It’s no secret that most people that buy a car want their car to last as long as possible. There are actually a few things you can do to try and ensure that your vehicle runs up to 200,000 miles and beyond.
With just a few simple steps and a little extra TLC your car can run up the miles and last longer. These six ways to maximize your post 200k mileage are all things that any driver should be perfectly capable of doing. With or without mechanical experience, you can help your car run better and further its longevity.
This is an age-old, tried and true method. It’s simple. Take care of your vehicle and it will, in theory, take care of you. Find a mechanic you trust and make sure you take your car in for regularly scheduled maintenance. There are quite a few things that fall into the maintenance category that the slightly savvy car owner can do herself. Keep up with the maintenance schedule and your car is far more likely to make it past 200 thousand miles.
Know your vehicle
You drive your car every day. Especially once your car reaches 100k miles and beyond, it’s like an old friend. You know the way it drives. You’ve read the manual (maybe). You know your car at its best, so you should be able to tell when something isn’t right. In order to drive your car past 200k miles, it is important to pay attention to the signals your car gives you. If something smells weird, check it out. When you think the drive feels a little off, it probably is. Check it all around (underneath, under the hood, headlights, taillights, etc.) regularly and you will stay on top of your car’s condition.
In order to maintain optimal engine operation, it’s important to understand that the engine should heat up to operating temperature every time you drive. Short trips that are less than five miles or so allow sludge to build up. Over time, a lot of short trips can become detrimental to the longevity of your machine. If you want to drive your car to 200 thousand miles and past, try to avoid those quick trips a mile down the road.
Keep it Clean
Keeping your car clean is part of taking care of the vehicle. By cleaning regularly, you not only get the chance to know your car on a more personal level. You are also maintaining areas that can be damaged by too much dirt and build-up. Especially around the wheels, it’s a priority to keep your car in the clean lane if you want to see that odometer tick past 200k.
Check the Tire Pressure and Fluids Regularly.
Check your tire pressure. Be sure to keep them at the correct level of pressure. Take a look at your fluid levels. This includes power steering fluid, brake fluid, transmission fluid, and oil. If you drive an all-wheel or four-wheel drive vehicle, you need to maintain your transfer case fluid as well. This is a great way to keep rolling past 200k miles, and may also prevent some pretty expensive problems down the road.
Replace “wear” parts.
Replace your filters. Change your timing belt. Make sure you swap your brake pads and any other part that falls into the category of “wear” parts. Keep good tires on your vehicle and get them rotated regularly. Again, take good care of your machine and it is more likely to see you past that 200 thousand mile mark.
Can your car make it past 200k miles?
If you have just bought a new car, keep up with it. Try to take care of your car. Get to know your vehicle and learn what it needs.
Hopefully, it will make it to the ripe old age of past 200k miles. Maybe you are just now beginning to consider the longevity of your daily driver, don’t worry! There is never a bad time to begin keeping up with this simple list. Maintenance is key to making it past 200 thousand miles.
Well that means things like oil changes, and flushing the automatic transmission and flushing the power steering if you have that type of steering. Differential services and all of these things... flushing the cooling system, keeping the proper coolant in the vehicle all the time.
This type of oil can help minimize leaks and oil seepage, reduce oil consumption, and help reduce emissions in older engines. If you own a high mileage car with 150,000 or 200,000 miles and use this type of oil, it's important to change it every 3,000 miles.
Depending on the car's value, repairing it might be worth the money to keep it going for a few more years. However, most modern gasoline-powered vehicles will start to struggle after the 200,000-mile mark. Electric cars can usually make it up to 300,000 miles before they're considered well used.
As a general rule, most vehicles begin to seriously degrade at around 150,000 miles. It is considered rare, and therefore outstanding longevity, if a car reaches 200,000 miles on the road. That said, there's more to identifying good versus bad mileage on a used car than just the odometer reading.
When you buy a new car, you want it to last. iSeeCars analyzed more than two million vehicles to find out which models have the potential to last the longest. On average, 1 percent of cars built every year make it past 200,000 miles.
Myth: Full synthetic oil is not good for high mileage cars or older vehicles. The myth is rooted in the idea that synthetic oil is “slipperier”—lower in viscosity, or not as compatible with seals and will therefore leak or leak more in places conventional oil might not. Again, completely untrue.
The answer depends on what you put your vehicle through. If you mainly stick to highway driving on main roads with good weather conditions, you could afford to go a few thousand extra miles without an oil change.
Every 24 months or 30,000 miles: As your mileage creeps up to 200,000 and beyond, you need to be sure that important drivetrain components are still in good shape. Depending on manufacturer guidelines, you will need to replace the timing belt at least twice by 200,000 miles.
A conventional car can last for 200,000 miles. Some well-maintained car models will reach 300,000 or more miles total. The average passenger car age is currently around 12 years in the United States. Choosing a well-built make and model can help extend your car's longevity.
Why do most cars only last 200,000 miles? Simply because they have been designed to last a specific amount of time before being replaced by a newer model. Manufacturers only like to service cars upto a 10 year life span and once a vehicle becomes more expensive to fix than it's value - that's time to be upgraded.
It can be somewhat risky to buy a vehicle that has racked up more than 100,000 miles. Even if it's well-maintained and has about 100,000 miles left in it, such a car is already past its prime. Generally, vehicles are likely to start experiencing problems after the 100,000-mile mark.
The average engine hours for 200,000 miles is approximately 6,700 engine hours, assuming your average speed was 30 mph. To find it: Determine your average speed, for example, 30 mph. Divide 200,000 miles by 30 mph to get 6,667 engine hours.
A vehicle's age, manufacture, and model all play a role in determining whether or not it has 'high mileage. ' High mileage, however, isn't always a bad thing. Cars usually have a life expectancy of about 200,000 miles. So, whether you get there in two or twenty years is not always game over for the car.
One way to keep a car in good shape is to stay on top of routine maintenance, says Consumer Reports. This includes changing the oil and filters regularly, getting the tires rotated on schedule and completing major service, such replacing the timing belt.
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Introduction: My name is Virgilio Hermann JD, I am a fine, gifted, beautiful, encouraging, kind, talented, zealous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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