95 high miles Safari - recommendations?

Well the van appears to have been driven about 19.999 miles a year for 9 years.

Does the owner have detailed service records for the vehicle?

Has it ever been in a bad wreck ?

Hows the body, frame & undercarriage holding up?

How long do you intend to keep the van?

How many miles do you figure on putting on it every year?

Can your mechanic look at the vehicle?

These are the questions you need to answer.

I don't have much knowledge of Vans, I assume it has the 4.3 V6. Perhaps other's here know about the engine and can advise you.

Good Luck

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE 3800 V6 ( C ), Black/Slate Grey _~_~_~_~278, 925 miles_~_~_

~_~_~_~_U.S.A._~_~_~_~_~_

it is a 4.3L V6...same as the Astro van...real wheel drive...no records but it is at a dealer who i trust...this is a small town...CARFAX says it is OK...no wrecks...exterior/interior look good...i would keep the van for a few years until i can afford a newer one...i plan on a small number of miles per year less than 8000...==RC

baxter wrote in alt.autos.gm

Go to

and check the price. Also take it to an independant mechanic. As far as trusting the dealer, what do you trust him for? I mean the dealer may get a car in trade, he thinks the car looks good, so it is put on his lot. The dealer, unless he has done all the maintenance on the car, really has no idea about the history of the car. All he can really do is look at a car and decide whether it will make him a decent profit, and whether it fits whatever image he is trying to project. What you need to do is to check the car out. A car with higher miles than average may mean it is driven in town alot, and is worn out, or it may mean that it has been used on the highway alot, is well maintained and has a lot of life left in it. Get a mechanic to check it out. If you decide to buy the car, make sure you go to Kelley's or Edmunds and pay no more than the private party cost for the car.

thx for the input...it is going into a mechanic on monday (this is friday)to be checked out...we'll see...they are asking less than the private party price...==RC

I had an 87 Astro that lived for over 300,000 hard miles. We bought it new, and used it for ever type of hauling job we could. It was a conversion van with high back captians chairs that were easy to remove, and a easy to remove rear bench/cot seat. The rear seat after 1993 was removed on a permanite basis.

We took it on many long trips, including one before I took her to the salvage yard I worked at and parted her out.

In those 300,000 We had to do the heads at 50,000 miles. Due to an error of idiots at a quick lube (which is why I change my own oil). I took the heads to a local machaine shop and paid a good bit to make them flow. Other then that at 85,000 miles a feul injector went bad. At 120,000 both idler arms needed replaced. The idler arms became a one every 2 year issue.

At 175,000 The radiator went out. At just over 200K it was rear ended some what on the bad side. I redid it at a body shop I worked for. A year later, the rear end went out. Which I beleave had to do with the stress of the accident. Astro vans were never ment to stop suburbans going 35 MPH.

Around 250,000 I had to replace the front engine bracket for all the surpentine accessiors. 86 to 88 or so on that bracket, it was known for breaking near the power steering pump.

Then at 300,000 The right head went bad. The van by then (January of

2000), was in rough shape. The transmission was getting near the end of it's service life, as was the used rear end I put in it. The body had started to rust in a few place, and the motor could have used a compleate rebuild.

Not bad for a Van that was used in ways that define rough service. It paid for it's self a good 10 times over. I haven't found many a Truck or Van as reliable as that one was.

And before I get asked. I did normial service on it, on a regular basis. in those 300,000 miles I used 2 water pumps, a fuel pump, 3 Exhaust systems,

60 Spark plugs, 3 distributor caps & rotors, 4 sets of plug wires, 12 sets of brake disks, 8 sets of shoes, 3 sets of brake rotors, 2 sets of brake drums, a cam when we did the heads, 3 blower motors, 6 pairs of idler arms, 5 pairs of shocks, and more tires then I will ever talk about.

A 95 Safari with 178,000 wouldn't scare me at all. Charles