Usually a gasser would wear out the cylinders before hitting 400k due to no cylinder lubrication like a diesel has, but I have heard of gassers going further.
Well, if you read the article, he works (an exec) for Conklin (a major Ag equipment manufacturer) and ran nothing but Conklin synthetic lubricants in it and had regular fluid changes and maintenance.
The idiot reporter's story is also inaccurate in many places, such as the "timing belt" bit (as well as evidently he can't read an odometer, either, as the picture shows it at 700 and some change miles, not 7000 and change, evidently he doesn't know that last digit is tenths of a mile) as it did have both heads, not "the head", rebuilt at just shy of 600,000 miles.
I know that because I saw this Burb at my local grocery store parking lot (he lives over in my corner of town I found out) and had a conversation with the owner prior to the Pandemic. I commented to him when he was getting out and I was walking back to my car about how nice his Burb looked, was it a 93 or 94? He said a 94.
I commented that it must have really low miles on it to be looking that nice and he said nah, its got just over 850 on it, believe it or not.
My response was something like really, no way. So he said here, take a look and opened the driver's door and let me lean in and look. Yup, odometer was sitting at 853 and change.
So then I kinda smart-assed asked him how many transmissions he'd gone through in that time and he told me it was the original transmission, that he had it and the differential serviced and fluid/filter changed, as well as all other fluids/filters, per the GM recommended Service Intervals. He then told me that the only major work ever done to it, other than normal brake parts replacements and tie rod ends/ball joints, was to have the heads reconditioned because the valve guides had begun to wear and the stem seals were starting to leak at about 580,000 miles five years ago and oil consumption was up as a result as well as a slight puff on cold start up.
I asked him how he put so many miles on it every year to rack up that many total and he told me that other when home, it was all highway miles as he traveled from Conklin dealer to Conklin dealer servicing accounts, etc.
journalstar.com
