Is 153,000 Miles A Lot For a 1997 Class C ?
My girlfriend is going to look at a 1997 Class C Ford with E350 chassis and V10 engine with 153,000 miles. Is this a lot for an RV? Averages out to about 8500 miles a year. It was a rental until ar...
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I have a 1992 GM 2500 van with about the same mileage. It was only in a garage several times in the first 20 years - at the end of its extended warranty for a rear end whine complaint and one or two times for U joints, transmission fluid change and a belt change. Can't remember what the problem was but the cost was $1000, covered by the warranty. I have faithfully changed the oil, greased the front end, even changed the coolant, transmission fluid, fuel filter and gear oil in the rear end once in each case. Not exactly "well maintained". This van had no significant repair repair needs other than a bent axel one time, which a friend and I replaced, and a starting motor replacement, until the van was 20 years old with 260 000 km - the heater core failed while we were on a camping trip with our tent trailer.
We limped to a town, using lots of water, and a very nice garage took it in and shorted the water flow around the dead heater core so we could carry on with our trip. They said the cost to replace would be $700. I figured the van wasn't worth that much because it needed new tires and probably some other things were nearly worn out. Then I managed to replace that heater core myself.
A year later the water pump failed. A mechanic friend replaced the pump, alternator, thermostat, idler pulleys and belt for me, no doubt saving another $700. The rear heater core failed and no replacement was available so I did the bypassing trick myself.
The van has left me sitting several times in the last year due to battery troubles. It seems a connector I installed to power the tent trailer was drawing half an amp all the time and I didn't drive it very much. And one of the battery cables had some corrosion increasing its resistance - all things I took care of myself but which would have been pretty annoying on a camping trip.
In the case of the 1997 for sale, I would take it for a test drive, listen to the engine and transmission and take a look at the spark plugs to help foresee serious engine trouble. I expect it has ten years and fifty thousand miles to go, perhaps with some annoyances.
We limped to a town, using lots of water, and a very nice garage took it in and shorted the water flow around the dead heater core so we could carry on with our trip. They said the cost to replace would be $700. I figured the van wasn't worth that much because it needed new tires and probably some other things were nearly worn out. Then I managed to replace that heater core myself.
A year later the water pump failed. A mechanic friend replaced the pump, alternator, thermostat, idler pulleys and belt for me, no doubt saving another $700. The rear heater core failed and no replacement was available so I did the bypassing trick myself.
The van has left me sitting several times in the last year due to battery troubles. It seems a connector I installed to power the tent trailer was drawing half an amp all the time and I didn't drive it very much. And one of the battery cables had some corrosion increasing its resistance - all things I took care of myself but which would have been pretty annoying on a camping trip.
In the case of the 1997 for sale, I would take it for a test drive, listen to the engine and transmission and take a look at the spark plugs to help foresee serious engine trouble. I expect it has ten years and fifty thousand miles to go, perhaps with some annoyances.
