The 90's Trucks Were Bulletproof

[Lunentucker]

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[Deleted member 57233]

The 90s imports were bulletproof. The Japanese trucks were so reliable they are still selling on that reputation 30 years later.

The 97 Camry is what made Toyota take a step back and say, "Shit, if we keep making them like this, no one will ever need to buy a car again and we will be out of business"

 

[Great Offender]

Bulletproof or less crap to break? Today's cars are full of sensitive electronic equipment that can bring a vehicle to a standstill while cars from the 90's were a little more straight forward.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

In broad strokes, generally, because there are always exceptions, anything from around 1990 to about 2010, that twenty year period, is going to go 250k+ without a major failure.

TBI Chevy's, and the 99-07 trucks, are some of the most dead simple reliable machines on the road.

All the Ford's with 4.6 and 5.4 engines, just run and run and run.

Chrysler minivans, everything with a 4.0 that some ding bat broad doesn't over heat.

All very blah in power, and only 4 gears, or 3 in some cases... But if you're in the southwest, you could literally drive one forever.

It's all well sorted, we knew how to do efi, knew how to do over drive, knew about 6 sigma capability levels, had good machining, good supply chains, it all just went together and worked.

It's later, 2010 up, started getting fancy, deactivating cylinders, adding gears, dual clutch automatics, turbos, direct injection... Most of which was chasing small fractions of efficiency.. That's when it all fell apart.

And now, young people, poor people, can't find affordable 10 year old cars they can rely on for a year or two to get them by. Can't go get an 800 Bonneville, keep oil in it, and drive it 2 years. A decent looking 10 year old car is now 2500 bucks and not very easy for a DIY home person to repair.

 

[LouisvEarlleJT]

Best automotive quote I've ever heard: "A chevy will run poorly longer than most other brands will run."

In my experience, that is true (also had plenty just run great, to be clear).

Saw a 95 pickup melt it's entire distributor cap. . .and still run. late 90's/early 00's cavalier drive around on no oil. Yes the interiors were made of the crappiest plastic known to man but you couldn't kill em.

 

[Rahkmalla]

The 97 Camry is what made Toyota take a step back and say, "Shit, if we keep making them like this, no one will ever need to buy a car again and we will be out of business"

Well they must have turned that around quick because my 98 camry decided to gel its oil in less than 3k miles since its last oil change with only some 80k-ish miles on the odo with no warning signs or indicator lamps until *BANG* dead engine.

 

[Zachanadandy]

The rose colored glasses of the past strike again. All we see now are the high mileage 30 year old examples so they must have all been that? The 4.6 and 5.4L Fords being mentioned is hilarious. They were well known to spit spark plugs out of the block. If you were ok with running helicoils I guess you could call that reliable? Not to mention they were low powered and down right boring to drive. If you gently drive any vehicle it will last for ever. Never over 4k rpms, only seeing half of the rated 200hp, driving miss daisy to church. Unimpressive all the way around. Even the well renowned 4.0L in the Jeeps had its share of major problems. Cracked manifolds, cracked heads, crank shaft position sensors leaving you stranded. And still woefully under powered.

 

[LouisvEarlleJT]

The rose colored glasses of the past strike again. All we see now are the high mileage 30 year old examples so they must have all been that? The 4.6 and 5.4L Fords being mentioned is hilarious. They were well known to spit spark plugs out of the block. If you were ok with running helicoils I guess you could call that reliable? Not to mention they were low powered and down right boring to drive. If you gently drive any vehicle it will last for ever. Never over 4k rpms, only seeing half of the rated 200hp, driving miss daisy to church. Unimpressive all the way around. Even the well renowned 4.0L in the Jeeps had its share of major problems. Cracked manifolds, cracked heads, crank shaft position sensors leaving you stranded. And still woefully under powered.

