Heat, at Last!

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I just finished the struggle session with my old truck, which for awhile was a very cold truck to drive on account of the failure of its heater core after 23 years of service. I mention this fact because it’s important. It took that long for a problem to develop with my ’02 Nissan Frontier’s heating system.

And the rest of the truck has no problems.

This is remarkable – particularly so if you can remember how much sooner problems regularly cropped up in the past, in vehicles half the age that my truck is right now. It was common, before the mid-late 1990s, for vehicles to be ready for hospice care by the time they got to be about ten years old. 100,000 miles was considered a lot of miles – and for very good reasons. The engine by then was probably starting to burn (and leak) oil. Blue smoke coming out of the tailpipe. The paint was probably looking chalky and the whole thing just felt and looked tired – because it was.

This is how it was – and for most of the history of the car up to about the mid-late ’90s. Then a curious thing began to happen, though most of us didn’t notice it at the time. It is only apparent now, when it is already too late to appreciate it.

Cars – and trucks – achieved a state as close to immortality as is probably possible for vehicles. 100,000 miles became low miles – and not in the cheesy used car salesman sense. It was literally true in that almost any vehicle made around this time with 100,000 miles on it could be safely depended on to provide reliable service for another 100,000 miles. It wasn’t a beater.

It was just broken in.

My sister in California has our mom’s 1998 Lexus RX and the thing looks like it could be half its age. The paint still shines – and more important than that, the V6 still purrs. Even with more than 200,000 miles on the clock and 27 years on the road. My truck is very likely to make it that far – and that long  – too. Because vehicles made around the time my mom’s Lexus and my Nissan were made were made really well.

Ironically, they were made this way because of the government.

Ironically, because it was not intentional. The intent was the opposite.

The ’90s was a time when federal emissions (and here the word is not bracketed in air fingers quotes to mock the absurdity of the modern usage, which encompasses carbon dioxide, a gas that has nothing to do with pollution) regulations got really strict and hard to comply with relative to what they’d been previously. There was very little in the way of tolerance for incomplete or inefficient combustion and emissions-related components had to be warranted for 100,000 miles. The intention – of the regulatory apparat – was to literally strangle the life out of cars and trucks, via the regs.

The engineers got busy and designed engines that were tight – and made to run exceptionally well in order to run exceptionally clean. Exhaust emissions – the ones that actually do cause or worsen air pollution – were all-but-eliminated.

To the extent that – by the early-mid 2000s – cars and trucks were this close to being “zero emissions” (evidence to support this can be seen in the PZEV, or Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle badges you used to see affixed to the rear ends of cars that were not electric cars or even hybrid-electric cars). The unintended side effect of this was that cars and trucks routinely remained reliable for 15-plus years. This is why the average age of a vehicle in daily-driver service today is nearly that old. Put another way, cars and trucks that were new circa 2010 are still not old, in the sense that they are not-yet ready for hospice care.

Amazing.

But also problematic – for the car industry and the money industry. Because it is a problem for both when a person does not need to buy a new vehicle more often than maybe once every 15 years.

Or even 20.

This may be the reason why new cars and trucks are becoming less reliable – and also more expensive (often, catastrophically so) over about the past ten years.

And it is intentional.

They have had to become much more complicated – in order to comply with the redefined “emissions” regs that equate carbon dioxide with pollution-causing combustion byproducts. This is why it is now common for cars and trucks to have very small engines that are very heavily boosted (i.e., turbocharged) engines that are for that reason more likely to fail sooner and not be worth fixing when they do. It is why there are all-of-a-sudden so many hybrids, which multiply the complexity by adding additional powertrain elements that multiply the potential failure points, the chances of expensive failure increasing with aging.

They are all laden with flashy but dauntingly complicated electronics (including digital displays) that represent additional failure points. It is doubtful this cohort will be in regular, reliable service 15-20 years from now because they will be too expensive to be worth keeping on the road and unreliable on top of that. And that’s a good thing, from the standpoint of the car industry and the money industry, both of them needing a regular revenue stream just the same as a vampire need fresh blood.

So that’s why I volunteered for a struggle session with my old truck when its heater core sprung a leak. Replacing it is well worth doing – and not primarily because it means I’ll have heat in the truck again, though that is no small thing. The big thing is the truck will be ready for another 10 years, probably, before anything else significant fails – and when it does, I’ll probably be able to fix it myself, for next to nothing (the new heater core and transfer tubes cost me about $150 in parts and the rest was my labor).

And that sort of thing is a problem for the car industry and the finance industry. But it’s not my problem – and that’s a good thing, from my point of view.

Many among us begin to appreciate just how good things used to be, especially relative to how they’re becoming. And especially if we’re lucky enough to still have a vehicle made when they were made to last pretty much forever.

