Well, it depends on how many things you've already replaced... I figure the
number of things that can break on my vanagon is X+1, where "X" is the
number of components I haven't already replaced (the "1" takes care of the
odd item that was replaced, but has an early failure... none so far, but it
needs to be factored in).

The longer I own my van, the smaller "X" becomes... it'll never hit zero,
but at least I know which things have been replaced.

Of course, if I drive it long enough for the replacement wear items to wear
all over again, I'll need to change my equation. :-)

At 11:40 AM 4/29/2005 -0500, Jim Felder wrote:
>But Don, most (I guess) of our vanagons don't have those kind of
>issues. When I have fixed something, it has stayed fixed. I have two
>old cars, both vanagons, and of course stuff comes up that needs to be
>replaced. That's going to happen on any car. Does the AC give me
>problems from time to time? Yep, but every four years or so is all it
>bothers me.
>
>It seems that the problem is your vanagon, seriously. You should sell
>it and buy another one, I'll be you'll be a whole lot happier with it.
>Don't get me wrong, there have been times that a window motor needed
>replacing at the same time that the steering rack needed replacing, but
>that's different from having Jaguar or Land Rover type issues that you
>just simply can't stay on top of to keep the car running. Been there,
>done that. Sold it, cut my losses and started over.
>
>If you bought into a cheap one and have it on the upward path to
>drivability, they you must just continue with the faith that once you
>get it to a certain level, it will stay there for a reasonable amount
>of time. But if you paid full price and are still having problems, I'd
>thinking about changing mounts.
>
>Just my .02.
>
>Jim
>
>
>On Apr 29, 2005, at 11:22 AM, Don Williams wrote:
>
>>You people are such a trip!!  You choose (as I) to drive a very strange
>>vehicle, which I applaud.   I intend to be buried in it, but I can
>>barely
>>keep the drive train functioning, and I work on the vehicle almost
>>every
>>day.  The thought of trying to keep power door locks, power windows
>>and air
>>conditioning functional is overwhelming---I would have to have the work
>>farmed out for sure.  My wife is already so pissed at me over my
>>priorities
>>that power door lock maintenance would push me over the edge.    I
>>took out
>>my air conditioning (for which I was criticized) and I drive an 85
>>westy,
>>which doesn't have power locks and windows.  I just don't have the
>>physical
>>strength to keep all those luxuries going.  If you do, go for it, but
>>I  myself would trash a few of those items that seem to be high
>>maintenance, and put that time into the engine, transaxle, CV joints,
>>wheel
>>bearings, brakes and fuel injection system.  You can always cripple
>>home
>>with your power windows jammed; you can't get home with an engine that
>>won't start.
>>Don