Spooner

Found a pretty good one today and picking it up tomorrow. Wanted a 2010+ extended 3500 passenger version so I would get the 6.0 and 6 speed and found a 2011 nearby that checked all the boxes with only 112k on it. It needs a little work from sitting outside but not too terrible. It was a little strange seeing how bare bones these things are compared to my VW and old TC but that's also kinda nice at the same time. Especially when I'm just gonna gut the interior haha!

I haven’t bought one just yet but I’ll buy used. I would like a transit but this will be a second vehicle pretty much only used when I’m riding dirt bikes and mountain bikes so I don’t want to spend a ton.

Sadly I said goodbye to the trusty transit today! I stopped driving it daily a few months ago when I got a new vehicle for work use and my boys are getting into riding dirt bikes and all that with their old man. The transit is just not big enough to drag around all our stuff so I posted it for sale last night and sold right away. Final mileage was 257,000 and I'm sure there are many more miles left in it! I'll be buying a Chevy Express extended length to build a moto van out of. I'll be able to put several bikes inside and still plenty of room for us. Can't wait to start the build!

I hit 250k miles about a month ago so I thought I'd update the group. Still dead reliable but I FINALLY had to do brakes on it. Well I had to do one side of the rear brakes, the other side still had life and since I was doing the rears I went ahead and did front rotors and pads but they could have gone another 100k, not even joking haha! Did another windshield in the spring but otherwise this thing just doesn't quit. I should do shocks as it does slam over some things now but its really not that bad and not 'floaty' at all. Lastly I noticed a couple weeks ago that when I put the van into reverse the rear sensors turn themselves off after a couple seconds but I feel like its doing me a favor as I almost always turned them off haha! Covid slowed down my mileage pretty good but I still did 50k in the last year. I worked from home for about 5 months but I was going riding on my dirt bike, mountain biking, etc quite a bit so I still drove a lot. Somewhat sad to say but now my TC has been relegated to weekend/utility use. I picked up a passat diesel because I know that I can only be this lucky for so long with it and I am piling miles on again so I'd be at 300k by spring or so. I wanted to make the move before I had down time for repairs as that is a huge PITA for me and how busy I am. I'll save about $4k a year in fuel too so that will be super nice. I plan to keep the TC for a while since it's worth about $7 with all the miles and its still super useful to me. I still get comments all the time about how cool it looks and stuff and its really still in very good shape other than all the rock chips on the front.

I would cash it in. I have almost 250k miles on my 2015 and other than tires, oil changes, and transmission services I haven't had any problems.

I just put in a new windshield and now the rain sensor is not working right. It picks up sometimes but then other times it just shuts off. Its my third windshield but this one is an aftermarket one vs OEM on my first replacement. Anyone else had this issue?

Perfect! I had kinda thought about those for my van but went a different direction.

You need some sparco wheels on that bad boy haha!

Haha thats bad ass!

Dude you have to post pics of your race van!

I have 240,000 on my 2015 TC that has been flawless so I'd say they are fairly reliable. I flush the transmission once a year too and it shifts fine.

I used one of my wife's hair ties to 'fix' it. That way it can flex away when you get in the van but keeps the trim against the seat.

Looks like Ford cancelled the diesel engine for the US.

Its a bit of both. My wife slams on her brakes constantly instead of anticipating traffic. While I do drive a ton on the highway I do get a bit of stop and go as I go through towns but I've always been easy on brakes by applying them earlier and lighter or just coasting to red lights.

This is what my fronts look like right now. It’s insane how good they look.

I have clear ceramic tint on the inside of mine and it makes a giant difference. Like everyone else here I have had a lot of bad luck with windshields too and I’m in need of another. Because they break so easily I am waiting longer between changing them because in Missouri there isn’t glass coverage so you pay your full deductible for a windshield.

All of our regular gas has up to 10% ethanol and it definitely gets worse mileage. I buy non-ethanol fuel every once and a while and it’s immediately noticeable that you have more power and the mpg readout is higher. It sucks it costs so much more. But I can also notice that randomly after I fill up it that it’s a similar difference but it’s not one brand that’s consistently better over another.

I previously did an update at 100k and 150k and I'm happy to say the van is still humming along great. I still change the oil every 5k miles and get the transmission service every year. Just put on my 4th set of tires but otherwise its been very inexpensive to own. The front is definitely getting pretty ate up with rock chips which is to be expected with this many miles and the fact I drive 95% of the time on the highway. Lifetime average MPG is 23.8 but its been improving as I finally learned to just slow down haha! I'm pretty regularly 25-27 with some 28's sprinkled in there. Where I buy the fuel seems to make a big difference too. I had planned on keeping it to 200 and then doing something else but I'll try to get another year or two out of it unless things start going downhill quickly. I'm still on the original brakes and the interior is holding up nicely. Most people are very surprised how many miles are on it when they see it but I keep it really clean so it always looks good. It still drives very tight and the suspension isn't showing signs of needing replaced either. Windshields seem to be a consumable item on these and I'm due for another one unfortunately. Anyways, just wanted to give an up date and post up if you guys have any questions.

Just seeing if anyone else has had this happen. When going slow and turning left over a curb (basically only when I pull in my driveway) I am hearing a clunking noise from the front right corner of the van. It almost sounds like something loose that is swinging back and forth in this situation. I've looked both under the hood and around the suspension and can't seem to track it down. I don't believe it's in the suspension as it all seems tight and I never hear it going straight. I thought my hood prop was loose when it first happened but its not. I'll pull the wheel off this weekend and see if I can track it down.

Wouldn’t be surprised at all. I bet wagons sell maybe 5% of the total of vans. Even worse on the full size transit.

Mine has 161k on it and its been flawless. That said I'd have a mechanic do a thorough inspection on it before buying. I am super easy on mine but I know not everyone drives like I do.

Personally I wish we got the transit custom in the US. Nice in between size from the TC to the transit but much better fuel economy I’d think than the transit.

Have these started getting to the dealers? Wondering how fuel mileage will compare and what kind of maintenance they will need.

True, I only use full synthetic oil. And I do think these super long intervals that manufacturers recommend are somewhat due to lowering the ‘cost of ownership’ and not because it’s fine for the engine to go that long. Still it’s only like $30 to do it myself so In the grand scheme of things it’s pretty cheap.

Yeah the second gen vans are 10k mile intervals. I do 5k personally. I’d rather ‘over service’ the van and not have failures as I obviously drive a ton and need to be able to count on my van running well and not having down time. I do it myself so it’s not expensive so it’s cheap piece of mind for me.