. . .

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40 COMMENTS

  1. I bought my teenage sons a 1997 Mustang GT with ~ 120k on it in 2018. It now has 156k on it and its still on the same General tires I put on it when I bought it. It has the SOHC 4.6 and an automatic. The previous owner had a stack of maintenance records with it and was the second owner since 19k miles. Never drove in the snow or rain in Rhode Island so it was spotless underneath. I had to paint the front and rear bumpers as the clear coat was gone. The only real issue was he never waxed it so the paint needs polishing once a year to look good. The heat is still great (knock on wood) and the AC is ice cold. I forgot – I paid $1,800 for it.
    Of course Obama destroyed many of the vehicles from this era with the Cash for “Clunkers” fiasco – I’m sure this was on purpose.

  2. Bought a 87 Nissan 300Z 5 speed cheap about 17 years ago , it already had 180k on it but the 3.0 V6 still ran strong . Drove the snot out of it , what a great car . One day the clutch went to the floor and stayed there , replaced the original clutch cylinder and replaced the damper cylinder with a short brake hose and back in business ! I was shocked to find so many original parts on car with that kind of mileage even with the not so great service schedule it had endured . The muffler almost completely gone when I got the car , put a straight pipe in instead of a muffler and actually not too loud and sounded good . Owned 2 more Nissan’s since the Z .

      • My handle . I once owned a 1970 Chevy Monte Carlo equipped with a you guessed it a L48 350ci HP , the 300hp variant , fill it up with ethyl and let that quadrajet moan , lol .It helped if you flipped the air filter top over but who would do such a thing ! Could have bought a 65 Corvette , 4 speed with 396 and side pipes but I bought the Monte Carlo instead . I mean $1800.00 for the corvette what were they thinking ! Good old days .

        • Roger that, L48 – I figured!

          I’m one of those weirdos who knows what the letters and numbers mean. L48 . . . L82 . . . W72 . . . help me, someone… please!

  3. “And it is intentional.” Well said, Eric.

    Indeed, it is. Intentional. A lot of people continue to display their lack of mental ability by saying the companies and government are “incompetent,” “lazy,” etc. Our Rulers are not stupid, and the chosen leaders of big companies and government are part of Our Rulers. Again, “It is intentional.”

    Meanwhile, I have a 2004 Honda Element, which I bought in 2018 at 205,000 miles on the clock. I knew from previous experience with Hondas that the Element, if it had been reasonably maintained, had a LOT more reliable miles in it. Now, I’m at about 230,000. Still going strong. Of course, I’ve done the usual good maintenance. And of course, I’ve had to replace some aged parts, such as exhaust, some suspension parts, battery, headlight bulbs. This is far cheaper, and with better longterm results, than making monthly payments on something newer.

    RUST: The underside had some accumulation of rust, though not yet enough to compromise the necessary steel parts down there. I had watched the development of the rust-transforming paints for a few years. Last summer, I bought a couple cans of Rustoleum’s version of it. Sprayed all the rust down there, and a few spots elsewhere, such as the bottom of the rear gate. (There’s no rust coming through the exterior paint on the vehicle.) Now, after half a winter, all the areas I sprayed are looking good.

    I wonder if anyone else has experience with the new rust-transforming rust-stopping paints that they’d like to share?

    • Rust converters are a good start Jim. You should also undercoat and cavity spray with a lanolin rust inhibitor like fluid film or oil. Avoid rubber and hard undercoats as they trap moisture

      • My step-father would jack up his Ford Ranger once a year and spray the entire underside with about 6 cans of WD-40.

        It worked better than nothing, apparently, because that truck had a solid body and undercarriage for far longer than it should have in Ohio.

  4. I have a 2000 Chevy C-3500 with a 350 cid and the big auto tranny and I am just shy of 300,000 miles. Only costly repair were both my exhaust manifolds were cracked. I have the original heater hoses, radiator hoses and catalytic convertors. I change my tranny fluid and filter every 50,000 miles and my engine oil every 5000 miles and I use synthetic in engine, tranny and rear end. My biggest worry as I lived in South Dakota for 10 years, surface rust, which I attack and keep up my body work to keep it al bay and now live in Oregon. I hope it lasts me at least another five years.

    • Excellent, Cederq!

      I’m glad you mentioned changing the transmission fluid – which is just as important as changing the engine oil. I also change the gear oil in my truck’s transmission (manual) and rear axle at around the same mileage interval. Also the clutch slave cylinder/brake fluid, which I do every year as it’s cheap and easy.

