Date:         Thu, 17 Feb 2000 18:51:10 -0700
Reply-To:     jbrush@AROS.NET
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Brush <jbrush@AROS.NET>
Subject:      Re: Most miles on Vanagon
In-Reply-To:  <024201bf791f$c2729720$4283b3d1@earthlink.net>

>Who has the most miles on there Vanagon?

275K, 1981 2.0l Transporter.

Original everything, as far as I know. When I got it 14 years ago, it had
100K and was babied big time. The reciepts were in it, and all the regular
maintenance seemed to have been done by the book. Judging by the condition
of the interior, two people did a lot of highway traveling, the body was
pristine.

I change the oil & filter regularly, keep the motor clean, and pray over
it, a lot :-) The motor is worn as compression checks are down in the
90's, no smoke from the tail pipes, even on startup.Plugs are always nice
and tanned, but then I only drive it on long trips. Very little in-town,
stop and go driving. Perhaps the best thing that happened was the oil that
would leak at high speeds on the freeways. Although it was costly to put
in so much oil on long voyages, most of the oil seldom got more than 1,000
miles on it, so that was always clean stuff <g> I have since gottten a
real job, and paid for the repairs to fix the leaks. Mostly.

I don't take much credit for it, as the original owners 'taught it well'
but anyone who buys a car vehicle, and does the maintenance on it, can
attest to the fact that if you can get it to 100K, it will keep on going
after that. Kind of like children. Do a good job early on, and it gets
easier as they age. No maintenance early on, and you are in big  trouble
:-)

Regards from Utah,

John