Anybody heard about getting this kind of mileage?

Wow. That's impressive.

I've heard of fleet minivans getting that. Usually owned by local transportation companies.

Doesn't mention any major engine/trans work done, other than fluids for tranny every 70k mi.

kinda reminds me of a call to CarTalk a while back from a medical courier..
that said,
"the transmission and engine are still in good condition" is purely a faith based statement!
engine - needs a compression test! (at least)
tranny - probably will remain unknown..

if mileage is 96+% highway, who knows it might last another 50-100Kmi (before major problems)

this might be a good van if you're "shooting for the moon"

Lets see how many Toyota and Honda vans have that kind of mileage.
Forget the Kias,they cant hit 100K.

atoman said:

this might be a good van if you're "shooting for the moon"

Click to expand...

I'm not looking to buy, it just was a much bigger number than I've seen coming from these vehicles.

All highway would save the trans a ton of lifespan keeping it locked in 4th gear for 100's of miles at a time. I'm going to guess that it is a 3.3L engine as they tend to be the longest lasting engines in these vans. The 3.8's are good as well but they put more load/wear on the parts and won't last quite as well as the 3.3's

Well that is now the goal for my 03. Granted when I hit around 200K I'm pretty happy...

The 3.3 has got to be the slant 6 of the 21st century.Longevity of the highest order.

2002CaravanSE said:

The 3.3 has got to be the slant 6 of the 21st century.Longevity of the highest order.

Click to expand...

Tell that to Consumer Reports, they don't seem to have much good to say about that engine. :lol:

450,000 miles in 6 years = 75,000 miles per year or 1442 miles per week on average. Must have had a long commute back and forth to work (144 miles per day, one way) or used the vehicle in his work.

I don't think 500,000 to 600,000 miles is that unusual for a Caravan if it's driven lots daily, mostly highway. I have heard stories around here of them clocking up over 1,000,000 kilometers.

I have 312k on my 00 3.3 everything original but the water pump and alternator. Even the axles are original..... I've never even had a check engine light come on. Oh wait I did have the clock spring issue but that was an easy fix.

FtheWindstar said:

I have 312k on my 00 3.3 everything original but the water pump and alternator. Even the axles are original..... I've never even had a check engine light come on. Oh wait I did have the clock spring issue but that was an easy fix.

Click to expand...

:thumb::thumb:

Well taken care of and babied the whole time (+ mostly highway driving) I can see these things lasting many many more miles than that. I would buy it if it was near me and I had the extra $$ for it

I honestly beat the crap out of my '00 stratus (pot holed roads, and used for 2 years doing pizza delivery full time), and at 175,000mi it's still strong. Passes compression tests, shifts beautifully (Got to love these 41te Transmissions!!!). I anticipate 250,000mi out of it. Only things needed done were regular maintenance [if you consider 10,000+mi oil change intervals "regular"] and some gaskets, other wear items.

Van has 108,000mi, and runs as good as any "new" vans I've test drove. Haven't had it long enough to need any repairs besides cam/crank sensors, only a week after purchase. And YES, I do change my oil between 3-5k (Valvoline syntec blend high mileage) in the van.

Not sure if people think I meant kilometers or miles. I put the k after the miles to indicate thousands...so it is US 312 thousand miles..sorry I had a couple of people message me about it...I'm goin for 500k miles....dont know if I can hit that, the trans has never been flushed or filter changed or anything, at this point I really dont want to rock the boat!

FtheWindstar said:

Not sure if people think I meant kilometers or miles. I put the k after the miles to indicate thousands...so it is US 312 thousand miles..sorry I had a couple of people message me about it...I'm goin for 500k miles....dont know if I can hit that, the trans has never been flushed or filter changed or anything, at this point I really dont want to rock the boat!

Click to expand...

Has it ever needed to be topped off or leaked any? My original trans started gushing fluid out of every seal around 85k. Also the axle carrier bearings went bad causing those to leak and be unfixable without replacing the bearings. Although I guess I can blame the carrier bearing failure on my love for burnouts early in my driving career..

andyg said:

I'm going to guess that it is a 3.3L engine as they tend to be the longest lasting engines in these vans. The 3.8's are good as well but they put more load/wear on the parts and won't last quite as well as the 3.3's

Click to expand...

I don't think there's any evidence at all to support that notion. Given the fact that the 3.3 spins at a higher RPM at any give speed in any given gear, one might opine that, if anything, the 3.8 is likely to last more miles than the 3.3.

Long story short, I doubt there is any statistical difference in the number of miles these engines can go under identical conditions.

shipo said:

I don't think there's any evidence at all to support that notion. Given the fact that the 3.3 spins at a higher RPM at any give speed in any given gear, one might opine that, if anything, the 3.8 is likely to last more miles than the 3.3.

Long story short, I doubt there is any statistical difference in the number of miles these engines can go under identical conditions.

Click to expand...

A given fact is that with all things indentical, an engine with a longer stroke and more piston speed will wear the rings/walls faster. The longer stroke also increases side loading on the cylinder walls which adds friction there as well. Not to mention the higher power output puts more load on the bearings. Either way, these engines are good for many hundreds of thousands of miles.

it's a great theoretical discussion, but I'm sure you realize that:
1) no 2 engines will experience identical conditions
2) no 2 engines are identical (though some may come fairly close in tolerances)
3) the service life of an engine depends (from a user's POV) primarily on maintenance and lack of abuse..

while it's not unheard of to get 800+Kmi equivalent service out of an engine in a test lab (before any malfunctions), real world service is a completely different story..
in other words, there's no set limit for the engine but fact that auto manufacturers will not warrant (most) engines beyond 100Kmi tells me that they don't expect to them to last over 400Kmi..

i have read most modern engines are made so that the 90th percentile (of owners) will reach 180,000 miles. meaning some will blow up at 40,000 (think teenagers) and some will go 500,000 (think parts store delivery vehicle).

Here's Valvoline's guarantee for 300,000 miles using full synthetic, 225,000 miles using synthetic blend, and 150,000 miles using conventional. 4,000 miles max. oci:
http://www.engineguarantee.com/

Here's Pennzoil's guarantee for 300,000 miles using conventional oil. 4,000 miles/4 months max. oci:
http://pennzoil.com/#/warranty