Lite use can kill a vehicle

[Adjam5]

I purchased new in 99, a Chevy Venture extended mini van. It had a 3.4lt V6. I ran Mobil1 in it since new. It is the wifes and the family vehicle. My wife works about 2 miles from home, she does NOT travel on the highway and takes local roads just about everywhere she goes in the county. To put it this way...she never goes over 50 mph. At 58k miles, a lifter collapsed. I replaced them all while the head was open. 2 weeks ago, her van stalls in the middle of a busy road and had to have it towed home. 6 mile tow...$170. A flat fee for anywhere in the county.

My mechanic tells me the oil pump went and the van is ready for the junk pile with 62K on it:hammer1:. Not worth fixing.

I am so pissed...I took dang good care of that vehicle since it was the first one I EVER bought new($25,000), and it goes and dies on me. It looks like it will be donated to a charity for the write off. A shame. The vehicle is spotless inside and not a dent on it .

Last week, the Mrs and I went out looking for another family vehicle. We settled on a 07 TrailBlazer LS with 30K on it. A GM certified truck with 2 years left on the warranty.

My wife killed her van by hardly using it in the 11 years we owned it. I will not make that mistake again. I will have to take her truck to work, at least once a week to give it a good workout and get the juices flowing.

Shaun, what do you think about vehicles that hardly get driven? A sure way to kill them IMO. I think age kills a vehicle way before mileage does.

What say you?

[Goinghuntin]

Thats why I drive mine HARD :D I just have to ask why you're junking the car, when it only needs an oil pump?

Nathan

[Wobbly_Alaska]

of course it could just be that it is a Venture.. we have the 2002 venture..

and that thing is always in the shop... we bought it from a dealer last year... who first certified it.. then sold us the 3 yr 36K extended warrenty...

in the last year we have put only 25K miles on it and had over $17K in work done to it on that warranty. so far the engine is the only thing not replace

before that we had the 97 Pontiac Transport... The GMC model of the venture.. two trannies, tons of work all the time... never made 100,000 miles on it.

Edited April 27, 2010 by Wobbly_Alaska

[redkneck]

No doubt short trips are hard on a car. The oil doesn't get up to temperature, the exhaust doesn't get hot enough to burn the moisture out, causing rust in the system, the cats probably don't get hot enough to burn anything out. Sorry to hear about the bad luck Anthony, but short trips do play h#!! on a vehicle. Between my truck and the truck my wife just traded we had combined over a half million miles and never a valve cover cracked on one, not mainly because of my wonderful maintenance skills (lol) but 60-100 miles daily of commuting. My truck is in need of some repair now, but mud is the culprit on the 4x4, not the miles.

Edited April 27, 2010 by redkneck

[Shaun_300]

I agree with you Anthony, sitting is harder on a vehicle than driving it. I've seen lots of 2000ish Silverados with the same mileage as mine (155,000 miles), great condition. Just had a 2001 Silverado in yesterday with 50K miles and the body, brake lines and frame were in much worse condition than mine. I drive mine, none of this granny driving. It sees 4K RPM almost everytime I drive it. Just pulled the motor and trans a few weeks back since I'm putting the LS6 in it, the pressure plate and flywheel looked like a brand new brake rotor, the clutch disk looked like new. Tranny shifts great still. All my lines look pretty good too. Undercoating saves vehicles in these Canadian climates. If you don't undercoat them they're a bucket of rust in 3 years.

[Adjam5]

I just have to ask why you're junking the car, when it only needs an oil pump?

Nathan

The main bearing is chewed up pretty good from the lack of oil. The whole engine has to come out. Book value on the van is like $2500 in good condition. I would need to put a grand or better into it and I would still have a 11 year old vehicle that is not aging so gracefully.

I am better off taking the $2500 tax write off by donating it to charity.

[maxxis31]

i agree with shawn 100% i have had 3 vehicles that all had 200,000+ miles a 1991 chevy s10 that had 210000 miles when i bought it in 1998 as my 1st car for 500$ at an auction and put another 150000 on it with the original 4 banger always hitting the redline on it until my dad borrowed it to go to work and the water pump went out and he didnt see the temp until it seized up so i put a 350 in it and drove it like a race car until i sold it and i have a 1994 nissan 4x4 4 cyl with 268000 on it all hard muddy miles and my go to work truck a 1995 nissan 4 cyl just hit 201500 miles still a great running truck run em hard and they will last forever if you service them regular

[Goinghuntin]

The main bearing is chewed up pretty good from the lack of oil. The whole engine has to come out. Book value on the van is like $2500 in good condition. I would need to put a grand or better into it and I would still have a 11 year old vehicle that is not aging so gracefully.

I am better off taking the $2500 tax write off by donating it to charity.

I hear ya. I'd junk it too

Nathan