25 Year Maintenance Plan??

[EasyRhino]

Just paid off the 97 XLT 5.0 AWD at 74,000 miles. Bought it just like I wanted it, and I still like everything about it. I have had a total of $175 in repairs (alternator, idler pulley bearing and seat recliner thingee).

I'm a maintenance fanatic, do all my own work, and intend to attempt to keep this truck for a total of 25 years, which should put me at 375-450K miles at the current use rate.

However, the service recommendations in the owner's guide are inadequate, so I'm asking you-all for inputs.

So, the question is, based on your experience, what would you do to make your X last that long?

After I get a long term maintenance schedule assembled, I will make it available to anyone who cares. And it will be nuclear-grade!

Thanks in advance.

 

[DesertSpive]

Here is a quick one, remember that cooling system hoses are only good for about 7 years.

--Sean

 

[RTStork]

Here's what I've used to get 250,000 miles out of my Toyota work truck:

Change oil and filter every 3000 miles
Change/clean air filter every 20,000 miles or sooner if needed
Change fuel filter every 25,000 miles
Change transmission fluid/filter every 25,000 miles
Change/flush coolant every 25,000 miles
Replace spark plugs every 25,000 miles
Check/replace plug wires, cap, rotor every 25,000 miles

There's some other small things that I'm sure I missed, but this is the main things I do.

 

[01EB5.0]

if i were you, i would use nothing buy synthetic oils. i personally recently installed Amsoil and it is excellent. If you are running Amsoil synthetic oil such as I am, here are the intervals I chenge everything at:
-Engine oil (replace filter at 6 months or 12,500 miles; then replace oil at 1 year or 25,000 miles intervals)
-Tranny fluid and filter every 50,000 (every 25,000 for the oil if your running conventional oil)
-Transfercase every 100,000(50,000 running conventional oil)
-Front and rear axle every 200,000 miles (every 100,000 running conventional oil)
-Replace brake fluid and power steering fluid every 100,000 (I am still running conventionl oil in that, so 100,000 is assumeing it is conventional.)
-flush cooling system every 30,000 or 2 years
-Replace thermastat every 75,000 miles or 6 years
-Replace spark plugs and wires at 75,000 mile intervals (assumeing the plugs ate plaitnum)
-Replace oxygen sensors at 75,000 intervals
-buy a K&N air filter and clean that every 50,000 miles
-clean MAF and throttle body every 75,000 miles
-have the fuel injectors flushed at 100,000
-new fuel filter every 50,000
-lube tranny shift joint thing at 25,000 intervals
-check radiator hoses every 6 months
-check belt every 50,000 for cracks
-lube the brake slide pins every 10,000
-rotate tires every 5,000 if you drive hard, every 10,000 if your easygoing

I do not know what else there is. I may have forgot some things, but I think thats about it. I bought my truck at 72,000 miles, did the above services, and my truck now runs better then new. I am sure mine will take me to 300,000 if i keep it that long. If you would like any further detail about the ablove services, let me know. i have either performed all of the above myself or had a local dealer do it. The biggest suggestion I have is the use of a high quality synthetic oil, such as Amsoil. Amsoil is more expensive then other oils, but it lasts much longer, as you can see from the drain intervals listed above. Those intervals are not a joke. i have had amsoil in my engine since 102,000 miles and now i have 110,000 (that milage includes off roading and all). I recently checked the oil and it was still up at the full line and was suprisingly clean.

 

[eskals]

Synthetic oil does sound like a good idea.

A couple of things you need to watch out for. You cannot just replace the filter every 12500 miles and the oil every 25000 miles unless you do some special things. When you change your oil, you are doing more than just replacing the broke-down oil with better lubricating oil, you are also removing a lot of particulate matter that the regular oil filter cannot caprutre. Synthetic oils do not break down like dino oils so you can go to longer change intervals. However, you still need to deal with the particulates that your normal oil filter cannot capture. For this you will need a bypass micro filtration system. These systems take a small portion of the oil and pass it thru a much finer filtration system.

Another good thing to do is get your oil analyzed. One place that does this is Blackstone Labs. http://www.blackstone-labs.com/ . I have heard good things about them. They can analyze the oil and alert you to problems before you could ever diagnose them normally.

Eric

 

[01EB5.0]

AMsoil has a testing facility. I was told the 12,500 filter change was ok with just running amsoil's filter. i guess it is a high capacity one. so far it's been great and the oild isn;t dirty

 

[ok89]

I would think that if the oil isnt dirty thats a bad thing. Shouldnt the oil get dirty? Dirty oil means that its picking up all the dirt right?
Realistically a filter can't keep the oil from turning black can it?

 

[01EB5.0]

Clean oil means there is very little sludge buildup. I ran a can of engine flush before I installed the synthetic. before that I was already running synthetic. when I first started running synthetic, the oil would get dirty fast, but since i have been running synthetic for a long time the engine has very little sludge in it, thus causing the oil to stay cleaner.

 

[KEbert]

I run Castrol Sythetic crank oil and I change it about every 4k miles. I figure that oil is pretty cheap so it is worth it to change it frequently. Especially on my 91. I also run Valvoline sythetic transmission fluid. I think I have come to the conclusion that I dont like it. I have a manual and it seems to want to grind gears often. It is also a lot harder to get into gear when it is cold. Also, you should change you diff oil at about every 40k and at the same time do wheel bearings. The best way to may a car last is to take extreme good care of it and constantly be awhere of things that seem to be going wrong. Just my thoughts.