When yours died

[clok1966]

I just got a 97 3.3 with 197,000 miles, it runs and drives great and is in perfect shape and I know the original owner (normally wouldnt buy anything with that kind of miles but it got it for basicly nothing (licence and title swap is going to cost more). his father in law got a new one and he got the used one (so it wasnt a problem car, just didnt need it anymore).

errr my question, what made you retire or sell your Van or what finally wasnt worth fixing, and what miles was on it.?

Im just interested, as i see several of these with 250,000. When i pick cars up i look on cars-parts.com (website to look up used car parts) and see the miles on engines and trannies (it gives you a rough idea on how long some of them last). many with 200+ miles for sale.

[tcwagner1]

I sold my 90 GC after 15 yrs when I decided the day would come I could no longer get rubber parts. I bought an 05 TC LTD because I was convinced the dollar is tanking and I might as well have a newer car with the money instead of letting it devalue. Also, safety issues were of concern, the new one has everything, the old one had seatbelts. As I am getting older, I realize my chances of getting in a wreck are greater.

[shipo]

I just got a 97 3.3 with 197,000 miles, it runs and drives great and is in perfect shape and I know the original owner (normally wouldnt buy anything with that kind of miles but it got it for basicly nothing (licence and title swap is going to cost more). his father in law got a new one and he got the used one (so it wasnt a problem car, just didnt need it anymore).

errr my question, what made you retire or sell your Van or what finally wasnt worth fixing, and what miles was on it.?

Im just interested, as i see several of these with 250,000. When i pick cars up i look on cars-parts.com (website to look up used car parts) and see the miles on engines and trannies (it gives you a rough idea on how long some of them last). many with 200+ miles for sale.

I traded our 1998 in last fall with 170,000 miles on the clock. Why? I had just started a new contract that required 100+ miles per day of driving and I was able to justify the cost of the new Mazda3 based upon a combination of fuel savings and the repairs that I felt were soon to be required for the following items:

• Body rust: Both my wife and my mother had been in accidents in the van and the places where the body had been worked on were starting to rust heavily, the remainder of the body was rust free. Unfortunately here in New Hampshire, a vehicle will not pass inspection if the body has rusted through, even if the hole is the size of a dime.
• Brake lines: The rust on the braided section was getting pretty heavy.
• Rear heat coolant lines: These too were heavily rusted and starting to swell.
• Radiator: Original with no obvious problems.
• Water Pump: Original with no obvious problems.
• Heater cores: Original with no obvious problems.
• A/C Compressor: Original with no obvious problems.
• Water Pump: Original with no obvious problems.
• Power Steering Pump and Rack: Original with no obvious problems.
• Alternator: Original with no obvious problems.

The good news is that the old girl was extremely reliable, the engine ran as well as it did the day I drove her off the showroom floor in 1998, and she was comfortable to drive and ride in. The thing is, if she'd nickle and dimed me with various repairs to the above list of sub-systems instead of requiring just a starter and a transmission over the years, I might very well still be driving her.

[jgbat]

As my signature says, I traded my 97 with literally 191,992 miles on it. Ran fine. Drove good. Needed tires. lol. I traded for something to get better fuel economy, and traded because I knew that transmission couldn't last forever...

Of course flash forward 2.5 years later and I traded the better fuel economy vehicle (2007 Ford Focus SE) for another van...

[wa3ra]

I've had one clear 300K, several over 250 K, and my last two drivers were both closing on 150K. Outside of general maintenance, and freshening up the engines in the 300K and one of the 250Ks, and the occasional tranny rebuild (I picked up and rebuilt a boneyard transmission, when one fails now, I swap it and rebuild it as a spare) the only cause of replacement has been somebody hitting and totaling them.

As far as rust, i've had the dog-leg under the rear lift pad rot on a few; I have that area boxed in and replace the sheet metal with stainless steel. Yoiu'll only have to fix it once.

You can keep the doors from rotting; make sure that you clean out the drain holes every month, and spray oil in through them twice a year or so. The oil sits in the seams and keeps the water from getting in there, so it just runs out through the drain holes.

[atoman]

1998 3.3 SE @ 140Kmi - started showing too much rust

[sideburns2009]

1997 Town & Country LXi - 144,000+ miles. No rust. Original Transmission. Drives like a dream. (I still own it.)

[greensleeves]

clok1966 have you got any pics of your van?

[clok1966]

Just got my van (the 97) drove it this weekend and put about 200 miles on it. But no pics yet, will try grab one sometime. So far I'm happy, motor is quiet,and it goes down road well. Looks like it gets about 24mpg at 75 (was as still day). MPG really changes with speed, it was 29-30 at 60, dropped off quick as the speed went up. I am slighlty worried as the tranny does have a slight hum. All my reading make sit sound like since this is the original tranny its a bomb just waiting to explode. So tonight is reading night on trannies.

[Chrysler1924]

Just got my van (the 97) drove it this weekend and put about 200 miles on it. But no pics yet, will try grab one sometime. So far I'm happy, motor is quiet,and it goes down road well. Looks like it gets about 24mpg at 75 (was as still day). MPG really changes with speed, it was 29-30 at 60, dropped off quick as the speed went up. I am slighlty worried as the tranny does have a slight hum. All my reading make sit sound like since this is the original tranny its a bomb just waiting to explode. So tonight is reading night on trannies.

Your 1997 has the 1st Edition transmission solenoid pack used on the 1996-1997 model year vans. It makes a noise when you shift gears for a second (personally, I think it sounds cool on my 1996). But the 1998-2000 models have a quiet solenoid pack. Nothing wrong with either one.

As long as you change the fluid at least once every 70,000 with ATF+4 and never get it "flushed" the trans should last you.