Van Repairs

[kevin_standlee]

The Service Engine Soon light was caused by a sticking EGR valve, which my mechanic says appears to have been original with the vehicle. He speculates that it was probably the cause of the intermittent lights on the Denver trip.

Now there was a lot of work to be done. TUNE UP. REPLACE DIST. DUE TO BROKEN STATOR SHAFT. REPLACE DIST. CAP AND ROTOR. REPLACE SPARK PLUGS AND SPARK PLUG WIRES. REPLACE PCV VALVE AND FUEL FILTER. REMOVE THROTTLE BODY AND REPLACE GASKETS AND FUEL PRESSURE REGULATOR. SET TIMING. FOUND INTAKE MANIFOLD GASKET IS LEAKING VACUUM. REMOVE INTAKE MANIFOLD AND REPLACE GASKET. TORQUE ALL MANIFOLD BOLTS. REPLACE THERMOSTAT AND HEATER HOSE FITTING. FILL WITH COOLANT. TEST DRIVE.

And in the category of stuff contracted out:

SEND THROTTLE BODY BASE TO NOR-CAL CARB FOR SHAFT BUSHINGS.
SMOG CHECK [I needed to get a smog check done in order to re-register the van. It probably would have failed without some of the repairs he made.]

Total for all this: $1356. And that really sounds quite reasonable. He still feels bad about those crooks in Wells, even though he had nothing to do with it. If I'd given him a bit more time to work on it earlier in the summer, before the Denver trip, he would have had time to notice the degraded front-end parts and would have fixed them for far less than what the Wells guys did -- and my expense at Wells would have only been $35 for patching the tire.

And on top of all this, he worked until 6:30 this evening to get all of it done (including the work with his neighbor the smog check shop) rather than telling me, "I can't get it done today; you'll have to rent a car tomorrow to get to your 8 AM dentist appointment." And as it happened, his call telling me, "Everything is ready; come pick it up" came about five minutes after I got off a conference call with a project team with which I'm working in China, so I could trot the 2 km over to his shop and collect it.

The van runs much better now. I do still have to get the tires rotated and will have to come back to him after I come back from Oregon for a wheel alignment as well, but things are looking pretty good right now, except for the credit card bills for the repairs.

Comments

[redneckotaku.livejournal.com]

How many times have you rebuilt that van? I am amazed that you haven't gotten a new van or other more fuel efficent vehicle.

[kallisti.livejournal.com]

I've got a Dodge Caravan Sport, 1997 with the same EGR problem and "Service Engine Soon" light. Been that way for two years!

ttyl

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

It depends on what you mean by "rebuilt." The current engine has 55K miles on it. I had a new transmission put in a few months ago -- that's the second rebuild on that. And these repairs are mostly to parts that were original with the van, so it's not at all surprising that after >225K miles they are worn out.

Paying $2-3K in repairs each year is still less than the payments on a new vehicle would probably cost. You're right about the fuel efficiency, though.

A significant factor here is that Lisa would make my life difficult if I got a vehicle she didn't like. She picked out this van originally. (It cost me $6K used with 150K miles on it. The replacement engine was about $5K.) She dislikes most newer vehicles, and is particularly down on airbags, which she considers dangerous. Oddly enough, she has suggested me getting a Smart Car for commuting purposes, although such a vehicle wouldn't be at all comfortable or useful for cross-country trips.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Well, I would have had to have this fixed this month anyway, or else I would have failed the mandatory smog check and would have been unable to renew the registration. As it was, I only barely passed on one of the criteria.