Howdy. As a newer GERRY subscriber, i'll provide a brief intro to lead into my first ever question/post: I expect i'm among the youngest members of the list at 25, with a two-tone 84GL that i bought with 90k a coupla years ago. Many trips to, up and down the west coast, one great wandering from CA to Bar Harbor Maine and back (chasing wind and women back and forth across the country), and a recent trip across the Mojave from SoCal to Northern Wyoming has my van up to 120k. With kiteboarding (think wakeboarding+windsurfing) a central objective to many of the travels, my brother calls the van "kitemobile" which i like, though its picked up a handful of other nicknames from the affectionate to the profane in its short but storied tenure as my baby. Maintenance records were well kept by the original owner, and i've done my best to improve on both record keeping and general maintenance. Until recently its been the best running round-headlighted Vanagon i've come across. Recently however, its begun absorbing gobs of money (1k in the last month) and yet remains afflicted with a mysterious condition i and experienced mechanics have yet to figure out . I'm considering querying the list on that, but first I'd love to read any thoughts on whether sticking with my kitemobile will prove fruitful: am i approaching a phase in its life where $2-4k in part replacement and major overhauls is par for the course? Or should there be some increase in longevity to reap from the assiduous fluid replacements and TLC lavished on the van thus far. I realize this is essentially a mystical and unanswerable question, but it may be that i'm in need of a pep talk, and I'm sure that if it compells any replies they will be informative. I'd really like to keep the van going, and if its going i want it going the best it can, but i'm feeling uncertain about what such a committment will entail. Any thoughts, coldly realistic or reassuring, would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance. sp. oh, and peets beans are the best period. |
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