Agreed you have to watch out for the glasses, for me it wasn't that nothing required work (it almost always did) but:

1) Parts were cheap -name brand parts even
2) Nothing was such that I was unable to limp home (except, ironically, a cps on a 4.0)
3) For the most part everything is accessible when you're working on it (except underneath an XJ. No matter what - the exhaust is in the way, or at least that's how I remember it )

 

[WestwallNF104A]

The rose colored glasses of the past strike again. All we see now are the high mileage 30 year old examples so they must have all been that? The 4.6 and 5.4L Fords being mentioned is hilarious. They were well known to spit spark plugs out of the block. If you were ok with running helicoils I guess you could call that reliable? Not to mention they were low powered and down right boring to drive. If you gently drive any vehicle it will last for ever. Never over 4k rpms, only seeing half of the rated 200hp, driving miss daisy to church. Unimpressive all the way around. Even the well renowned 4.0L in the Jeeps had its share of major problems. Cracked manifolds, cracked heads, crank shaft position sensors leaving you stranded. And still woefully under powered.

I had a 94 T-Bird with the 4.6. When I first bought it I had to pull about 3500rpm to maintain 90 mph. By the time I clocked 240,000 miles on it that had dropped to about 2950. I had to have the transmission rebuilt at 100k. They had a reputation for failing at 40k, but I mainly drove it on long freeway runs, so that helped a lot.

I also had to replace all the freeze plugs, and the steering column. Added Koni shocks too.

That was it other than standard maintenance. Drove it for 300k. Gave it to a friend and he ran it till he wrecked it avoiding a wild horse on Highway 50.

 

[Zachanadandy]

Agreed you have to watch out for the glasses, for me it wasn't that nothing required work (it almost always did) but:

1) Parts were cheap -name brand parts even
2) Nothing was such that I was unable to limp home (except, ironically, a cps on a 4.0)
3) For the most part everything is accessible when you're working on it (except underneath an XJ. No matter what - the exhaust is in the way, or at least that's how I remember it )

I'll give you simpler and easier to work on...mostly. Cadillac put the starter under the intake manifold as an example of not always. Even the WJ process for changing the starter on the v8 said to remove the passengers side exhaust manifold (guaranteed exhaust leak incoming). I found you could get it out from the bottom by removing 1 of the control arm bolts and swinging it out of the way, better than removing the exhaust but still overcomplicated for a starter swap. There are definitely more things that can fail and leave you stranded, but I still say the best Jeeps you've ever been able to buy from the factory are the JL/JT. From performance to fitting big tires without much work to mileage, I wouldn't go back. And everyone who says they would on this forum is full of it. You can still buy low mileage TJs for less than half the price of a JL/JT. If we honestly believed they were better that's what we'd be driving. For what I've spent on the JL and JT I could have easily done several frame off full builds on any of those old rigs.

 

[Zachanadandy]

I had a 94 T-Bird with the 4.6. When I first bought it I had to pull about 3500rpm to maintain 90 mph. By the time I clocked 240,000 miles on it that had dropped to about 2950. I had to have the transmission rebuilt at 100k. They had a reputation for failing at 40k, but I mainly drove it on long freeway runs, so that helped a lot.

I also had to replace all the freeze plugs, and the steering column. Added Koni shocks too.

That was it other than standard maintenance. Drove it for 300k. Gave it to a friend and he ran it till he wrecked it avoiding a wild horse on Highway 50.

The high mileage examples don't erase all the ones that never got close though. I had an 06 Toyota yaris that was just under 300k when a van turned left into the front bumper hard enough to pin the tire against the firewall and fracture my sternum. Oil changes and tires were the only thing it ever needed. Clutch was still original, brake pads too. 100hp, lightweight, and a stick meant downshifts took care of the bulk of the braking and it was easy on all the parts because it was underpowered and boring as all hell.

 

[chr15m]

Best automotive quote I've ever heard: "A chevy will run poorly longer than most other brands will run."

In my experience, that is true (also had plenty just run great, to be clear).

Saw a 95 pickup melt it's entire distributor cap. . .and still run. late 90's/early 00's cavalier drive around on no oil. Yes the interiors were made of the crappiest plastic known to man but you couldn't kill em.

I've owned in total 5 cavaliers. I considered them cheap throw aways between 2005 and 2010.

