How much does it cost per year to maintain a VW Camper Van from 1972?

What is likely to go wrong and what will it cost to repair?

(roughly)How much does it cost per year to maintain a VW Camper Van from 1972?I've owned 4 camper vans and loved every minute of them after the "John Paul" treatment.



Yes the water pumps for the camper , the tank had dead mice in it due to the way the thing was filled, The heater needed a thermocouple, the outside elec connection need cleaning. The tent canvas was in tatters. The top bunk was removed as I did want anyone crashing down on ,me in the middle of the night, All the plastic to cloth seams in the cushions were split.



SO after a complete restoration we drove it all over the country and almost never paid an overnight fee, Everybody who saw it wanted one till I showed them the bills.



I am now over VW campers and own a 34' 1985 pace arrow motor home which I bought for $5500.00 in really good condition, and could have a bowling ally down the middle if I wanted. The registration is almost the same the insurance is close but the mileage is down from 17 to 7. So- there you have it.



Once all that is done- you need to change the oil and adjust the valves every 3000 miles. Then spark plugs every 15000 miles. Tires last a long time if every thing is pointed in the right direction. Wiper blades every year, and clutch about 40,000 to 60,000 depending on how flat the ground is. Major grease job at least every 10,000. (you won't believe how many grease fittings there are.)



Around 100.000 miles you will start losing electrical stuff like switches, light fixtures, glove box cardboard, transmission, throttle shafts in each carb. Stuff like that.How much does it cost per year to maintain a VW Camper Van from 1972?
1972 was a weird time for VW the 1,700cc engine came out with dual carburetors. Harder to find parts for difficult to maintain. What is likely to fail on a 37 year old Westfalia Volkswagen Pop top Camper? everything is on borrowed time Clutch and clutch cable Brakes Suspension. Also because it is heavy old VW bus is difficult to drive and almost unsafe because your feet are ahead of the front wheels. Every vacuum elbow and fuel line needs to be replaced brake booster hose and tube inspected. Brake hoses are cracked Camper stuff like water tank needs to be checked. Canvas parts to the pop top and sleeper cots need to be renewed. Just the restoration to make it drive will be costly then there is the wooden camper parts and padded seating areas. Don't buy it unless it is completely redone already and remember VW vans from the 70's were very slow and might not keep up with todays traffic. And they get blown off the road in any wind higher than 20 miles an hour. A Winnebago Brave with a V-8 would cost as much to keep on the road.How much does it cost per year to maintain a VW Camper Van from 1972?I liked williams answer the best. I've had many many VW's of all types and every thing will go wrong. You must know how to improvise and make things on a moments notices especially when your miles from home. Consider, I'm 500 miles from home and my clutch pedal literally breaks apart. I asked around and found one that someone had welded(the weld was sloppy and the pedal canted crazily, but it got me home). Crazy things happen with these old wagons. Speed is not something they have. Good luck.How much does it cost per year to maintain a VW Camper Van from 1972?
Depends Depends Depends. How well it was maintained up to this point, how much driving has been done on it, and how it has been driven.

You can drive a vehicle wrong. Granny style driving or extreme racing. Both do damage.

Has it seen regular oil changes, air filter changes, valve adjustments, steering and suspension has been kept up and tight.

Or has the "Dukes of Hazzard" been driving it?

At 100,000 miles it probably should go in for a complete engine overhaul and the heads replaced as valves wear thin and will pop off into the engine.

This is something you give to a mechanic to take a look at(unless you are willing to take it all apart and send photos over the net with measurements and the like.

Otherwize go to http://www.VWVortex.com and ask there. They are into volkswagens.

I had a 1972, new out of the box. It had a problem of stalling when coming up to the stop lights(not everytime, just once in a while) The dealer mechanics could not find it either. Otherwize, ran like a charm. In that one I took a "head-on" with a Valiant on the highway.

Put me in the hospital for a bit (put out the windshield with my head) but did not break a bone in my body....but the head did hurt. ALOT.

The vehicle was still rebuildable (provided I cut off the entire front end and replace it with another one. Nah, I don't want to. Somebody else did though.

Insurance replaced the vehicle with a new one (1974 model)(which we still got).How much does it cost per year to maintain a VW Camper Van from 1972?What John Paul said. If you know the right end of a wrench you can do a lot your self. In fact I recommenced it. Once you learn how it all works it's like working on lawn tractors. Get a Bentley Publishing Official Manual.

http://www.bentleypublishers.com/product鈥?/a>



And visit these sites.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/



http://itinerant-air-cooled.com/index.ph鈥?/a>