Mopar Engine Ruggedness

[Xcudame]

I know it's not an E-Body, but my 98 Dodge Dakota SLT club cab has 200,950 miles on it and still ticking with nothing other than periodic maintenance on the engine (new spark plugs, oil changes, new wires after 150,000 miles, new coil (just because) and a new MAP). Just goes to show Mopars outlast Toyotas if taken care of!!

 

[Chryco Psycho]

I agree Mopar engineering was way ahead of the competition , except the 80s
I bought an 89 Ram with a Cummins manual at 400,000, the Getrag trans failed & there were zero parts available so I swapped an NV4500 & put another 400,000 on it & sold it still running when I moved to Panama , my friends still saw it around for another decade after that !

 

[Mr Cuda]

Indeed they are. At 200k, I did a slight refresh for oil leaks, motor mounts, water pump and the like. Nothing major, on a 5.2 magnum grand cherokee
But I did change the timing chain which was completely bagged out.
Mileage jumped back to 15.5 after years of decline to 13.3. Idle is smooth and torque is back.
Maybe I should change plugs too?
Nah, they only have 100k on them.

I should add, now at 230k, uses no oil.

 

[Rob C]

I purchased from the original owner a car he bought off the show room floor. A ‘79 Magnum. It’s a 318/9”4/2.76 set up. Average everyday driver.

He asked if I’d like the records he kept and of course I said sure

In ten years of record keeping g down to the techs name who replaced the light bulb in the radio and dates of wiper blade change outs, he stopped recording after 10 years. 324,000 miles. He would load the family up and drive the USA because he hated flying and the o my way to see the country was to drive it. Twice a year they would travel. No trips I to Canada or Mexico. But all 48 were done and some twice.

He then gave the car to his daughter for collage about 4 hours away for 4 years.
Then his son did the same at the same collage.
He complained she was home every weekend and said he never seen his son.

After that, it served as a daily driver for the next ten years in and out of Queens New York from its home 40 miles away in Babylon.
Let’s do some quick math.

40 miles one way equals 80 miles a day times 5 days a week totaling 400 miles a week. We will do the year at 50 weeks for 20,000 miles a year on commute only. Now times 10 years for an additional 200,000 miles to be added o to the 324,000 for a total of 524,000 miles which excludes minor trips to church, grocery stores, uncle Jim and Aunt May’s house or just to get a slice of pizza or a sandwich.

I’m not sure of how many times his daughter came home from collage but add in 220 miles one way trip to the collage and every weekend she was in school. Plus what ever she did while not in school but at home.

I think I can safely say that I got this 318/904 at an easy 5500,000 miles.

It ran well enough but did make a engine swap in favor of a BB 400/727z

The 318 went into a ‘74 Duster where as it just got a cam and headers which proceeded to run high 14’s.

Cam bearings had some wear but I didn’t replace them and the OEM oil pump was a bit weak. That was changed out.

That’s the mighty 318 for ya.
Hope you enjoyed my tale.
And yes I still have the Magnum today and it has a crabbed 5.9/727/3.55 in a 9-1/4 rear.
Starting to work on the body now.
4spd OD manual swap planned.

 

[slantfish]

I had a 2002 Dakota with a 5.9, that was the best truck I've ever owned hands down. It made it to 280,000 miles and the only major repairs needed were replacing the heads, because it's common for them to crack between valves, and the front transfer case. Unfortunately some asshat pulled in front of me and totaled it out, otherwise I have no doubts that it would have easily gone over 350k.

I have a friend that had a 70 Challenger with a slant 6 and between 1973 and just a couple years ago he had over half a million miles on it.

 

[Xcudame]

I figure my 5.2 (318) in my Dakota will last a lot longer because I have a new 5.9 (360) ready to drop in it's place. That seems to be how it works, have a spare and the originally keeps going! Get rid of the spare, it breaks the next week!