Every single Ecotec I eventually leaked substancial oil by 100k miles. So maybe thats why they could even get to "drive around with no oil". In my experience though, they were not robust, ultimately requiring frequent maintenance beyond the normal stuff. Of the 5, 1 was lost in a car accident, 2 to oil or head gasket issues and the other 2 sold. FWIW I firmly believe that with the hundreds of thousands produced and yet seeing literally 1 or 2 a year now really speaks for itself.

I see more 30+ yr old Jeeps on the road.

They, and the the Dodge Neon, were garbage, throw away cars. Far from an exemplar to being dependable.

" A chevy will run poorly longer than most" because they will run poorly sooner than most.

 

[chr15m]

The rose colored glasses of the past strike again. All we see now are the high mileage 30 year old examples so they must have all been that? The 4.6 and 5.4L Fords being mentioned is hilarious. They were well known to spit spark plugs out of the block. If you were ok with running helicoils I guess you could call that reliable? Not to mention they were low powered and down right boring to drive. If you gently drive any vehicle it will last for ever. Never over 4k rpms, only seeing half of the rated 200hp, driving miss daisy to church. Unimpressive all the way around. Even the well renowned 4.0L in the Jeeps had its share of major problems. Cracked manifolds, cracked heads, crank shaft position sensors leaving you stranded. And still woefully under powered.

Had a 4.6 in my 91, garbage too. Never tossed a plug, but the way the whole thing felt like it was trying to dry heave like a dog under hard pulls made it seem possible. Not well composed.

Triton 5.4s, soooo reliable. Especially when talking about it here, where so many are afraid of cam issues. Dont bother to google 5.4 phaser issues. Really turns the whole old vehicles didnt have these issues on its head.

 

[chr15m]

In broad strokes, generally, because there are always exceptions, anything from around 1990 to about 2010, that twenty year period, is going to go 250k+ without a major failure.

TBI Chevy's, and the 99-07 trucks, are some of the most dead simple reliable machines on the road.

All the Ford's with 4.6 and 5.4 engines, just run and run and run.

Chrysler minivans, everything with a 4.0 that some ding bat broad doesn't over heat.

All very blah in power, and only 4 gears, or 3 in some cases... But if you're in the southwest, you could literally drive one forever.

It's all well sorted, we knew how to do efi, knew how to do over drive, knew about 6 sigma capability levels, had good machining, good supply chains, it all just went together and worked.

It's later, 2010 up, started getting fancy, deactivating cylinders, adding gears, dual clutch automatics, turbos, direct injection... Most of which was chasing small fractions of efficiency.. That's when it all fell apart.

And now, young people, poor people, can't find affordable 10 year old cars they can rely on for a year or two to get them by. Can't go get an 800 Bonneville, keep oil in it, and drive it 2 years. A decent looking 10 year old car is now 2500 bucks and not very easy for a DIY home person to repair.

4.6s such hot garbage that they only run and run because they can be nearly 40 years old and have 100k on them because they were such a displeasure to drive.

5.4s as I mentioned already seem to be better know as unreliable due to phaser tick. I did briefly drive a 5.4 1st year 1st gen Raptor, oof. Woefully slow and uninspired motor choice. They're not impressive engines either. Ironically it was 5 years old and had 10k miles on it, furthering my belief that some combos are so bad they only last because no one wants to drive them.

 

[ChrisNLA]

In broad strokes, generally, because there are always exceptions, anything from around 1990 to about 2010, that twenty year period, is going to go 250k+ without a major failure.

TBI Chevy's, and the 99-07 trucks, are some of the most dead simple reliable machines on the road.

The 99-07 Chevy/GMC full size trucks are among the greatest trucks of my era and I will die defending that hill

New enough to be comfortable day to day, even in the current year - old enough to have readily available parts in every auto parts store. Can still be fixed (for the most part) with readily available tools and a basic diag scanner. It was the LS engine before AFM ruined them. 4L60's were hit or miss BUT getting one rebuilt is very affordable. If you had an 80E, well that was even better. The Duramax then was pretty solid as well, and even if you had one of the year models with quirks - at least you were not dealing with emissions like we do today.

Now, I love modern tech and I am adapting as much as I can afford to be able to diag and fix newer vehicles - and I really do believe SOME new things and practices are better - but some old stuff certainly has upsides.

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