98 Grand Caravan: Replace The Short Block?

[Van]

She just drove it to Vegas from Phoenix during the day without overheating,

There you go, when I had my 65 new yorker I drove it back across country from washington state to Michigan and never had any inkling of an overheating problem because every day it was in the low to mid 90's. Cut to the last day of driving and its in the low 60's and raining cats and dogs, get 10 miles down the freeway and the overheat light comes on. After doing alot of replacement on stuff like the water pump and three thermostats and flushing the system a dozen times I read that article about the sprint car having a problem with a used radiator cap that was letting pressure leak out. Soon as I replaced the radiator cap I never had an issue again until I used marvel mystery oil and it locked up the block.

 

[charper1]

yours is a common misconception.

nickel and dime is peanuts in comparison with the depreciation on a new vehicle.....

my wife believes like you do buy a new vehicle so you dont waste money on repairs, and have a relable vehicle.

guess what even brand new vehicles break down, and the depreciation is many thousands.....

since my van is critical for my business I have two,

one is a back up if any of our vehicles break down and critical for hauling at certain times of the year.

my work van has a heavy drawer unit filled with parts and tools, and product for sale.

I like older vehicles, you dont feel so bad with parking lot events

I NEVER SAID BUY NEW; you assumed that. I also don't want a bunch of junkyard, re-built, worry-wart, near death, white trash autos in my car inventory; always wondering if and when it will fail yet again and leave me and my loved ones stranded. I have near zero issues with near new cars I buy and that I maintain exactly as should be AND that I don't drive like I stole them. Most folks I know that do the constant rebuild method are almost always out more in the long run they I am in my methods and are always calling me to come give them a lift at the dead zone or back and forth while theirs is in the shop! NO THANKS!

 

[bhelms]

I have had a variety of new, "lightly" used, and junkers over my driving life. For pleasure and (supposedly) best reliability, buy new. But expect to spend 50-100% more cost per mile for the privilege. On the other extreme you have a low cost per mile, but probable low reliability. (Not a bad option for DIYers who can afford an occasional "broke down day", or have alternate transportation readily available, and in fact that's exactly how many of us learned about cars !!) Somewhere in the middle is perhaps the best option. From the pure lifecycle cost standpoint the best choice is to buy a vehicle that exactly fits your needs (no more, no less) that's 2-3 years old (i.e., ~50% depreciated) then run it until it drops. A variation on that might be to run it until a major repair is necessary or imminent - like a slipping transmission - then sell that one, rinse and repeat. Agreeing with Charper, no matter what level you choose regular maintenance is a must, and to be sure how you treat them on the road is a major factor as well...

 

[navychop]

And every year, there's less and less we can work on, on our own cars! I laughed when I first heard it, but now I'm wondering if we really will see sealed hoods.

 

[vegassatellite]

And every year, there's less and less we can work on, on our own cars! I laughed when I first heard it, but now I'm wondering if we really will see sealed hoods.

Exactly. My 93 Suburban has few components I'm not willing to tinker with. Unless it requires some specialty tool or the cost of doing it myself versus hiring the job out isn't right, I will always fix it myself. I look under some of these new car hoods, and I start scratching my head. I've even known good mechanics running their own shops who feel that these newest cars are being designed more for the dealership service department to repair them than just your average Joe's Garage.

 

[jayn_j]

And every year, there's less and less we can work on, on our own cars! I laughed when I first heard it, but now I'm wondering if we really will see sealed hoods.

Check out the Porsche Boxster. Small engine access panel for adding oil. For everything else you have to jack the car up and drop the engine out the bottom.

 

[dodge]

Chrysler Minvans

I see no problem with the 3.0 L mitsubitchi engine, dad had one burned no oil and was beat on severely be me.

Had 165,000 miles when we got rid of it and burned no oil.

Look around see what the same van sells for used in your area and do the comparison, so one elses junk whn you have no idea what has been done or what needs to be done.

Look around for 5-6 yr old vans as the way the economy is now who knows what the future of your job may hold.

 

[Bob Haller]

3.0 engines are known oil seal burners. having had 5 with blue smoke i speak from experience.

Once I sat at a light as a blue cloud enveloped my van and a police car. tim my buddy was with me laughing you are going to get a ticket.

fortunately nothing happened........

the oil seals were redesigned several times, one of my vans had them done twice. still wafts of blue smoke

sitting idiling long time isnt bad usually till you pull out.

BIG CLOUD

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Bob is the same van she tore the transmission out of a few weeks ago?

 

[Inno]

IMO, you can do a LOT of repairs to a vehicle for what you'd pay to purchase a new one or a newer used one. Lets say your payments are $300 a month for maybe 3 years, that's almost $11,000.........Unless you have a complete lemon you'll never spend that much in repairs.
Also, there's nothing saying you'll buy a newer used one and have no trouble with it, you could be taking on someone else's nightmare. Just ask my brother, he can't pick a decent used vehicle to save his life!!! I've had much better luck. I guess my point is, you know your vehicle, you know it's problems and it's service history. I'd think based on that it's a much safer bet.

 

[Van]

If the van had 300k+ in miles then yes I can see it starting to quater and dollar a person to death but dodge caravans for the most part are better than the average for reliability except on the A604 transmissions. I've had my caravan for 3 years paying 3 grand for it and had to replace the trans last year with 150k miles on it and it was the first though I believe navychop had to replace his every 30k or 40k on his van. Things that have been replaced have been the sun visor clip radiator ( minor acident) tires brake pads and trans and whats left to replace is the missing a/c pump along with a split seam mufflerboth rear bearings and some suspension parts. The engine doesnt smoke or leak oil but uses a quart every 3k miles wich is better than the average and it does ride down the road good.

 

[jayn_j]

And every year, there's less and less we can work on, on our own cars! I laughed when I first heard it, but now I'm wondering if we really will see sealed hoods.

Actually, I see that somewhat differently. Every year there is less and less that WE HAVE TO WORK ON in our cars.

I think back to the late '60s. Points every 6-8k, plugs every 12k, carb rebuild every 30k, repack wheel bearings every 30k, grease suspension every 6-8k, mess with idle adjustments every other weekend. All that stuff is nostalgia now.

 

[navychop]

You have a good point there.