Truck longevity

nalewis · March 22, 2019

I currently own a 2003 Silverado 1500 LS with the Z71 package. I have almsot 284k miles on it with the 5.3 vortec engine. I have almost had it a year and bought it with 273k. I know it has been taken care of because its very clean, with no sludge in the oil, as well as no metal shavings in the oil and transmission pan when I changed their gaskets/fluids. So far I have changed:

- Rear diff gears

- All shocks

- Knock sensors

- Catalytic converters

- Trans fluid and filter

- Oil pan gasket

- Intermediate steering shaft

- A/C system

- T-case fluid

- Added a Spectre cold air intake

- A few other minor things

As of now I have a rear main seal leak, as well as a clunk. I have researched the clunk and have come to the conclusion that it is the famous GM slip yoke clunk, so I am not too worried. It it was the trans, I would have likely seen metal shavings in my trans fluid. I am likely going to be fixing my rear main seal leak in a few months. I do all this work myself so it's not too expensive to fix and I kind of enjoy working on it. Basically, I really like my truck and I would like to keep it, but I am wondering how long I should expect from the engine? I'm pretty positive the trans has been changed since it has such high mileage. Let me know what you all think.

Brian715 · March 22, 2019

My 06 has 308,000 on it now. I put a used engine in it 10,000 miles or so ago when it lost oil pressure. Current engine has 200,000 some odd miles. The rest of the truck is holding up well and I also expect to keep driving it for a long time. If you are not afraid of a major repair and can do the work yourself as it seems you can, you should be able to keep her going for years to come. At work we have another one, an 04, with 298,000 on it and no signs of it quiting anytime soon.

Edited March 22, 2019 by Brian715