So ever since owning my van, (in my 2nd year now), i've always wondered what was it's real mileage..... dash says 157k km witch is only 98k miles, and clearly looking at the engine, that isn't true. And other things like pedal wear, seat wear etc etc.


Well I finally went and bought a history report on my van.... and wow my jaw dropped.



It hit 200k km (125k miles) in 1992! I'm like ummmm...... oh boy.



Going down, mileage keeps going up....and I mean UP.


In 2002, it was at registered in at 587,000km (366k miles) but then in 2003, it dropped to 087,000km with a little note *Cluster replaced.


That cluster now reads 157k km. So 157,000 - 87,000 = 70k so 587,000+70,000 = 657,000km! Holy ****! That's 411,000 miles!




I've always knew this van had alot more than 98k miles..... but wow wasn't expecting that!



Explains why heads were warped and leaking oil from the head gaskets, and why it was soooooo ugly, dirty, greasy and rusty, AND the IP had already been changed before, and it was worn I had to change it again!



Knowing this back when I bought it, i'm not sure I would of bought it.... however, I been inside this engine now, and I seen it's internal condition, and while it showed a good amount of wear, it was very clean and looked good for another long time! So i'm not to worried about it having that many miles, still a shock to find out though.


Only thing concerning me now is the C6...... while it's operating fine and all, it doesn't look like it's ever been off the back of the engine..... hopefully i'm wrong though, cause 411k miles if a damn good run for any automatic!




Just taught I might share this, for you guys lookin at buying a potentially low miles used IDI, do your research first....

 

Nice job, thats an impressive amount of miles for any engine. If like you say, and the trans hasnt been off and youre looking to spoil the old girl a flush and a new TC might perk her up a bit. TCs get a little loose after a while and especially the non-lockups go from bad to worse. When i got my 76 the converter was so sloppy i thought the trans was slipping, surprised it wasnt actually, as when the conveter gets that loose it nukes the tranny fluid, but C6s are stupid tough and dependable.

 

What do you mean by nuke the tranny fluid? Make it turn darkish color? If so.....yep. lol


I did change the filter, and flushed it last year before putting it on the road. Nothing ba came from it. I was planning on doing it again when weather warms up abit as it's looking abit darkish red. Smells fine at least.

 

Nuke the tranny fluid as in super overheat it. AKA the brownish color, its burnt.

 

"your only as old as you think you are" applies here. Plus that van has an owner that gives a damn too.....

 

well john, my van is probably similar to yours in mileage, but i don't really know. engine had been poorly rebuilt, torque converter had been replaced, i would guess the tranny may have been rebuilt but i don't know. i plan to get a new torque converter for it one of these days, and change the tranny fluid again at that time - the fluid has a good 60k miles on it.
due to the fact that my engine was bored 40 over when it was rebuilt, it had a good long history behind it, but i don't have records that far back, only for the rebuild the PO had done, and the rebuild i did this year.
now i'm interested to look things up on mine

 

I think i'm more surprised at how well the body held up more than the engine in this case.



Usually these vans around here rot to hell with still under 200k. Heck I regularly see alot newer ones than mine running around with no rockers!


I guess that's another sign of well maintained, and it has been shot with oil so that helped to.

 

After I get the old dually stripped down I'll have two C6's here that won't be any use to me, the old one I toasted a couple years back, and the one that's in it now that seems okay. (Only thing I'm not sure of with it is the parking 'lock pin' may need attention.)

Everything else I have is 4wd, so no need to keep them around long term.

 

I'll keep that in mind! Thanks Mark!

 

I've heard a few people say that taking an old auto tranny that's had fluid in it for a long time and flushing it and refilling with new fluid can cause things to break. Sounds like an old wives' tale to me, but has anyone else heard this?

 

Yes i've heard that to.



I took a chance on mine, and nothing bad came from it. Infact, it never felt better!

 

If there isnt a problem pre-flush there wont be post-flush. Taking a trans that hasnt been maintained for 250k and flushing it could get the build up out and then it wont work worth a damn.

However in the case of my dads 78, it was a little slow between shifts and took its sweet time going into reverse. Had it flushed.. boy let me tell you what, i had no idea C6s were capable of shifting so nice lol.

 

Damn, John. That is a heck of a surprise. At least it helps explain why it needed to have maintenance done. I would rather see an IDI with warped heads that ran 400K miles than one with 98K miles and the same issue. It must have had some level of good maintenance done to get that many miles on her.

 

Didn't you just get 16+ MPG out of it too after throwing in a new IP?

 

I sure did, last summer on my 18 hour round trip in 3 days. Did over 1000 miles in 3 days, and pulled out 14-16mpg all highway at 60mph. Highest mpg was 16.4


Was pulling an empty flat bed as well.



16mpg ain't bad for still not being timed, and C6 with 4.11's!