my buddy dropped off his corvette at the autobody shop today and he was given a 98 2.5 L xj with a bb and the odometer read 600000 miles. i couldnt believe it still ran lol

 

Wow, they put 50,000 miles on that thing every year! The engine has probably been rebuilt/replaced at least once.

It's nice to see that somebody cares about it enough to not scrap it!

 

THATS CRAZY NUTS!!!!

 

i know i said the same thing!

 

Just goes to show how good an American engine can be

 

That thing hasn't necessarily been overhauled or replaced - bear in mind the 150ci I4 is a direct descendant of the AMC Modern Era six (although Chrysler definitely changed the casting alloy around 1991.)

How tough? When my 1987 XJ w/242ci blew its oil pump, it decided to do so in grand fashion. Immediate and total failure at 80mph. Blew the #6 rod out through the pax side skirt (or tried to, at least.) I found the bit of skirt later - when it finally broke the rest of the way off of the block.

Spun 11/13 bearings on the crank, collapsed nine lifters. At 280Kmiles. Bent no pushrods!

Did the overhaul in situ, but I was ready to pull the thing. Peeled the head off, it was still flat. Replaced the crank and #6 rod - didn't need to do anything with the piston. Used JB Weld to stick the chunk of skirt back in (blew a section about half again the size of the palm of my hand - which is already 4"x4"!) Replaced all 12 lifters - cam lobes were still fine! Timing hadn't stretched, and I was in a hurry.

There was - are you ready for this? - .0005" of top cylinder ridge in each cylinder (.001" in total!) Cleaned that out with coarse stones, and put a new cross-hatch on with fine.

Put it all back together, and put another 80Kmiles on it before I lost 3/4 bellhousing screws, the fourth backed out a good half-inch, and the first planetary set in the transmission (AW4) froze in the case.

Built a new one, installed it, and put probably another 50-60Kmiles on it before I lost vacuum (probably because I didn't even do a re-ring - just honed the cylinders and dropped the slugs back in.)

I'm willing to bet that, if I'd done a proper re-ring, I'd still be driving it (and it would be somewhere well north of 600K on the clock by now.)

The trick? AMC used the same high-nickel alloy (apparently - haven't been able to confirm this) that MOPAR used on the second-gen Hemi blocks & heads. About 5% nickel, which makes the alloy incredibly tough! I didn't break a piece off and have an assay done, but the mechanical properties of it seem to support that conclusion, I'd figured it for 4-5% nickel (based on mechanical properties alone.)

I've seen several European cars (mainly German, some Swedish) with "Million Mile Plaques" - indicating 1,000,000 original miles without an overhaul or replacement of a major powertrain component (engine, transmission, axle, ...) or major body work. It's just as much a safety award as an engineering award, in individual cases.

The only American vehicle I've seen with a MMP was an AMC...

 

saw an 89 ford econoline and a (i think) 93-94 or so econoline do it.
and a chevy truck after like 2 engine jobs and three tranny jobs and two new axles do it.

but yeah the amc and mopar blocks are tough as s*t. mine has been ragged on since 74 and still fires up just fine.

 

Cleveland Sixes in those Fords? That's about the only engine they make that I could see doing it, from that era...

 

That is alot of miles.

 

Wow, thats nuts on a 4cyl! the highest I have saw was 450k and that was on 98 Dodge ram 2500 with a cummins....he said the tranny was rebuilt twice though. I know those cummins will run forever, my Dad has a 03 2500 with a cummins, and that thing will pull a damn house lol

 

Pics...

 

wow...600k is crazy high. i have about 10 more years before i get to that mark. haha

 

My 89 has 207 on it...600 is ALOT

 

Long live the xj!

 

Might be a different engin and tranny... probally very well maintained if it is the stock engin and tranny