    • We had some Chryslers in the 70s that had cracked exhaust manifolds. Being a plumber’s son, we had plenty of furnace cement that we put on and that held and sealed the leaks. Great stuff for iron repairs.

      • Hi to5,

        I have used JB Weld to “weld” cracked exhaust manifolds that I didn’t dare to try unbolting(to replace) because I just knew if I tried, the studs would snap off and then I’d have to pull the head and Heli-coil the damned thing. The JB Weld held up for years; when it cracked, he fix was as easy as mixing another batch of the stuff and re-applying. Good to go for another several years!

        • Never tried JB Weld on a manifold but I might need to someday . Had a casting crack show up on a Holly 650 cfm just after the warranty expired of course but JB Weld to the rescue , good as new !

  5. ‘They [new vehicles] are all laden with flashy but dauntingly complicated electronics (including digital displays) that represent additional failure points.’ — eric

    Real men don’t need that digital crap:

    ‘Howard Hughes’ next ambition was to break the transcontinental speed record. The preparations took more than a year and an additional $40,000, but the actual decision to fly was on spur of the moment. After taking the H-1 out for an hour-and-a-half flight on January 18, 1937, Hughes told a shocked [mechanic] Odekirk that he would fly the plane to the East Coast that night. Both Odekirk and [engineer] Palmer tried to dissuade him (unsuccessfully) because the H-1 had no instruments for night flying.

    ‘Instead of sleeping or even resting ahead of time, Hughes took a date to dinner. He then took a cab to the airport, where he lifted off at 2:14 AM. He flew at 15,000 feet and higher for 7 hours 28 minutes at an average speed of 327 mph, touching down in Newark at 12:42 PM. Hughes’s record lasted until 1946, when it was broken by a P-51 Mustang flown by stunt pilot Paul Mantz.’

    https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hughes-H-1

    His 900-horsepower radial-engined aircraft didn’t have a single chip in it. Probably had a vacuum tube amplifier in the radio. That’s analog, son. His dinner date in L.A. swooned the next morning, hearing on the radio that he’d landed in Newark.

    I’ve been all around this great big world
    And I seen all kind of girls
    Yeah, but I couldn’t wait to get back in the States
    Back to the cutest girls in the world

    I wish they all could be-e-e-e-e California gir-r-r-r-rls

    — The Beach Boys, California Girls

  6. can relate – the ’95 T100 I bought new in ’95 no longer has operating heat or A/C

    I replaced the fan before, just so it would defrost the windshield, but the new fan stopped working too

    luckily, I’m retired – rarely need to go to town anyway – so I just go when it won’t cause much discomfort

    my old body has a few glitches too, it’s all about making do

  7. Managed over 250,000 miles on a 2001 Chrysler minivan with minimal repairs over the years. Even more remarkable it had the 2.4 liter engine that sent many PT Cruisers to the junkyard. It never smoked, the transmission was solid, and ran good. It was under body rust and an emission circuit board that would burn out (making it hard to pass an emissions test) that made it impossible to keep on the road here in NW Indiana. So I gave it to a cousin who lived in an area without inspections and he drove it another 30,000 miles before he passed away suddenly a few years ago. So even vehicles not known for being very good were making it to high miles back then.

    • We still have a Grand Caravan of the same generation…only ~175k miles, though.

      Had heat issues on it that required back-flushing the heater core a couple of times.

      Fortunately a simple, open design (no valves) so once that was done heat came right back.

  8. I have a 2004 Ford Explorer. It has 450,000 miles on it. Original 4.6 L engine and automatic transmission. the oil and filter are changed every 3,000 miles. The trans fluid is changed every 30,000 miles. No smoke, no leaks, no knocks. Definitely not a “Fix Or Replace Daily” car.

    • You’re actually following the manufacturer recommendations for maintenance. That’s why it’s still running well. If you read the owners manual, Ford says if the owner follows recommended maintenance, the vehicle should last 250,000 miles.

      250,000 MILES!!!!

      Engineering can still do it’s job, at least….

  9. The experience gained from taking responsibility for the vehicle is beyond priceless.

    Cars were forced to higher reliability standards by Toyota and Honda taking responsibility for reliability baked into engineering.

    Heres an example to consider:

    https://chico.craigslist.org/cto/d/chico-2003-toyota-tundra-low-miles/7819260256.html

    Private seller “book value” is under $5k. Highest dealer price for top condition is well under $8k.

    These CL sellers wont budge much on final handshake because

    1 Bluebook nonsense is obsolete.
    2 We all know what brands to drive and waste minimum time droppin f bombs and greasin’ up tools.

    Like I said, Toyota and Honda.

