How many guys not having problems with high mileage

[James Beyer]

Have 112k on 2018 Chevy with 6.2L, but Replaced Transmission at 94k.

[Grumpy Bear]

On 5/28/2020 at 7:47 PM, Grumpy Bear said:

My 2015 RCSB 4.3 six speed rolled over 117,000 today. Two minor repairs. A pinion seal that I could have not done and would have taken a lifetime to empty the diff but I can't stand damp seals. $8. Replaced a small plastic 'filler' around the starter that warped and caused some noise. $10 part but $100 to get at it.  

 

A few recalls like the seat belt. A power steering module reprogram. I've ignored the ABS brake vacuum calibration. If the pump fails I'll replace it instead of putting a band-aid on it.

 

Everything else has been something I wanted to do, not needed to. Still on the OEM tires and brakes. One set of wiper blades.

 

Some I'm sure think I over maintain her but....I like the results. The longer it runs the better it runs. 

 

Well update time. 166,000 miles on this unit. Replaced first set of tires at 125,000 miles. Wipers about 3times? One set of plugs and wires. STILL on OEM brakes with over half left up front. Power flushed twice. Original battery.  Keep up on the body and paint best I can. Interior, under hood, underbody...Mint!

 

Still fanatical about lubrication, alignment and tire care and cooling. Going in soon for the air bag recall. Tune ups and fluid changes. Wash and wax. Drive and yea, still baby it. Most recent photo a few weeks ago. Caught a rock in the top passenger headlamp that cracked the lens. Replacement on its way. Started using a tiny bit of oil. Not even enough to top up by 5K miles. 

 

[OffTheAir]

So I'll try to give a non-biased overview with my 2014 GMC Sierra with almost 123,000 miles. Honestly, when problems occur with this truck, it is usually very small inconveinences that - while annoying - are very cheap and can be fixed in my driveway (and I'm no mechanic).

 

Leaking 3rd brake light? $17 gasket. Radiator fan not turning off? $55 thermostat. 6L80 running hot? $60 thermal bypass valve.

Occasionally there's some weird electrical gremlins like the infamous "Service Trailer Brake" and for a little while I was getting a bad catalytic converter code, but these usually reappear at random like a day or two a year and then I never see them again.

 

I did have the leaking radiator and cooling lines issue and that cost me a ton of money and, I won't lie, it made me a little bit frightened by the truck. However, besides that one issue which was years ago at this point, it's been mechanically sound and has more than paid for itself. Across my entire duration of ownership, I have barely spent any money fixing this vehicle

Cosmetically, the onyx black paint is in incredible condition and the interior is the same as it was when I got the vehicle. Unfortunately, the frame is pretty ugly and despite my best efforts my rocker panels are rotting away  However, if I were to fix the rockers right now, there would be no corrosion on the body.
 

Edited May 30, 2023 by OffTheAir

[silveradosid]

170k now , had to replace the rad and brakes. still going strong. my son has it now, this will be a real test as he is not a kind to it as i was

[AK Fish]

2018 Silverado 2500 HD 6.0L 4.10, crew cab, 4wd & Z-71 pkg with 95,000 miles - bought new. First thing I done was replace small stock heated mirrors with turn signals for heated trailer towing mirrors. Little did I know that they required reprogramming for the tow mirrors to work with heat and signals. Was leaving in 2 weeks to go buy a travel trailer and wanted factory tow mirrors.

 

Replaced the front brake pads at 92,000. Had 1/2+ thickness wore down, but could have gotten another year out of them at least. Tow 7,200# travel trailer with it in the summer, so went ahead with front pad swap using Duralast Elite Copper Free Ceramic pads. Next year I will go ahead and replace the rear pads with copper free ceramics. At that time will R&R spark plugs too. 

 

Had to replace the rear sliding window at 37,000 miles. It had a heating element that died on it so window had to be replaced and not fixed. Back and forth with dealer and finally got them to agree to cover the cost of the window, BUT I had to cover the labor. It was only 29 months old but barely over the 36,000 mile warranty. Better than nothing. 

