Hi, I'm a 65 year old female with a 94 Safari I've had for 11 years. Has about 175000 miles. My current plan is, when the time comes, to be buried in this vehicle (I know it will take one heck of a plot) But actually, I'd like to keep this as long as I possibly can.

Just last month I threw myself on the mercy of my mechanic and told him to go over it as if he were putting his own mother behind the wheel (and that he likes her). He came up with just a few minor things (except I am assuming that a broken motor mount isn't that minor) which including a replacement windshield all came to a little over $300, so I figured I got off easy. To date I've had only to have the trans rebuilt (last August). Aside from brakes, tires, yearly checkup, quarterly oil changes, any suggestions on how I can keep this humming along? Are the additives a good idea? I do the ignition cleaner stuff every month or so.


Thanks,

PS Four reasons I will never let Wal Mart touch my vehicle again, after my last oil change they came out with a list of four items, which I turned over to my mechanic. Not only were they not problems, but one "defective" item doesn't even exist on this vehicle!

 

If you keep up the maintenance like you are doing now, it should run forever. It's hard though to guarentee that doing all the yearly maintenance will prevent something from going bad.

Just continue too change your oil, brakes, tires, spark plugs, wires, fuel filter, etc, and you should be alright.

I think most of those "additives" you see in the stores are a gimic. Some maybe ok, but I would not worry to much about adding them all. Maybe just a fuel injection cleaner once in awhile would be good.

 

Regular oil changes are probably the most important thing you can do.
I agree with Mark about all the additives. I usually add a bottle of injector cleaner every oil change on vehicles with over 75000 miles.

 

Add tranny service to the list and you should be able keep it going. If you're still working on the factory fuel pump, don't be surprised if it needs replacing before too long; not much you can do to prevent it from eventually failing.