Million Mile Suburban Still Going Strong

Million Mile Suburban Still Going Strong ENGINES When Ben Welch purchased his 1994 Chevy Suburban 1/2-ton truck with its 350 V-8 engine he had no intention of keeping it for long believing he would trade it for a new model every year Over 1 million miles later it’s still going strong without having received any significant engine work “When I went to trade it for a ’95 model Chevy had done away with the outside armrest on the front seat which was so comfortable ” Welch says “I decided I’d wait another year and they’d likely bring the armrests back but they never did ” The truck has seen some hard times and abuse as Welch tells it At about 400 000 miles while on a trip to Oklahoma in over 100 F heat the air conditioner quit working Assuming he was out of freon Welch kept driving without giving the gauges much thought Just south of Kansas City he was having trouble steering and finally noticed the gauges were all buried in the red “I didn’t even slow down because I figured the engine was ruined anyway ” Welch laughs “Eventually I had to stop and shut it off That’s when it started making all kinds of noises banging and jumping around ” The serpentine belt had broken and Welch had run the truck over 100 miles without a water pump His mechanic Randy Bloom recommended changing the intake manifold and head gaskets as there would be nothing left of them Welch ignored the advice but at 640 000 miles he finally had the then-non-existent intake manifold gasket replaced After postponing the head gasket job he was forced to address it 50 000 miles later “It was a good thing because when we opened it up we could see the cylinder condition ” Welch says “There was no wear at all Not even a ring ridge even though I treated it so badly ” At 900 000 miles he had some bodywork done making the truck look almost brand new The cloth interior and seats are also still in great shape Welch gives most of the credit for the 1 million miles to the Conklin products he uses regularly in his vehicles They include TKO engine oil additive 4-Power fuel system cleaner and Fuel Mate Plus every time he fills the gas tank He keeps a pint of radiator conditioner in the system and uses Conklin products in the rear end and differential Every 10 000 miles he greases the truck with Rhino Grease He also credits his mechanic Randy Bloom who does his regularly scheduled maintenance rotates his tires and changes the oil and filters every 10 000 miles Welch still loves driving the million-mile truck although he saves it for special trips since he finally bought a new Chevy model about 4 years ago Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Ben Welch Lincoln Neb ph 402-430-7733

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