I just got a 1998 3.8 camaro with 125k miles on it. I hear a lot of different things about how long they last... it came from the original owner and he took great care of it, it still looks and feels new, but i hear quiet squeaks sometimes when Im driving it, and can't figure out what it is or if its something serious. I was wondering at this milage did I purchase a car nearing the end of it's life and would upgrading the car be smart or will it just kill the motor that much faster? And how much of a threat would driving it aggressivley pose at this mileage? Any insight would be greatly appreciated

 

The car itself will last a very long time as long as it is kept in good repair. The running gear, at 125K, is approaching its golden years, but if not abused regurlarly, and properly serviced, it should be good for another 75K. The squeaks go with old age, and not too hard to fix, but you have to find out what is causing them.

 

I've currently got 220k miles on my V6 3.8L and it's still running

 

i've got 145k miles on my 98 3.8L and its still running Great!

 

I got 103k on my 98 3.8 and it runs strong. My advice is if you wanna make it last drive it easy!!!

 

When u say drive it easy, u mean dont race, hot rod it, and dont do burn outs rite? And if u dont do that you car will last long rite?

 

From my experience with 3800's namely a 1988 bonneville of my dads, it had 298,000 miles on it before my brother finally killed the engine this summer, it ran really good when i drove it around the year before when it had 290-some odd thousand miles on it. Then my younger bro got ahold of it and just ran the hell out of it.The 3.8 is a good, dependable engine. My advice is to just keep all the fluids in check and use Lucas oil treatments/Slickk50/Xtent every oil change. My fiance's mom has a 95 supercharged 3.8 ssei bonneville and that thing hauls ***! it has a performance shift mode that allows it to shift at higher rpms and makes the shifts more crisp, in that mode it will chirp the tires at WOT from1-2 and 2-3rd. If only they could have made ours supercharged....[sm=gears.gif]