Every person seems to have a connection to the http://www….

The normal fellow would might feel that spending the time to do opinions on this matter is a waste of money….

I mean come on! If it is in such bad shape why would they want it? Think about it!

Fix the van and keep it.

Get a slightly used car/van (obviously) that is reliable for your family. No reason to take a big risk when it comes to family in your death van (only kidding).

Great stuff, glad you posed a question so we all could “evaluate” what we would do in the situation.

I have been a faithful follower of yours for some time now. If you get some time check out http://www.chriskakaras.com (it is a personal finance advice site updated daily).

Good luck with the car situation. God Bless!

But there are other options. You could have the tranny rebuilt, for example, which (can be) much cheaper – but you will have to find a good non-dealer mechanic for that. Dealers can swap parts but I don’t think they can do much else.

I agree with Changing is Living, your car is still young. You should only trade it if you really do want a new(er) car.

Some items on your list…

transmission unit: what exactly is wrong with it? how is it behaving? can you tell something is wrong, or did they just tell you its dying? simple things, like being low on fluid, can make it skip shifts, etc.

cooler lines: the tranny cooler lines? these will probably be replaced with the new tranny anyway. Heck they will probably be included with the new unit. If you just need new coolant hoses (which need to be replaced regularly – if it hasn’t been done on a 134k car, do it!) that’s a great way to get started doing your own repairs and the guys at a parts store will be happy to help you figure it out. You literally just need a pair of pliers and 10 minutes, and it will save you a ton of money.

struts: go to a suspension place and have them do it. if for no other reason than the dealer part is 2-3 times more expensive than the same aftermarket part.

sway bar links: does the vehicle feel different on turns? do you have any clunking? the bushings could be bad, not untypical on a 135k car.

instrument cluster: do any gauges on your car not work? this one has me scratching my head as it would be pretty obvious if your instrument cluster wasn’t working.

belt: this needs to be replaced according to regular service, so check the last time you did it – you definitely want to get this done, but I don’t know if I would want to pay dealer labor for such a simple job…a lot of those oil change guys will replace this.

tensioner, idler pulley: what did they say was wrong exactly? they might just need some grease (the tensioner is also a pulley and it basically keeps your drive belt right). do they just want to adjust the tensioner? that has to be done with a belt replacement anyway!

coolant fan module: is the coolant fan not working? I think you would notice because you would be overheating at traffic lights. I recently replaced my module…because my fan wasn’t running! turn on your vehicle and watch to see if your fan kicks in after it warms up. if it does, and you’re not overheating, I don’t see why they want to replace this.

“advise customer to trade“: Of course it does…you trade it for a few pennies, they fix everything for next to nothing and sell it for a huge profit, plus sell you a car from their floor!

Here’s a couple of stories: My mother’s door hinge was popping. When I visited her I noticed the pin holding the door strap to the hinge had slipped out. I popped it back in and all was well. Several months later it happened again (when I was not in town) – what she NEEDED was either 2 small caps on both sides of the pin to hold it in place, or to replace it with a small nut&bolt – about 50 cents and 5 minutes of labor either way. So she went to the dealer, a reputable one, and what did they say? She needed a whole new door and hinge. All parts and labor, welding, plus repaint would have cost $5k. She traded it in for a new car instead.

About 4 months ago my fan went out (unrelated to my failed module) and thanks to a recall, I could get a new one for free – but I had to let the dealer do the work. My car is in excellent condition (115k miles, 2000) and you guessed it – they had about a dozen “necessary” repairs. Of course I personally inspected each thing they mentioned and they were full of it.

For all we know you may not have maintained it and the thing is falling apart …but just based on my experience, there probably isn’t half of the things wrong with it that the dealer is telling you. More info is needed to give you any good suggestions.

I once traded a paid-for car for a brand-spankin’ new truck because I didn’t want to pay for brake work on the paid-for car. Yeah, I was just outta college.

Of the dumb things I’ve done, it’s right near the top.

I guess what I’m saying is, fix the van.