It all depends on the previous owner: maintenance and who drove it. I have a 1990 3500 utility body with over 400k on a 350. I have changed the oil every 3-5k and have been the only driver. This truck has been used to plow snow.

 

it is in very good shape the trans and engine are very good

 

oops my bad

 

it depends on alot of things- normal gas engines need to be rebuilt on average of 150K to 200K miles. it is unusual to have a gasser run over 300K miles before a rebuild. Now there may be no major engine failure at 200K but there will be a difference in economy, power, oil pressure, etc as the engine wears and tolerances inside increase.

 

121,000 is the normal life expectancy.

 

How long does a gas engine last?

How long it will last- it depends on you. If you keep an eye on your fluids, radiator, transmission, axles, and engines and change them regularly, then you will have good life. If you change all your cooling hoses every three years you will have good life and no breakdowns. If you change your engine oil at 3,000 miles regularly you will have good life. For example

My Lexus Ls400 has 235,000 miles, never pulled the heads off it.

My Taurus wagon, 3.0 V-6 had 183,000 when I sold it to a neighbor, no major work done on it, I still see it in the neighborhood.

I have had several 122 and 144 volvos that had over 200,000 miles on them.

My 1988 f-150, short bed straight six, five speed 4x4 had almost 300,000 when I sold that. I loved that truck. I wish I kept her.

My series of Jeeps had hundreds of thousands of miles on them, some were as old as 1946 and I plowed with them with complete confidence.

My 4x4 Expedition has 72,000, and never a breakdown. And my Mustang GT
(the world's worst car in snow) has 85,000 with no problems.

I keep my cars and trucks a long time, but I change the oils regularly. That is the key to good life.

 

I restate my previous post- you may not have a catastrophic failure but you will have a decrease in the performance, economy, oil pressure, and etc as the engine wears and tolerances increase. Many engines will run for 200K miles, but the economy and performance has seriously degraded. The original owner may not notice the gradual decrease in performance and a 2nd, 3rd, 4th owner would never have known what the car was like with a fresh mill.

 

Amen Justme, my high mileage GMC 3500 pings unless I put in super and uses a quart of oil every 200 miles. I'm sure there's major power loss but I can't tell as it has been gradual. I haven't hit the accelerator hard in the last 100k, I don't need to see the smoke pouring out of the tailpipe or hear the valve clatter.

 

Mustang GT
(the world's worst car in snow) .

I will second that. My father has a 1965 mustang that would park itself in the snow. Everytime. He would pull out of the driveway and go down the road. Only to slide off the road and hit a curb. The car would shut itself off and wouldn't restart. It did this to him at least 10 different times.