 

Console USB ports went on fritz and was covered by factory warranty. One of the parking sensors went out but was covered by warranty. None have done anything since. I am on my 3rd set of tires. OEM M/T Duratracs at 35K miles were howlers and rough riders. I went to  BFG All-Terrain T/A® KO2 tires and was satisfied with them. On my 2nd set since I replace tires at 5/32 or 6/32 tire tread depth. I don't do any off-roading that warrants M/T tires. Like the KO2s better than Duratracs in snow and ice for our AK winters and towing travel trailer.

 

Nothing else for the vehicle, but adding chassis grease, changing engine oil/filter, gear oil, transfer case fluid, Dex-cool coolant, Transmission fluid & filter, air filters/cabin filters and a one replacement battery last year for the OEM one that died (they all will after enough use). Factory RANCHO shocks are still going strong without any leaks. Will upgrade to the RS7MT Ranchos when the time comes. 

 

Powder coat paint or whatever GM uses on the off-road round step bars is peeling away so will have to strip and recoat at some point soon. Replaced GM Key Fob shell myself for 9.99 and swapped out circuit board inside to new shell with new button battery. Old one had a bad habit of lowering all 4 windows on its own randomly. New fov has not done it once. Cheaper than locksmith new key fob and programming. 

[15 Z71]

2015 gmc sierra 1500 sle 5.3 6 speed. Replaced ac condenser after 8 years,thermostat and a battery. Other then break pads and st of tires that's all. I'm at 117,000 now no engine or trans problems. All stock never turned off v4 mode and no catch can.

Edited October 28, 2023 by 15 Z71

[Sean006]

Not one problem on my 2018 Sierra but I’m only at 26,000 stays in the garage

- working from home has its benefits

[2015 High Miler]

I have a 2015 Sierra 5.3 with the 6l80 that has 249,000 miles currently. The engine has been mostly flawless.  I changed the plugs out of guilt at around 200,000.

 

I am on my 3rd transmission, though.  The first died at 122,000, and the dealer helped me on the warranty and covered half of the replacement cost and I got another 100,000 mile warranty.  That one died with 103,000 miles on it and I decided to get it rebuilt with better parts, a 40K cooler and other mods to make it live. (fingers crossed)  

 

On the second trans, I did get the tune changed but I did not remove the thermostat.  I did not know that they had them until it was too late.  The rebuild does not have the thermostat.  I also upgraded the convertor and had another tune put in. So far so good but I don't drive as much as I used to so it only has about 30,000 miles on it in the last 18 months. 

Regarding the engine, I did regular oil changes with full synthetic oil at 7500 to 10,000 miles and have been fortunate to not have had issues with the lifters. I did turn the AFM off at about 75,000 miles and then had the whole combo retuned when the trans was replaced.

 

I had to change the radiator due to it cracking, so while we were there we also replaced the water pump, but it did not need it.  

It has been solid, other than the transmission.

 

A coworker bought a 2016 and the trans went out about 120,000 miles, too.  He is not into modifications, so he sold it once he got it replaced.  I tried to get him to get it updated with a tune and removing the thermostat but that is just not his gig.  

 

[diyer2]

Did you service the transmissions high miler?

[ember1205]

On 5/29/2023 at 9:15 PM, OffTheAir said:

So I'll try to give a non-biased overview with my 2014 GMC Sierra with almost 123,000 miles. Honestly, when problems occur with this truck, it is usually very small inconveinences that - while annoying - are very cheap and can be fixed in my driveway (and I'm no mechanic).

 

Leaking 3rd brake light? $17 gasket. Radiator fan not turning off? $55 thermostat. 6L80 running hot? $60 thermal bypass valve.

Occasionally there's some weird electrical gremlins like the infamous "Service Trailer Brake" and for a little while I was getting a bad catalytic converter code, but these usually reappear at random like a day or two a year and then I never see them again.

 

I did have the leaking radiator and cooling lines issue and that cost me a ton of money and, I won't lie, it made me a little bit frightened by the truck. However, besides that one issue which was years ago at this point, it's been mechanically sound and has more than paid for itself. Across my entire duration of ownership, I have barely spent any money fixing this vehicle

Cosmetically, the onyx black paint is in incredible condition and the interior is the same as it was when I got the vehicle. Unfortunately, the frame is pretty ugly and despite my best efforts my rocker panels are rotting away  However, if I were to fix the rockers right now, there would be no corrosion on the body.
 

