What are some of the highest mileage h2's you have seen in excellent mechanical condition?

 

I'd tend to agree, 90k for a "heavy duty" drive train like what they put in the H2 should go easily 300-500k if treated kindly and even if you like to treat it rough, in either case, treat it nice when it needs it. I've never had any vehicle go to **** b4 100k and if it did, particularly a H2, I'd bad mouth them to anyone interested in listening. Worried about a used car of any stripe (except maybe a Range Rover) seems nuts to me. I drove an old '76 Jeep CJ5 got from my buddies dad past 400k miles and the odomoter broke and she kept on for another three seasons.

I drive an H3 Alpha I got used with 68k now just shy of 300k, still runs like a top and never did anything to it except new battery or 3 and a few brake jobs, and as I do with every vehicle, change and flush every fluid every 50k miles. Spent a lot of time in Northern MN taking it down logging roads and western bouncing across farmer's land bird hunting with my dogs. Too cheap to but a winch but I carry a tow strap and a couple extra heavy chains and a farm jack, that works just fine to (slowly) ****** it out of some serious snow banks, mud pits, and pot holes. It doesn't look as pretty as when I bought it but starts and drives every time I wanna go somewhere.

Was thinking about selling it to my buddy to get me an '04-'05 H2 but they are slim pickings up here in MN, everything's pushing 130-180k miles. Looked at a dudes '08 with I wanna say 60k, he had that thing fixed up prettier than my wife and was pumped but fired it up, took it out and as the temp came up, the oil pressure went down, to like 12psi at full HWY speed.

Now I see he' still advertising it and new ad says he had the tranny rebuilt. Didn't notice any troubles there but once I saw the oil pressure that low I slow drove it back, checked the oil level which was fine, looked for smoke and leaks. Nothing noticeable, told dude he's gotta figure that out ASAP, whether its the pump or whatever but driving like that will destroy it if not already. Didn't look at anything else so maybe the tranny was shot too, didn;t feel like it but again, didn't really give it a lot of attention. If it's shot with 60k miles, I have to wonder, did GM build them out of Styrofoam? Geez.

Apparently grown men don't know how to own a truck or maybe it's just a Hummer thing. Maybe I look for something else, sad thing is there's little else out there anymore. Honda Pilot? Hell, all the horror stories about the garbage folks have been stuck with on this forum makes me think that may hold up better.

 

Incorrect gauge reading are usually the stepper motors or sending units.

I would rather walk than own a Honda.

 

yea, me too, my rat faced mother-in-law drives a Honda Pilot, think it's her 3rd, just another AWD unibody minivan.

The oil thing could be sending unit, sure, could be panel cluster, could be related to the PCV valve recall, cloud be worn crank bearings, problem is I doubt the guy would be OK with me pulling his oil switch to get a mechanical gauge reading to know for sure it ain't crank bearings.

Every single used H2 I've looked at or found in the area has or needs its tranny replaced. None of the one's I've looked at that have had or need new tranny's (whether the owner admits it or not) are not lifted or riding on 38's or anything crazy, stock wheels and tires and most every one looks from underneath like they've never been on dirt.

I've read the trans cooler connects to the radiator in series as a cheap and dangerous way of getting some extra cooling? and the tranny fluid line is prone to break at the radiator sending anti-freeze into the tranny? Could that be the cause for all the busted tranny's? I know some guys mod theirs by rerouting around radiator and put in a boosted cooler or replace the stock radiator with an H2 designed aftermarket that throws off heat more quickly if they're towing a lot...

Heard from a handful of folks they've gone through 2-3 tranny's within 120k miles. That scares the hell out of me.

I sold my H3 Alpha looking to get an H2 so now I'm without wheels and the more I look, the more shook I get about H2 reliability. Everywhere I look, tranny problems, google H2 transmission and you get pages of posts on fried tranny's and after market gear to offset the chance of tranny failure. Sadly, beyond a pickup, which I'd rather not buy, there's nothing else out there that's not either a 4WD minivan or way too luxery to even think about getting mud on it. And I won't pay the >=$35k everyone's asking for Wrangler Unlimited in off lease with 30k miles. Also, I haven't driven one so can't say but my impression is after 40k miles they'll rattle like a tin can.

Maybe I just chance it, see if I can find a clean low mile H2 or one with a recently replaced tranny and put in a 24,000 BTU cooler...

I expect everyone's got their favorites but is there a common consensus on the best H2 model year?

Seems 03-4 have slightly less horespower and torque than the 05-07's with the same motor/tranny so likely just tuned the electronics, then there's the 08-09 with the 6.2L 6 speed, haven't seen a single '09 but there are a few 08's around

The one I mentioned above with the oil gauge that jumps to 40 until warm then drops to 12 and barely moves from there whether at idle or HWY speed is an 08 and has a new tranny...

Maybe I bend over and get a wrangler with some dents and scratches, make the price reasonable...

 

I think the trans issues are just the ones you hear.... the first people to start complaining are the ones who have had a problem. Many orders of magnitude more people are too busy having fun and enjoying theirs. Adding an aftermarket trans cooler is a pretty simple and not very expensive mod though. I'd have to dig but there are a couple of threads people have made over the years with very excellent and detailed info on doing it with suggested coolers that fit and the easiest spot to mount them and whatnot. I think that its probably less common that it might seem though to have big trans issues. Now - roof leaks. Yeah, its not if, its when. The roof lights WILL eventually leak, and if it has a sunroof and no one has ever bothered to clear the drains out those will leak too. Both are fairly easy fixes though.

I only got my 2003 several months back with about 115k on it and am loving it already. I've done a few mods - AIRAID intake tube, full tuneup, and just literally a few minutes ago finished up a completely new full stainless exhaust system with long tube headers, high flow cats, and GM Performance Parts (Borla) from the cats back. These few bits with the Diablo Sport Intune (already had from my old truck) and this 03 is surprisingly quick! Its only going to get better too once I have a custom tune done. So yeah - I've put a couple grand into it but well worth it. Another one I'm planning will be to convert it to electric cooling fans from a 2500HD pickup.

All that being said - through 07 certain parts are getting scarce and expensive. Particularly interior bits. I have no idea how so many people manage to break their dash parts and door panels myself. They do get more brittle with age though and yes that does make things easier to break but really only if you are trying to remove a piece to work on something and you are not being extra careful.

08-09 interior parts are easier to get a hold of as new old stock still. Another huge benefit for those is the 6 speed transmission.

Dont bother trying to pull the oil pressure sender on one - thats not and easy thing to get to. Its basically behind the intake manifold between the engine and firewall. I've not tried but you just might have to pull the intake to remove it. I've had my intake off to replace the knock sensors so I did get to see mine up close. 08-09's are also much more expensive still too.

There are plenty of H2 for sale near me on Craigslist. A nice example I spotted yesterday was a 2005 SUT with only 63k miles for $266000, one owner in excellent condition. https://columbia.craigslist.org/cto/6155823474.html Most are up over 100k miles... For the lower miles on that one it seems like a very good deal. Plenty in the 12 to 20k price range too but of course those are pretty much all 125k+ miles on them.

 

If you buy an H2 for a good price, then it's not a big deal if you have to spend $2000 for a new trans. Does that make sense? If they are asking $17k offer them $15k and then if you need a trans it won't hurt so bad. If you don't need one then you are ahead.

 

Well I've got one that I just put up for sale last Saturday. https://losangeles.craigslist.org/sf...157464954.html Lots of extras and honestly it runs like a ****.

 

That looks worth every penny. How many smiles.

 

That is a nice rig, good luck with the sale. You are going to miss it!

 

143,000 miles.