High mileage vehicle maintenance question

[Farmer17]

I have a 2018 Ram quad cab pick up truck I bought new that now has 180,000 miles on it and everything looks great and works great but I have not done all the maintenance the factory recommend. I change the oil and air filters regularly and I changed the rear differential fluid at about 100,000 miles and that's all I've done to it. My only repairs have been a small radiator leak and oil filter housing leak. It has original plugs, plug wires, struts, wheel bearings, and everything else. If I would've done all the recommended factory maintenance on it, I probably would've spent over five grand and that may have been a wise decision, but I didn't do it. My question is what do I really need to do now because I plan to keep driving it as long as it looks and runs great and everything works?

 

[old bear]

All I can add is, take good care of your vehicle and it will take good care of you.

 

[dmn57]

I'd say keep doing what you're doing but expect to replace things that just wear out. You are way ahead of the game, congrats. And I agree with your assessment of 'recommended' factory maintenance. Most of it is unnecessary.

 

[Bald1]

Well the fact that you're approaching 200k mi NOT doing factory recommend maintenance tells me what everybody already knows. It's a money grab. If I were you I'd change the plugs and wires for sure. Not sure what ignition system a Ram would have but I'd also change distributor cap if one is present. I would change tranny fluid and coolant but I'm guessing you flushed coolant system when you had the leak. If there's an online fuel filter that too.

 

[Ingramite]

1999 Dodge Dakota here

Mine has 198k.
I have kept the oil and filter changed and that's about it.
Coulda, shoulda, and woulda are all horses out of the stall at this point.
So I'm fixing things as they wear out. I've recently installed a new radiator and brakes . I've put in new ball joints and my A/C has quit. The clear coat has pretty much burned off all of the horizontal surfaces. The interior is good but the cassette deck only plays when it wants to.

This year she qualified for Classic Truck plates.

My only regret is that she isn't 20 years older because they were much simpler to work on.

 

[ameridaddy]

Do a pressure bleed on your brake system. It will flush out all the old brake fluid which is hygroscopic, which means it absorbs atmospheric moisture at the caliper piston seal/atmosphere interface. That water will cause the caliper bore to rust there, followed by calipers leaking at the rough spot around the seal and a mushy or even failing to the floor brake pedal. Calipers are expensive along with the labor to change them. Doing this thorough bleed every 3-4 years will assure the calipers never rust in the piston bores. Do it every 2 years if your roads are heavily salted in winter. Cost at a shop should be $100-$140 depending on the hourly rate.

 

[venomballistics]

We're not teenagers.
The "how long will these Maypop slicks go" game is for a much younger generation that can stand to walk home.
If you want to keep runnin it, get after all your consumables and typical wear points BEFORE you need to call a flat bed.
So what if it costs you 5 large to freshen it up. You are NOT going to get a replacement vehicle worth leaning on for less than three times that figure.

 

[cruiserdan]

It definitely needs spark plugs. The Hemis use 8 coil packs so there are no "plug wires". I'd also replace the PCV valve.

 

[arjay]

Grab an owners manual online and see what the manufacturer recommends.One hard lesson I learned at 200,000 is that it's burning oil and if you stretch out oil changes but don't check the oil level….

 

[30-30remchester]

Finally, a thread I can relate to. I drive vehicles till I am almost embarrassed. Had a fleet of cars, trucks and pickups. A total of 36 engines at once, in years past. If we didn't get 400,000 miles on a vehicle, someone was abusing it. A few requirements for extended life.

Garaged or at least out of the sun.
The best quality oil, gas and fuel filters made. No Walmart trash.
Good quality fluids.
Regular written down scheduled maintenance.
If it is making a noise or vibration, fix it NOW. It will never fix itself.
Lastly, on a prescribed day once a month, everything from lights, air pressure and all fluids are checked and topped off.

My current pickup is used hard, especially when snowplowing un-paved roads, is 25 years old and has 225,000 miles on it and I will put it up against any comers.

 

[Rule3]

My question is what do I really need to do now because I plan to keep driving it as long as it looks and runs great and everything works?

But what happens when it doesn't work?
New plugs seems to be a reasonable thing to do if you can do that yourself or have a reliable friend who can. Stay away from the dealer!

