700,000km Brumby - same engine !!

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:04 am

I was chatting on the phone the other day to a fella that had provided the visual inpiration to gas me Brumby some years ago. His had been on gas for some years by then. It now has (he tells me) over 700,000 km on the same engine, original head gaskets too !!

I'd believe it seeing how gently is driven by him and his staff - but to see a subie MY odometer to keep working beyond 300,000 odd km is beyond belief. photo evidence needed

Post by **Alex** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:13 am

pfft, our old leone MY had 450,000+km on it when we sold it over 5 years ago, still see it getting around as well

that car had been in our family since new, still had the original motor when we got rid of it!

ea81's last forever, absolutely bulletproof!

alex

Matatak · Post by **Matatak** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 12:04 pm

my dash has over 391,000

but nothin on my car (cept the dash) has done that much.

i seriously doubt that an EA81 has gone 700,000k's on original headgaskets. i wuld need proof of that one......but how does one prove that

i dont no

dfoyl · Post by **dfoyl** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 1:08 pm

One of the country Brumby's I looked at had 450k on the clock, all original. Needed a bit of work (clutch, etc), but the engine was fine.

Dean.

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 1:13 pm

As long as it is regularly serviced, not flogged to within 1" of it life (like most of us do) and not overheated, there is really no reason why it couldnt last that long. It may get a little rattly and lose a bit of compression which is only to be expected

Cam · Post by **Cam** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 1:34 pm

did he saw what yr it was? Seeing it would prob be about 20yrs old he'd have to average bout 35000km a yr in it...
Which whilst it may be high it isn't impossible.

Xtreme_RX · Post by **Xtreme_RX** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 4:05 pm

My RX Turbo Sedan had 710,xxx Kms on it 2nd Motor & gearbox.

I have a good friend with 1982 'MY' sedan which has 1.2 Million Kms on the ORIGINAL motor & gearbox. Very tired motor but still runs well.....

SUBYDAZZ · Post by **SUBYDAZZ** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 8:22 am

Cam wrote:did he saw what yr it was? Seeing it would prob be about 20yrs old he'd have to average bout 35000km a yr in it...
Which whilst it may be high it isn't impossible.

Well, I don't drive mine for a living but most of my Subarus have averaged over 30,000km a year while I've had them. My Impreza won't be

That sort of average would be low for many work cars.

Gremlins · Post by **Gremlins** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 9:02 am

It's not Subaru, but an ex cabbie that I know did 1 million km's on the original 308 in his Commodore and at last count from him the car has around 3.7 million k's on it on about another 4 engines since the original, and he's still using it as his daily driver to work!! Still, 700 k k's on a EA81 is probably nearly the same as 1 million k's on a 308 if you're comparing crank shaft rotations given the lower gearing of the soob.

D3V1L · Post by **D3V1L** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 9:33 am

SUBYDAZZ wrote:Well, I don't drive mine for a living but most of my Subarus have averaged over 30,000km a year while I've had them. My Impreza won't be That sort of average would be low for many work cars.

ditto that.....i do well over 30,000 kms a year as well, and thats in my subaru's, my work ute gets a severe work out as well..it is very possible:).,...i do nearly 1000kms a week

dave

SUBYDAZZ · Post by **SUBYDAZZ** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 9:37 am

I live in what city folk might call "the sticks". We have coal trains instead of commuter trains

FREEDOM · Post by **FREEDOM** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 9:55 am

well my subaru has 4.65 million kilometers on the clock

vidler · Post by **vidler** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 11:38 am

the hatch i acquired some time ago (rip) had ticked over the million and got stuck on 999999kms

Suby Wan Kenobi · Post by **Suby Wan Kenobi** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 12:45 pm

I would believe that the EA81s are just about bullet proof, they run on with minimal maintenance and if it hasnt been driven like its stolen it would see out many more Ks without issue. There was a stage that i was doing about 80000ks a year in one of my Suby's all i did was keep the oil in it clean and it never once had a problem. It was an EJ series engine, once again the EJ22 is another one of Subarus almost bullet proof engine

VL400 · Post by **VL400** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 2:36 pm

A friend recently sold his liberty wagon with 800,000kms, it was converted to legacy GT running gear at about 400,000kms using a front cut with 50k on it. Never missed a beat and was well used, was a support vehicle for desert racing and river racing so hit the dirt heaps and always had a big enclosed trailer behind it.

They really know how to make great motors.

ScoobieDoob · Post by **ScoobieDoob** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 4:40 pm

Gremlins wrote:It's not Subaru, but an ex cabbie that I know did 1 million km's on the original 308 in his Commodore and at last count from him the car has around 3.7 million k's on it on about another 4 engines since the original, and he's still using it as his daily driver to work!! Still, 700 k k's on a EA81 is probably nearly the same as 1 million k's on a 308 if you're comparing crank shaft rotations given the lower gearing of the soob.

well in that case tell him to get onto Guiness World Records, if he's able to back it up.....

also in my expierience with the Holden V8, (i used to build the bloody things for a crust) id say that engine wouldve led a very charmed and easy life to make that sort of mileage without some major work to keep it going, as the oldest (km wise) engine i ever saw that hadnt had major work was around 625,000 km on it and it was utterly stuffed

amuck · Post by **amuck** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 9:31 am

Hi guys,

The taxi I drive is an AU series 3 with dedicated LPG. It just clicked over 860 000 kms yesterday without the head coming off. It all comes down to regular servicing and getting problems repaired as soon as they appear. Not flogging the hell out of the car also helps:p.

With any luck it will click over the million kms before it's retired.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 2:11 pm

The Ford sixes since the 4.0 litre sorted the 3.9 litre out have proved very strong reliable work horses even if abused - the coils and dizzy modules are another thing though. Being an auto like a taxi, seems to also help longevity.

The Brumby this post based on is still going strong, dong its 40,000km a year for past 18 years !!

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 3:45 pm

Ive seen 1986 L series wagon original engine but was getting tired at 650,000, he showed the books and engine number since new etc, he was selling cheap and I came across to it but the body wasnt good looking...
Cheers
AP

sven '2' · Post by **sven '2'** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 8:50 pm

not shutting down also helps - ie most taxis run all the time - it is the cold starts that contribute most to engine wear.

sven