Ford Repair: Ford transmission longevity, nash rambler, puff of smoke

Question
You wrote, regarding my 1991 Explorer with 140K miles:

"I always give factory motors and transmissions around 150K miles worth of life provided they aren't abused and well maintained."

Okay, so I'm 10K miles from "end of life".  Do I need to be thinking seriously about a replacement vehicle?  Will repair events (failures and costs) start come so fast and furious that my truck is not worth it?

I've replaced some major components over the years (ie, radiator and starter in the past year).  Won't I be able to appreciate those new components, or will the engine go up in a puff of smoke in 10K more miles?

I don't mean to sound too apocalyptic, but I'm really not sure how to interpret these comments ("150K miles of life").  I DO appreciate them, it helps me believe I'm not totally insane for having stretched it this long.

Thanks,
Rocky

Answer
Rocky-

  150K miles is just an expectation.  You could end up going 300K miles or more on any given component.  A lot of it depends on the maintainance and state of the car but some of it is just plain old luck.  A family friend used to have an old Nash Rambler that had over 500K miles on nothing more than a rebuilt drivetrain (and by rebuilt, I mean he had rebuilt the stuff once...around 300K).  If your engine and transmission are running fine now I wouldn't expect them to just self destruct in 10K miles...but it might not be a bad idea to start planning what to do if that happens because no car will run forever.  Knowing Fords I honestly wouldn't expect it to see more than 200K or 225K miles at the very most before a rebuild would be in order.  That said I don't think you need to worry about scrapping the truck anytime soon.  So long as it keeps running properly I wouldn't worry about it.  Hope this helps.