Put a can of Marvel Mystery Oil in it and everything will be good!

I never owned a vehicle with even close to that many miles so I can not help you.

 

[austintexas]

I did my own mechanics as a teenager and airman because I couldn't afford a real mechanic. After I retired from the USAF I went to work in fleet maintenance where they were big into reoccurring and preventative maintenance. To the fleet operators time was money so everything was checked and replaced before it wore out. As a retired mechanic I replace stuff as it wears out. Replacing something you think is going to go bad is a waste of money. It doesn't cost anymore to replace something that is totally worn out than to anticipate a repair and do it too soon. If you are planing a long trip all bets are off, then change belts, etc. My 2006 truck has 200,000 miles on it and doesn't use any more oil than it did new. I haven't flushed or changed fluids, etc. I haven't had to add transmission, Power steering or brake fluid. Now I have just hexed myself and something is going to break tomorrow.
SWCA 892
PS, As long as you change oil, keep water in it, most engines will last a long, long time

 

[johngalt]

I've been told it is better to leave the automatic transmission fluid alone. Flushing it can dislodge debris, which works its way into the innards.

 

[biku324]

My '02 Silverado has 425k miles and is now only my horse trailer tow. Rebuilt the trannie at about 200k, the differential at a bit more. The only engine work was an oil pump and timing chain at about 390k. It gets clean oil and filters every 4k, drain & refill trannie and differential at 100k intervals. In fairness, the miles were mostly my 160 mile daily commute for several years, so they mostly weren't hard miles except towing. 5.3 liter V8, always use 88/89 octane.

 

[GypsmJim]

I used to follow the book pretty close.

Last Summer we took the wife's car on vacation because it is the bigger of the 2. Six years old and 23,000 miles. We had some issues on the trip. Lost the air conditioning because of a $30 sensor and a couple minor things. No big problems.

While at our hotel she saw a new model and said "Boy I like that one better than mine". When we got home I did some online searching and found that a new one was on sale and hers was worth a whopping $23,000 on a trade.

She had a new car the next day.

If you trade annually you get killed with depreciation. If you drive it forever you constantly have to pay for maintenance (sometimes inconvenient) and the car ends up worthless when you get rid of it. My feeling is that there is a sweet spot somewhere in the middle when the trade-in value is high and you have not spent any maintenance money.

I am looking to replace MY 6 year old car this Spring.

 

[Narragansett]

If you have a timing belt, change it tomorrow, but you probably have a chain.

A plug change will pay for itself in mileage.

Change transmission fluid, PCV valve, belts, hoses and coolant.

On my vehicles I dump everything every 100K. Oil and filter every 5K. I also burn Top Tier gas. The detergents are worth a few pennies more

 

[SMSgt]

Dang, my 2014 Silverado already has 67,000 on it. Other than the driveline shudder than no one seems willing or able to fix, the only real repair has been replacing the fuel pump that sprung a leak. Plastic parts should be outlawed.

 

[Rodan]

180k in under 6 years is a pretty high rate of accumulation, so you probably don't need to worry about components aging out as much as wearing out.

At that mileage, I would take a hard look at the suspension bushings, ball joints and shocks. Suspension wear is kind of like boiling a frog... you get used to the degradation slowly over time, so it seems great but may be far from what it should be.

The other thing I would change is the commonly neglected fluids... coolant, transmission, brakes. Sounds like you already got the diff.

Hoses are probably still good at 6 years if they aren't leaking, but belts and tune up items are probably a good idea.

Things may seem to be great now, but you may also have some stuff approaching failure, so having a close look is a good idea. I have several vehicles in my fleet with similar mileage, but they are all much older vehicles, so there's a lot more stuff that ages out.

 

[LVSteve]

I can't believe the number of you on here who are rolling the dice on brake fluid over 4 years old. Transmission fluid is also "consumable". Those molecule chains can only take so much.

 

[JcMack]

I've had about 13 cars/trucks in my 60 yrs of driving. Probably 50/50% new or used and 70/30% with standard vs automatic trans. Only comment I can make from personal experience is every time I've changed automatic transmission fluid because I thought it was time, not because there was a problem, the transmission failed within 5000 miles.