Million Mile Van

[Theadyn]

Never heard of this before.  It's no longer on the road, but found this link and the readings were interesting.  Since I am also in a Ford van, thought it was a cool link.  Posting it in case someone else out there hasn't seen or heard about it yet.

http://www.millionmilevan.com/

 

[MikeRuth]

As a Ford E-150 Owner I find this very cool, thanks.

 

[TMG51]

"...oil and change it every 10,000 to 20,000 miles. The longest I’ve went between oil changes is 55,000 miles. It used a quart of oil or more every tank of gas. I usually waited for the oil to turn black before changing it."

I like his maintenance style. Treat engine as percolator for sludge; run 'er a million miles anyway.

 

[B and C]

He drove it over 90k miles a year!  
Getting everything up to operating temperature and keeping it there is the key.  Not many short trips.

 

[johnny b]

Gives me good vibes for my 99 E250....bought new and only 62000 miles on it now. Used mostly for towing my race trailer and as a Redskins bus.
Biggest issue now is rubber parts deteriorating from lack of use.

 

[66788]

360K on my 1993 Ford Aerostar with the Vulcan 3.0 engine. Original engine, 2nd transmission.

Can's say bad things about this vehicle; it just goes and goes...

 

[BC Guy]

Did anyone else notice that he supposedly purchased a 1997 used in 1996?
http://www.toledoblade.com/Automoti...o-van-going-the-distance-1-million-miles.html
"I'm thinking of throwing it a party," Mr. Schell said last week as he was driving his 1997 Ford E-250 cargo van near Hamilton, Ont. "But I don't know if that's too weird."

Sometime in the next few days, Mr. Schell's van - which he bought used in Monroe, Mich., in 1996 and uses to deliver cargo across North America - will have been driven 1 million miles.
There is a second article with the same info.

 

[dhawktx]

Not sure about the other stuff, but I've noticed that they start selling the next year's models sometime in April or May the year before!

 

[B and C]

Not sure about the other stuff, but I've noticed that they start selling the next year's models sometime in April or May the year before!

Generally August is when the new models come out.

 

[Canine]

Color me skeptical.

 

[Patrick46]

360K on my 1993 Ford Aerostar with the Vulcan 3.0 engine. Original engine, 2nd transmission.

Can's say bad things about this vehicle; it just goes and goes...

We got our daughter a '91 Aerostar to haul the grandkids around in.

It's got over 1/2 millions miles, and aside a few electronic glitches, keeps on a goin'!

 

[westriver]

Color me skeptical.

Given that he is able to present a complete history of the vehicle being maintained by an independent repair shop, I'm not sure how much room there is for being skeptical? It really isn't all that unprecedented either. There are many reports of cars going 500-600K and beyond. There is (was?) an older couple who delivers RVs for a living and retired a Dodge truck with well over a million miles on the original diesel engine. I know this is a legendary engine, but in this case, it didn't even have a valve cover pulled in all that time. I was often on jobs with a huge regional contractor in my area that will not even think of retiring any light truck until the odometer hits 400k. If one needs a motor at 375K it gets a new crate motor installed. A million is a lot, until you think about keeping it rolling down the road, 40-50 hours a week, year round, for a dozen years.