Life Expectacy

[Rockhopper66]

Its one of those "How long is a piece of string questions?" I am looking to replace my van and have been trying to find a 4 berth to accomodate my family. However, alot of the vans I have found are all very high mileage. Most have had engines either rebuilt or replaced but my concern is what about the rest of the mechanical components? What is the life span of a gearbox?
One van had covered 200K, had a new engine 4 years ago, but what parts will be wearing next? All the vans I have looked at are 1986 to 1990 1.9 or 2.1l watercooled high tops and a multitude of different coversions.
I realise this is a tricky question but any suggestions would be gratefully received.
Thanks

[Diamond Hell]

Buy on body condition - the rest can be replaced (or better, upgraded) as and when necessary. The engines are the weakest link. On any vehicle of this age or over there will be all sorts of things that will go, but the point at which they go will be influenced by myriad things and somewhat challenging to anticipate.

So, buy on body.

[kevtherev]

Here here........ the body beautiful says it all!

[stuckin88]

I think with gear boxes it how they are treated-genrally 4speeds last longer than 5s---but I think its how theyve been treated--its difficult to check the gearbox oil so they get neglected--conversely (unlike many other cars)you can drain the gearbox oil which means the oil can be changed-the second gear syncro gets worn but not a prob if you do steady gearchanges--mines done 120k miles & the gearbox is ok-I change the oil about every 2 yrs--when you test drive a van if the gearbox dont whine & changes smoothly if you dont rush it your probably ok--as for engines--well you take pot luck--obviously with a waterboxer check heads very carefully for signs of water leakage(green stains & slime) around the rubber gaskets--but with a vehicle over 15 yrs old its a gamble--

[Blingpanzer]

I'd say the weak link was the gearbox. 5-speeds are temperamental and expensive to rebuild unless you get a 'good' one (and I haven't found a 'good' one yet; noise in all gears, non-existent first gear or dodgy synchromesh on second gear seem to be common problems). 4-speeds seem to be more reliable, have a sweeter gearchange and are much cheaper to rebuild. The overall gearing's about the same, but obviously the 5-speed buses accelerate more quickly due to closer-spaced intermediate gears. You can swap a 4-speed for a 5-speed and vice-versa, but it's pretty involved and requires swapping the linkage too.

Also have a good look at the condition of the long rubber water hoses in the engine bay, and the long water pipes from front to rear under the van, and the bottom of the radiator which suffers from salt-spray corrosion. These are bl**dy expensive to replace. Post-86 vans are better in this respect as they have plastic underfloor water pipes (instead of powdercoated steel) which, unless damaged, should last.

Exhaust systems are also expensive if you use genuine VW parts, or short-lived if you don't. Perhaps a useful bargaining point for you if the exhaust isn't all it could be.

Good luck, and I hope you find a better one than the money pit currently adorning my driveway

[TD]

running a twenty year old vehicle must be a trade off. You pay less for th evehicle but have to do replacement parts.
If you buy a ,say, five year old T4, you will have to eplace fewer parts until it gets old.
In my van the first ten years were absolutely trouble free, pads, tyres, battery wiper blades timing belts of course and diesel. Year 11 it went a bit pear shaped at 108K. recon engine, clutch , radiator (my fault for using rad weld) starter. Over £3K, but since then , another 65K miles it's had recon turbo, one water pipe(plastic ones do go, the ends rust) new discs. gearbox, slow second gear when cold.
so mechanically it's been very good, but I have looked after it since nearly new.
Body?, rear wing where I scaped it rusting, but annoyingly the bottom cormers of the windscreen are now rusting . Does anyone do new bits?, it certainly seems aproblem as warer come in now. It may be thecause to get rid of van eventually.