[hamjet]

Originally Posted by 71sierragrande

Id say its more about highway miles than anything. I had a van that I bought with 345,000 miles and sold it with 385,000 miles still running good. The PO was a parcel driver and went from Michigan to Florida hundreds of times. It's the stop and go that kills them

I agree with the long drives without stopping and starting theory. engine cooling down, tolerences change, dry starts, the carb putting raw gas down the cylinders till the choke pulls off, plus the newer engines have a closed emission system. back in the day we would take the air cleaner off and run it for years. all that dirt and such wiping between the pistons and cylinders, ( I'm getting off track). It's like the light bulb theory, if you turn it on and never shut it off it will last a looong time..