 

Similar-ish for my 2015 Silverado that I had. 

 

- A/C Condenser went bad due to poor design for these trucks (same issue on Tahoes, Yukons, and Suburbans that use the same part). They don't hold up well over time and the seals break down due to vibrations. They leak, and your A/C is then dead. Had it replaced by a private mechanic with an aftermarket part. I think it cost me around $500 or so.

- High Pressure Fuel Pump issues - another bad design where it's known to start to leak fuel directly into the engine oil because of how it's operated (off of the camshaft, I believe). Truck threw a CEL, it went away, it came back. I pulled the codes, bought a cheap OBD tool, loaded up Track Addict on my phone, and tracked the fuel trims for a while. Had a convo with my mechanic about it, he agreed it was the pump. I got all the parts, he did the work. Again, about $500 or so in total for me.

- Failed gasket on the high-mounted brake light. Water infiltration into the cab, started to show as light staining along the edges of the headliner. New gasket for $10 off of Amazon. Installed in about a half hour, problem never returned.

- Battery died at about the five year mark. $180 (?) for a new one.

- Service Trailer Brake issue drove me nuts... Interestingly, I found the third brake light was basically full of water when I changed the gasket. Emptied it and the error didn't come back for three years. Before that, it would occur constantly in very cold (single digits) weather or very warm / direct sunlight situations (if it were sitting in direct with temps at 85 or above).

- Exhaust valve squeak appeared around 75k-80k miles. Once diagnosed, I just ignored the squeak.

 

I never burned oil or had any other issues with it. Drive it to about 102k before trading it on the new one. I did have a bit of vibration from the engine when it would drop to 4cyl mode, but it disappeared as soon as it went back to V8.

[2015 High Miler]

3 hours ago, diyer2 said:

Did you service the transmissions high miler?

Not as often as I should have on the first one.  I think we went 80,000 before I had it serviced, but the second one was done at @ 40k and 80K and it still died.  

Edited November 30, 2023 by 2015 High Miler

[diyer2]

Thanks miler.

Services usually extend the life.

[Grumpy Bear]

8 hours ago, 2015 High Miler said:

On the second trans, I did get the tune changed but I did not remove the thermostat.  I did not know that they had them until it was too late.  The rebuild does not have the thermostat.  I also upgraded the convertor and had another tune put in. So far so good but I don't drive as much as I used to so it only has about 30,000 miles on it in the last 18 months. 

  

 

 No amount of service will fix a bad design and that one stinks. 

[MikeBMW]

I'm only at 90K miles right now on my 2017 but I have a transmission flush at every other oil change (5K max). Crossing my fingers.
A friend at work with a 2015 Silverado has already had two transmission replacements but he's not really good with maintenance and is at about 200K.

Edited December 3, 2023 by MikeBMW

[TheRiver]

Engine rebuilt at 106,2xx miles almost 3 years ago now due to a NON-AFM lifter failure that wiped out the cam etc.  Have 207,3xx miles on her now.  Rebuilt without all the AFM garbage. Get the same mileage.  Good conditions..........22+mpg highway.....................bad conditions 18mpg highway......................both running 70mph.

 

OEM brakes, ball joints, tie rod ends, and tranny.  For tranny, I pump out 4qt. tranny fluid every 15k miles and replace with fresh.  Diffs and transfer case changed every 75k.  Front unit bearings replaced at 150k.  Sway bar bushings at about 150k.  On 2nd set of replacement tires from OEM...............got 96,4xx miles off the OEM tires....................91,4xx off the Cooper Discoverer AT3's................have 15k+ on my Rocky Mountain All Terrains now..................house brand from Discount Tire.  I like them a lot!!

 

Since engine rebuild;  engine oil/filter changed every 3-4k miles.  Engine rebuilder said to use the cheapest  10w30 and change it often.  Engine runs better and is much more quieter after rebuild.  Engine was always "loud" IMHO prior to the failure.

 

Entire passenger side body panels have been replaced....................deer took out the whole side.

 

Solid otherwise.