes oil 2-2.5 minutes to reach 100F vs 6-10 minuts in winter so every winter start is 3-4 times worse than a Florida summer start.

Any start causes more damage than driving 100-200 miles!

tech, you're referring only to cold start? Going to the store and turning it off for 5 mins is fairly insignificant, right? Enough to not cool down significantly...

[oldmako]

Unfortunately this time of year my boat sees little use. I remove the lead from the distributor and crank the engine 10-15 seconds or so until I see the oil psi rise. I then reconnect and fire it up.

On my buddies Cummins diesel, we took it one step further and installed a momentary interrupt switch on the panel so the engine cover doesn't need to be raised.

Sounds like a worthwhile mod to a Q don't you think?

[qship96]

Wouldnt that just create a different problem of fuel being dumped into cylinders unburned ,ultimately diluting the oil and therefor harming lubrication?

[oldmako]

My boat has a holley carb, no FI. I can't imagine that it sucks enough fuel at cranking rpm to do any harm. As it is, if I did not pull the plug, it would still take quite a bit of cranking before the engine fires....essentially doing what I want - NOT fire initially to allow oil to coat the internals.

On the diesel, we wired the switch to the fuel pump....so it's cranking with no fuel.

I forgot that on these engines you'd be shooting it full of fuel. So, your point has merit. I can't imagine that some sharp guy couldn't come up with an interrupter for the fuel injection which would accomplish the same thing.

When one considers what's under the hood, ($$$) it would seem to make sense.

[Desmoquattro]

http://www.mbusa.com/heritage/high-mileage.do

2.8 million miles.

There is a 1 million kilometer (~600K miles) 280SE here in Quebec, I've met the owner of it. My father has a 250C so we were quite impressed to see a /8 model cover that mileage.

[Haitian_King]

Sounds a little extra. Like if it isn't cheap or easy, it may just be more than what we need.

I read something interesting on the board back in November (A post by Jesda about cold-starting) about letting the engine idle to operating temp after a cold start is worse than starting the car and driving easily (easy acceleration, not going about 1500-1700 RPM until engine is hot). Since reading that, I've been doing it and I'm finding that the engine warms in about 6 mins tops. I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. Before I read that, I used to have the car idle for about 10-15 mins before I drove. I really considered putting in a remote start simply because it was too cold to sit in or stand outside the car while waiting for it to warm.

The logic that I've been going by is that although the oil is coating the parts (but not at 100F+) it may reach temp quicker from the engine moving.

I mean, I could be totally wrong and just be murdering my engine. Thought's anyone?

[Mint Q45A]

So, are there any high mileage Qs out there (still in good running condition)?

Q45 Tech's I believe has 300+k miles. Correct? Anybody else?

Most likely these Q have changed hands more than once therefore it might be hard to do, but it would be interesting to try to get a list of all the major parts the owners have replaced in order to keep the cars running....

[bullittandy]

I've got 236K but don't have a long commute anymore and so my mileage gains are much less than in previous times.

However, I don't really consider that high mileage b/c of the durability of the car.

[Q45tech]

The Q 's engine design unfortunately is not easy [not fast nor cheap] to replace components. The relatively low sales volume makes aftermaket copies difficult to find [injectors, maf, cas, iac].

It would have been nice to have the total spent for the Million mile GM Truck.I'm sure it was less than what a Q would cost. Labor is lower and parts are cheaper.................simpler to diagnose.

My Q cost $24,000 to maintain and repair for 200,000 miles [10 years] and that was with a 100k extended warranty which only cost $1500. Each subsequent year has varied but averaged $3,000 so that $45,000 [give or take] thru 317,000 miles or 14.2 cents per mile.

All the labor was recalculated to reflect $85 per hour to better simulate modern shop costs. Paying for something in 1998 when labor was $50 [T3] is not usful.

I have secured over $6,700 in MSRP parts for say $1,000 by buying wrecks and ebay parts. I probably have $4,000 in parts as future spares. Most of labor was at $40-$85 per hour plus the hundred or so hours I've spent on do it yourself.

Any moment a transmission or engine could fail adding $3,000 or $4500 or both and the car wold need to be kept another 6-7 years to equalize!

[bullittandy]

The Q 's engine design unfortunately is not easy [not fast nor cheap] to replace components. The relatively low sales volume makes aftermaket copies difficult to find [injectors, maf, cas, iac].

It would have been nice to have the total spent for the Million mile GM Truck.I'm sure it was less than what a Q would cost. Labor is lower and parts are cheaper.................simpler to diagnose.

My Q cost $24,000 to maintain and repair for 200,000 miles [10 years] and that was with a 100k extended warranty which only cost $1500. Each subsequent year has varied but averaged $3,000 so that $45,000 [give or take] thru 317,000 miles or 14.2 cents per mile.

All the labor was recalculated to reflect $85 per hour to better simulate modern shop costs. Paying for something in 1998 when labor was $50 [T3] is not usful.

I have secured over $6,700 in MSRP parts for say $1,000 by buying wrecks and ebay parts. I probably have $4,000 in parts as future spares. Most of labor was at $40-$85 per hour plus the hundred or so hours I've spent on do it yourself.

Any moment a transmission or engine could fail adding $3,000 or $4500 or both and the car wold need to be kept another 6-7 years to equalize!

You know what would be really cool? If we had a time machine and could bring a brand new 1990 Q45 to present day and test drive it back to back with your car. Get an idea of how close you can actually keep a car to brand new.

[Q45tech]

Don't confuse asthetics: paint, glass, interiors with mechanical function.

One problem is we can no longer get brake pads or tires that conform to oem designs.............many components are no longer being made: rear subframes, driveshafts, interiors so junk yard used substitutes must be substituted.

No 317k engine is going to idle as smoothly as a brand new engine, it may however produce more power due to the friction vs wear vs compression graphs.