I'm staying out of the fluid change debate, all evidence there is ancidotal.
"I never changed it and didn't have a problem until it failed at 200k miles, so it must not need changing" What's to say that it wouldn't have lasted to 300k if you'd changed it atleast once? Can you prove it? No, you can't.
"I changed the tras fluid for the first time at 150k miles and it failed 5k miles later, it must have been the fluid change." Can you prove to me it wouldn't have failed at 155k miles if you hadn't changed the fluid? No, you can't.
"I changed the oil ever 60k miles, that must be why it lasted to 300k." Can you prove to me that it wouldn't have lasted as long if you hadn't changed the fluid? No, you can't.
There is plenty of ancedotal evidence in each case, but nothing that you can prove after the fact. Actually ancedotal doesn;t feel like the right work, but I think you'll understand what I'm trying to say.
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Now on the subject of what I did to my truck today. I ran out of gas! Don't worry it was intentional, and I had a full gas can in the bed. I said in a previous post somewhere that my 99 sat for nearly a year and a half untouched with a full tank of gas before I started tinkering with it a few weeks ago. Well several years before that I'd replaced the sending unit and since the gas gauge seemed progressive rather than linear. First half goes slow, second half goes quick. That's fine as long as full is full and empty is empty, but I'd never checked. Well when I Started tinkering with it, I wanted to run every bit of that old gas out of the truck and I wanted to check the accuracy of the gas gauge, figured this was a good time.
Left the house this morning with less than a 1/4 tank of gas, more like 8th, and a full gas can in the bed. I figured I'd have to dump gas in on the way to work since it's a 30+ mile trip one way. Got to work, no problem. Had to go out and run errands at one point during the day, a few miles worth of driving. Left work heading towards parents house, another 12 miles. My check gauge light comes on as I'm pulling into their driveway. I'm shocked that I've made it this far, but I reset my odometer because the next part is what I'm really curious about. How far will it drive after hitting "E". Work on ATV a bit, need part that was delivered at my house today. Hop in the truck heading home and expect to run out before I get a few miles down the road. I keep waiting for it to die and it keeps chugging along. 20 miles later as I turn into my driveway it finally dies.
Like I said this was intentional but I was still shocked when it made it home, even more so because of where it made it to. Probably some 10 years ago I was heading home from work arond midnight or early AM. Truck was making some awful noises. It was definitely wheel/tire/brake/bearing related, but I couldn't find anything wrong. I pulled over half way through my 30+ mile commute to look everything over. Everything. I was all over the truck. I even pulled out the lug wrench and hit all of the lugnuts. Nothing! I was so worried I even called dad and woke him up at midnight and we made to collective decision to get it as close to the house as it would make it.
That night/morning as I made the turn into my driveway the lugs on the driverside front wheel sheered and the wheel fell off. You might think that it happened there because of the stress due to the turn, but back then I was taking a very twisty winding road to and from work every day. There were a lot of opportunities that it could have happened that night on the way home and a lot of places that it would have been way worse results. It came to a stop in the exact same place that the engine died due to fuel today. That's two times the truck has gotten me home when it shouldn't have and died in the exact same spot. Those aren't the only times it's gotten me home when it probably shouldn't have, but those to inparticular it was like you're safely home so I can break now. I know us humans are bad a bout assigning human traits to inanimate objects, but some times they just earn it. I hate to say it, but I think it's also earned it's spot in the stable for a good while longer.