How many more miles can I get from my 97 GMC Sierra?

Hi. I have 1997 GMC Sierra 1500 extended cab with 108,800 miles on it. Two days ago the clutch broke and needs to be repaired. The estimated cost is $800-$1500 (probably $1500) dollars, and the truck’s worth is only $300-$400. The problem is that I am in my final semester of law school at Florida State and need my truck to last just until I pass the bar and make one more move with the wife. If I made the repairs, how many more miles would I get out of my truck? I really just need to get through the summer.



Thanks,

Eric

I plan on a clutch lasting at least 50K miles more. I also consider a clutch to be normal maintenance, expensive as it is, so it is a no-brainer for me to get it fixed. You don’t provide an overall assessment of the vehicle, so I don’t think we can estimate as well as you can as to how much longer it will last. If nothing else is wrong, my 50K estimate is probably low. Mostly, it depends on how well you have kept up the rest of the vehicle, an unknown to us here in internet land.

Unless you have really bad body damage, your truck is worth way more than that. Nobody junks trucks and it will go as far as you want it too and you can probably count on 50,000 more miles before you get tired of looking at it. Then you can drive it until it stops running which will be unguessable.

To answer the above questions:
I have maintained the truck very well, it has always been serviced at the appropriate mileage and yes, the truck has body damage. The clutch problem is really the first malfunction in recent memory. There might have been one other problem, but that would have been over 5 years ago. I have always taken good care of the truck.

Who told you it’s worth only $300-400? That sounds ridiculously low to me.

With a new clutch the truck should go another 108K miles, give or take. Unless, of course, something else goes wrong, and there’s no way to predict that.

Total possible miles for a vehicle like this, given proper maintenance and repair, could easily be more than 300,000 miles.

I agree with the others. A pickup truck should get a lot more miles than that. I question the repair estimate. What the heck are they doing for $1500? Unless it’s a 4WD I’d say that $800 is on the high end for replacing a clutch, but you didn’t say exactly what broke and what the symptoms are, so it’s hard to tell.

I’d get a second opinion on the price of fixing this. I would certainly fix it as long as the transmission and engine are OK, and the body is not in danger of rusting away.

I agree this sounds funny. A clutch job should run about 800 bucks and if the alleged truck value of 300-400 bucks is being quoted to you by the shop who quoted you the price on the clutch job then find another shop - QUICKLY!

If this is the case it sounds like someone there has spotted an opportunity to pick up a late model extended cab pickup on the cheap and they’re flat trying to take advantage of you.

If the truck runs well it should easily go 300k miles if you maintain it.
Jeez, I’d give you 500 bucks for that truck even with a shelled transmission!!!
:slight_smile:

If that has a 350 in it…it should be good for another 100,000 - I have a 97 Sierra and I would not take less than 4 or 5 grand for it (it only has 68K original)

who told you 3 or 4 HUNDRED ? unless it is all rusty and has other MAJOR problems, somebody is yanking your chain

Hi Eric, I also have a 1997 GMC Sierra. I have 170,000 miles on mine. I have replaced the Transmission at 134K, water pump,and both R/L Idler arms/linkage. I can’t complain, overall it has been a good truck.