  10. Sadly, I just donated a 2004 Saturn Vue with manual transmission that had 288,000 miles that was still running strong, no oil burning and utterly reliable drivetrain.
    The frame was rusted out to the degree that there nothing for the control arms to attach to, with the rear suspension being toast, as well as subframe mounts being rusted beyond repair.
    The vehicle looked great on the outside, but the underside was unserviceable.

    • Had the same sad experience with my 2001 Toyota Corolla, not even up to 100k miles yet, engine ran like a Swiss watch but just too much rust, was completely rusted through a couple spots in the trunk and the frame wasn’t much better. I think the DPW up here must get payoffs from the body shops and dealers for the amount of salt they throw onto the road every chance they get.

    • I have a really good running Toyota 3sfe engine out of a 91 Corolla I’ve been trying to sell for years. There is no market because the cars never break until they completely rust away.

  11. I also have a car that won’t die, it’s a 2003 Infiniti G35 sedan with a 6-speed manual. It’s great. I gave it to my elderly dad and he still drives it. It’s now 21 years old, it’s got over 200,000 miles, and I just did the first real repair on its engine a couple of weeks ago; it was misfiring on two cylinders. I feared the worst, but it turned out to be just two very old ignition coils which didn’t work well until they got warmed up, so a trip to Autozone and a couple of hours getting screws out of annoying places, and it purrs once again. The only downside to this car is that interior plastics are degrading, and there are no nice ways to fix those.

    I replaced that Infiniti in 2017 with a Ford Focus RS. That car needed a new engine at 4,000 miles. Since Ford bought it back, I bought another one, since it was fun to drive, and that one had pretty bad carbon buildup on its intake valves at 20,000 miles. I walnut-blasted the valves to be clean as new and sold the damn thing.

    My wife and I have a collection of random cars; some are new, some are old, and all of them have 1990’s style, unkillable port-injected engines. One of these is a 2024 model year car with a port injected Toyota V6. It’ll go forever, I hope.

  12. Excellent! I’ve been an old rig keeper for decades. Back in the ‘80s a friend asked “Don’t you get tired of those old cars nickel and diming you?” My reply “nickels and dimes are a lot less than a monthly car payment!”

    Those avoided car payments allowed us to enjoy family summer stays at a nice lake resort, rent a cabin in the pines with friends, me to own a motorcycle all while funding a 401K on a modest income. Helped that the wife and I had older depression era parents so we saw eye to eye on the finances.

    These days the “replacement functionality cost” is outrageous. The ‘91 pickup runs just fine, no rust no leaks, 8’ bed with a canopy. North of $60k to replace it? No thanks!

  13. I replaced a power window motor and lift assembly on my 2012 Subaru Outback this summer for $75 and 2 hours of my time.

    YouTube is your friend here.

    • Yea, YouTube has saved me hours of frustration and lots of $$. The daughters Acura lost power to the power windows, in just minutes found the issue and the fix via YouTube. Someone or many “ones” have dealt with that problem you’ve encountered before.

    • What you said, Dan.

      I also recall that one reason why the heater core failed was that it was clogged with what appeared to be radiator leak stopper.

      Based on that, it seems like using that stuff isn’t a good idea.

  14. Yes If you can fix the problem yourself you will save a lot of money. Many people are not capable of doing the work themselves. I recently replaced a heating/cooling actuator on a 2013 Chevy Impala. The part costs about $20 from a well known internet provided. But to get at the part was a problem. Another part that fails after about 100,000 miles is the window lift assembly. These parts generally cost about $50 but a repair shop will hit you up for about $250. It takes me about 2 hours to fix this as I am old and slow. You tube is a great help. A lot of stupid stuff on the internet but a lot of really good information out there.

  15. Well done, my good man. The biggest challenge in repairs of the 2000-ish cars will be the heater core. With modern designs it’s nearly impossible to do without tearing out the integrated dash. I’ve done that a few times on an NA Miata but, my ’06 Corolla looks to be a beast.

  16. My old Toyota goes in this week for a new tank, filler neck and filters. I don’t feel like freezing changing it. While only the tank is leaking presently, looking at the heavy rust on the filler neck I figure it’s a good time to change it along with the filters that have probably never been changed in a couple hundred thousand miles.

    I bought the better quality parts for her because she’s been reliable and if you’re paying someone else to do the job it never pays to buy the cheapest parts.

  17. But then there’s the “Just Rolled In” YouTube channel, where mechanics record some of what they get in the shop. Lots of rust, shade tree mechanic “repairs” such as using zip ties to hold suspension parts together, vermin and garbage… Much like the Internet, everything is great until people get hold of it.

    Take care of your car and it will take care of you.

    • One of my favorite YT sites. Stuff I see in the US I do not see in Australia. Cars here last forever unless you live within breathing distance of the oceans.

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