Comments on: News About The Transmission… Not So Good

By: I Just Purchased A Minivan - Here’s How I Purchased Our Used (But New-To-Us) Vehicle Without Borrowing Any Money

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 21:24:55 +0000

[...] just finished finalizing a deal for a newer minivan. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the transmission in my current minivan is dying – and I’ve been looking for a good deal on a newer (slightly used) model that I can afford to [...]

By: credit card rating

credit card rating — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 21:29:10 +0000

credit card rating…

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

By: figure monthly mortgage payment

figure monthly mortgage payment — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:35:32 +0000

figure monthly mortgage payment…

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

By: BradM

BradM — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 22:09:02 +0000

If you do fix the transmission, find a reputable transmission place. Wouldn’t want an inexperienced person doing transmission work. I rebuilt one in my blazer and got a 1 year warranty on it and they offered assistance in multiple cities if there was problems.
Everything else seemed pretty minor.
This would be the priority list if fixed:
Get the transmission fixed, I would be tempted to rebuild the thing if you need to do any work to it.
Cooler fan module.
Everything else sounded like it was dry-rotted or wore out.
Not sure what the cooler lines are?
Sway bar links….may just need grease if any hasn’t been added for a while. If you take your car to get the oil change ask them to grease the chassis once/year.
But if you neglected these links for years, it MAY need replacing, but wouldn’t think so.
Struts may just be wore out…they can last until you decide to get rid of the car. It would just give you a better ride.
Belt may be dry-rotted…it will have cracks in it and fairly simple to replace.
Seriously doubt the idler pulley and the tensioner needs replacing.
Instrument Cluster? What about it? Couple bulbs out or something else? Sceptacle about this one. Heard of a couple of folks that had their whole electrical problems fixed when they replaced the instrument cluster. May look online and see if this is a re-occurring problem on this vehicle.
Hope this helps.

By: Jay

Jay — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 20:15:22 +0000

Hmmm, only two grand (much less when you get away from the dealer)? Get it fixed, and you’ll likely get at least 3 more years out of it! And I’d run, not walk from a dealer that recommends the customer trades in their vehicle when they bring it in for repairs.

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.