When To Replace High Mileage Car?

[ncbill]

It's time, I'm sad to say. Our 22 yr. old Camry has reached it's full potential. Hate to say good bye, so many wonderful memories. Will likely donate, we need a safe car for long distance travel.


I've searched CarMax, CarFax and Carguru. I read in a recent post, taking the list price and send that price to several used car dealers and see if they can beat the price. We want a used Camry with <50K miles.

DB brother mentioned leasing. He leased a car in FL, where he lives. Said they pay for oil changes and repairs. Lease for 3 years at $130/month. I've always been against leasing a car, but maybe a good idea.


Anyone have car leasing experience?

Sure, plenty of older people choose to lease to transform transportation into just another monthly expense.

I leased a (~$38,000 MSRP) Tacoma for fun since I never had a truck before to replace a 20+ year old worn-out sedan.

Zero money down, all taxes/fees (your brother probably put money down & paid the latter upfront) rolled into the monthly payment of ~$350month, only 1st month's payment due at signing.

Won't keep it at the end (residual too high) but will lease again if I can get close to the same deal.

 

[Chuckanut]

Speaking of Hugh mileage cars, has anybody used the high mileage oils that are supposed to keep older cars running well, fight oil leaks, and other good things?

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

Speaking of Hugh mileage cars, has anybody used the high mileage oils that are supposed to keep older cars running well, fight oil leaks, and other good things?

I usually avoid "snake" oil treatments, as they can do more harm than good (or just waste your money).

However, at the recommendation of my one mechanic, I have used Lucas oil stop leak on 2 different cars, followed up by using high mileage oil for subsequent oil changes. In both cases, it helped with the oil leaks. They are both high mileage, beater cars.

Your mileage may vary ....

 

[Winemaker]

Speaking of Hugh mileage cars, has anybody used the high mileage oils that are supposed to keep older cars running well, fight oil leaks, and other good things?

I have experienced first hand the heat reducing (friction reducing?) use of synthetic oils in industrial/mining use. Machines, that ran extremely hot to touch and would take your breath away, ran much cooler when synthetic oils were used. I use synthetics in all my vehicles now, and usually get over 200,000 miles on them, but I got the same mileage of conventional oil, too.
The frame rotted on my Colorado with 240,000 miles, it saw only synthetic oil.

 

[Andre1969]

IMHO, if a towing service is that valuable to you, it's time to go car shopping.

I have AAA, and they give you four free service calls per year, as I recall. I think there was one year I might have used four calls. I had an '89 Gran Fury that used to be a copcar, and it had an issue with the starter motor. They kept failing, but the mechanic couldn't find a quality rebuild, so it ate them fairly regularly. I remember having it towed three times in fairly rapid succession, but there was another time that I lucked out and it started, but when I got it to the mechanic, it finally crapped out completely on them, so they had to push it.

I also let a friend of mine use it, when the transmission on his '98 Tracker went out, and he had it towed to the transmission shop. This was all around the 2002 timeframe, but my "year" with AAA runs something like April-to-April.

After that though, I don't think I had call AAA for something like 15 years. Until 2017. I inherited a 2003 Regal from my Dad. It only had about 66,000 miles on it, but sat around a lot, and he didn't maintain it all that well. It started stalling out at random, and eventually got so bad I had it towed. This was over the summer of 2017. Then it overheated, and I had it towed again, that fall. For some reason I'm thinking I had it towed a third time, but can't recall for sure. But in June of 2018 I had my 2012 Ram towed, when a brake caliper seized up.

So, AAA is nice to have, but in the overall scheme of things, they've probably come out "ahead", since I've only had to use it maybe 8 times in the past 20 years. I have a few antique cars, that I drive fairly long distances to car shows in the summer, so I like having it, for that.

 

[Gumby]

Speaking of Hugh mileage cars, has anybody used the high mileage oils that are supposed to keep older cars running well, fight oil leaks, and other good things?

I don't know if they help or not. I ran nothing but 0W-20 Mobil 1 full synthetic oil in my 2008 Civic from the day I bought it new until I gave it away 303,000 miles later (this June). Changed the oil and filter every 9000 miles. Never a leak or increased oil usage, even at the end. As far as I know, the car is still running today.

 

[SheitlQueen]

I drive them until they get unreliable. I had my 1999 Camry for over 320,000 miles and it was still going strong when I gave it to my nephew. He gave it to a friend and it's still on the road.

 

[Chuckanut]

I was not thinking of additives that we buy at the auto parts store and claim to make our cars run like new again. Nor was I thinking of ordinary synthetic oils.

I was referring to oils like this on, a synthetic oil with special additives to fight leaking, sludge buildup and hopefully extend the life of the engine.

https://www.amazon.com/Castrol-0311...om-20&linkId=4768010fdd99442281002b8b4857e688

https://cartreatments.com/best-motor-oil-high-mileage-engines/

In addition, gaskets and seals will begin to crack over time and cause oil to leak. Then you’ll have oil sludge building up within the engine which can cause all sorts of problems. Just because you heard that Honda and Toyota engines last forever, it doesn’t mean they’re immune to oil leaking issues.


So, what can you do about this? Well, you can take preventive measures by using better motor oil in your engine. More specifically, it needs to be a special kind of motor oil that is made for high mileage vehicles.

 

[Chuckanut]

With the new 7 year car loans, fixing the old car is looking better every minute.

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

I was not thinking of additives that we buy at the auto parts store and claim to make our cars run like new again. Nor was I thinking of ordinary synthetic oils.

I was referring to oils like this on, a synthetic oil with special additives to fight leaking, sludge buildup and hopefully extend the life of the engine.

https://www.amazon.com/Castrol-0311...om-20&linkId=4768010fdd99442281002b8b4857e688

https://cartreatments.com/best-motor-oil-high-mileage-engines/

Yes, I use the Castrol. I've also used the Mobil Super high mileage oil.

I don't see any harm in using them, and they're about the same price as their non high mileage counterparts.