400K (and 5) miles!

P

Parker Dean

Registered User
Made it to 400K miles. The car needs everything but still gets down the road a couple hundred miles a day.
 

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just curious.... At 400,000 miles.... what all has been done to the car to keep it running besides routine maint. (oil change, brakes, exhaust)? I would imagine you have replaced head gaskets by now, right?

Good to see one of these cars making it to 400,000 miles, but just wondering how realistic it is to say it has 400,000 on it when most don't make it half that far without MAJOR work and usually a complete rebuild.
 
Nice, 400K miles on a SC! I wander if Ford would give you a new car if you got it to wrap all the way around to 0 miles?

Shane
 
XR7inWI said:
just curious.... At 400,000 miles.... what all has been done to the car to keep it running besides routine maint. (oil change, brakes, exhaust)? I would imagine you have replaced head gaskets by now, right?

Good to see one of these cars making it to 400,000 miles, but just wondering how realistic it is to say it has 400,000 on it when most don't make it half that far without MAJOR work and usually a complete rebuild.
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Well, I picked the car up at 143,000 from a used car dealer so I have no idea what went on before I purchased it. I suspect the heads have been off due to some bracketry being loose on the back of the heads. I myself have not done much underhood besides belts, hoses, water pump, mounts, radiator, and rear main seal. You name it, it leaks. Yes, that too.

Tranny had burnt fluid when I got it, so the trans wasn't fresh. I've changed the fluid a couple hundred thousand miles ago but have done nothing since.

Don't get me wrong here. The car's a total ~~~~box and I wasn't kidding when I said it needed everything, yet it still manages claw it's way down the road (think zombie here :) ) It could be overhauled and serve for another few hundred thousand but I really don't feel like expending the energy, especially in this heat, so I'll keep flogging it until it just won't go anymore or something major craps out. I suspect you'll see a 450K mile post sometime in the Spring, but beyond that is iffy.
 
So what do you use for oil? Anything in particular or just whatever strikes your fancy at the time it needs changing? Reason I ask this is because so many people have so many different ideas as to what the best oil is (including myself), but I have seen several vehicles in excess of 300,000 miles and one over 550,000 in which the owners never had a "favorite" oil to use. The one that was over 550,000 miles, the owner (my uncle) said he rarely bought the same brand of oil twice in a row and usually bought what was cheapest. He did, however, change the oil and filter religiously, and some would almost say fanatically. That car was also a Ford but I cannot remember for sure what model. The engine was a V-8 but not sure what size it was. I do remember them coming to Wisconsin to visit every year from New Jersey and as soon as he got here he would always give my brother and I $50.00 to take the car and change the oil for him (he was LOADED) and said he always had it changed before he left Jersey and when he got back. We always thought that was a bit excessive, but that car did rack up over half a million miles with no major mechanical issues. So one really has to wonder about different oils... If you change it every 3000 (or sooner in his case) it probably doesn't matter what BRAND you use.
 
XR7inWI said:
So what do you use for oil?
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I tend to use Castrol, but when the Rear Main was leaking badly I used the cheaper O'Reilly's house brand. After repair of the Rear Main I went back to Castrol. I use Motorcraft filters.

I'm not exactly religious about changing oil. The car sees 2-4,000 miles a month depending on work requests and I change the oil when I think about it, which is proving to be about every 3-4 months.

Yeah it's abuse, but I've gotten waaay more than my money's worth out of the car. I treat it like this because it IS a work beater after all. If it were my toy it'd get a totally different maintenance schedule.
 
was the car on when you took the picture? your boost guage is almost at zero, thats one hell of an intake leak :eek:

but man, i cannot believe that car has lasted so long. so many people take such good care of their SCs and they still crap out much MUCH sooner.
 
wow....thats awesome. Hopefully you'll decide to bring i back to life when the time comes to take it off the road. With that much service, the thing deserves a second chance....even this late in the game. Also, with that much milage (history) it would be a nice collectors piece.
 
Can you please post pictures of your car outside and inside I am curious to know how much work it needs. :eek:
 
matteo said:
was the car on when you took the picture? your boost guage is almost at zero, thats one hell of an intake leak :eek:
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Naw, it was off and in the garage. I had thought about taking the pic at 100mph if the mileage had coincided with an area to do it in, like Kenedy Co. population 400. I actually forgot to watch the mileage even though I'd been anticipating it for a couple of weeks, that's why it's over by 5 miles.

ricardoa1 said:
Can you please post pictures of your car outside and inside I am curious to know how much work it needs.
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Sure. Not today though. I'll wash the layers of dead butterflies off (monarch migration season so you can just imagine) tonight so you can actually see the car and take some pics tomorrow afternoon.
 
Some pics, along with a few extraneous words to get above the minimum character requirement :)
 

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