TerryB

Ha! I must have been thinking about beer, Drysdale it is.

I often watch the B&W reruns of the Andy Griffith’s show for the cars featured in it (I can’t believe I’m admitting to that). Never realized how many Ford products were featured in the show. Opie was a cool kid to be able to get rides in a Ford police car. Grandpa Munster was always a favorite too as were the Mopars used by Mr.Clydesdale in the Beverly Hillbillies. And Happy Fathers Day to all those dads who tolerated our raids on their toolboxes and our attempts to make the family car a cooler ride!

The June 2018 issue of Hemmings Classic Car had a good write up on these cars and how they are a good value and often overlooked by the old car community. Might want to find an issue and see what they have to say as you make your decisions.

Physics says raising the pressure of water increases the temperature at which it boils.

We spoke to several people with modified vans before making a purchase. All had some kind of issue, some were minor and most all were related to the modifications to make the ramp work or the kneeling work. None had engine issues like ours. We had several issues with the conversion that were able to be sorted out quickly. I can live with minor conversion glitches but this engine malfunction is maddening given it’s hot weather adversion to running during the best time of the year to go places. Ive been reviewing options to buy a Toyota or Honda. We looked at a new Toyota back 4 years ago and it was $80k out the door. Crazy! Maybe we will get this resolved but I’m not holding my breath.

Some of the things mentioned so far like vacuum or intake leak, temperature sensor, air mass sensor and others was also mentioned by the independent shop I spoke to today. This is a lot more than the dealer ever brought up in our previous discussions. I get the impression the independent shop is not under the gun to get it in and out in XX minutes so that the next customer in line is not held up. I hope I can soon get on with this event. There are others I know facing much bigger life issues than how a car is running so I’m not trying to blow this setback out of real world proportion but when life is giving you lemons I sure hope the resulting yellow juice is really lemonade. Terry

In the world of wheelchair modified vans, Toyota and Honda are priced as fine wine and Dodge is beer. We had a beer budget when we got the van. In Dodge defense, we had a 2007 Gran Caravan and a 2008 Caliber that had given good service so the beer priced Dodge did not seem like a big gamble plus the modification was done by a big company in the modification business. But still there can be issues with any of them due to the extensive mods they go through. Its a dirty little secret in the wheelchair van world that none of them will ever get a JD Power award for reliability. Everyone we spoke to had some issue with their van. Some were simple and others were more complex or frustrating like our experience. What is needed is a purpose built platform for them designed from the ground up to do the job. A few companies have tried but could not make a profit doing it considering the small volume market it serves. On Monday we are taking it to a small local guy who is well recommended. Naturally it’s on our dime but who knows, maybe his box of magic tricks will be what we need.

From my days working in the electronics world I would go slow with the connections to the switch as having it disconnected can often be a sign of a problem someone did not want to deal with and took the easy way out to solve.

I’m in PA, about 20 miles east of Hershey. The dealership’s best tech gave it the bad fuel diagnosis. I understand the modification may create issues, it’s just so strange it’s an outside air temp sensitive problem. Drive it at the arctic circle and all is fine! The most obvious answer is to get rid of it and go even deeper in debt which is a last resort option. The other thing I hate is the thought of passing this on to some other person who, like me, is in a tough situation and needs a van to get around. They should not have to go through the problems like we have had on top of all the other issues they have to deal with every day. I know all too well what that’s like. It took a year of scrimping and saving to get this van in 2014. My wife and I thought it was the answer to our prayers as I had been housebound for over a year until we got it. My wife drives as I am unable to do that and she gets rattled when the van acts up knowing we have few if any options to get me home if the van quits. We have AAA but ask them how they will transport a man in a wheelchair if the car has to be towed. All they can offer is they won’t let me on the side of the road. I appreciate all the responses so far! Terry

This is a request for help with a modern automobile. If I was not so desperate I would not waste your time by posting it here so I hope you don’t mind or move it if necessary to a better place. My wife and I own a 2013 Dodge Caravan with the 3.6 engine. It’s a wheelchair conversion van to transport me as I am a paraplegic and amputee thanks to a driver that didn’t see me on my motorcycle. The 2013 Dodge van was purchased in 2014 with 10k miles on it. The insane problem it has is that the engine will not run without all kinds of missfires and check engine code generation when the outside temperature exceeds 80 degrees. This is now going on for the start of the fourth summer with yesterday’s malfunction and check engine light signaling the start of it again. Two years ago the cylinder head was replaced as that was thought to be the issue but that has not stopped the problems. The car acts as if it’s running on extended choke when restarted from warm. The engine misses and bucks and has no power but will eventually calm down. This only happens when the outside temp exceeds 75 degrees. All winter it was fine with zero problems. Now that the temps here are going on the plus side of 80 it’s starting again and yesterday it did a new twist and began to run extremely rough just cruising down the road at 50 mph. The car filled with a rich fuel or overheated cat smell and the famous check engine light came on again as usual. Eventually the engine calmed down and ran ok. A local non Dodge garage read the code and got an O2 sensor code. This is a first. Usually it generates a multiple cylinder misfire code which drives the technician crazy. The local garage also said there was a momentary misfire on #2 cyl reported that went away. We had similar problem last year and the Dodge dealer tech said it was bad gas and did nothing more. So here we are a year later and the problems are starting again in the summer heat. We have a Chrysler extended warranty on the vehicle but I’m not sure what it’s worth as our dealer has seen the car at least 8 or 10 times in the 4 years we owned it. To recap, it runs rough in 80+ degree heat, the cyl head defect on this engine has been replaced once by Chrysler at the local dealership as well as at least one previous O2 sensor replacements. Most common code generated is multiple cyl misfires and yesterday was an oxygen sensor code. This van is my legs, I cannot use something else. We have a ton of money invested in it due to the ramp / handicap conversion. The vehicle has 26,000 miles on it now. I don’t know what to do short of moving to some place where the temps never exceed 60 degrees. Thank you, Terry

Looks like the bargain of the week! Nice car. Terry

How I wish I could locate the photo I have of my father standing next to a 1948 Chrysler he bought in the early 1950s. He was a fan of Chrysler’s all his life. I got my shade tree mechanic skills from him as our cars usually came from the back lot line up at the local used car dealerships. Terry

Nice item, too bad it’s not used on a Packard automobile.

Part number would put it about 1967 to 1969 vintage. A little Google images checking should narrow it down.

As long as you don’t have any excessive current draw from an accessory like a clock you should be ok. A trickle charger only sends a small charging current to the battery. It’s common on motorcycles to do what you suggest, I used a trickle charger with external connection to the battery for years on my motorcycles.

Looks like you will do quite well with this one!

Would love to but I’m no longer able to drive. I like cars like yours that are outside the typical Ford or Chevy offering. They represent a time when automobile manufacturers used style to differentiate themselves from the competition. Good luck with the sale! Terry

I really like the color! Nice car indeed.

Oh how it hurts to see these 1980s ads in the AACA library. It really can’t be that long ago I was in the showrooms looking at them and then purchasing a 1983 Camaro Z-28. Bright red with a five speed no less! Time sure does fly by.

Just bought some Cooper tires for our 2013 Dodge Grand Caravan. So far, very good ride and reasonable price.

Get a trophy at a local shop and put your wife name on it. You can then tell all your friends you have a “trophy” wife! Problem solved. most of my trophies have fire company or some other non profits name on them as that’s who gave them out. I believe my real name is third place as that’s what the trophies have printed on them. Actually, I’m glad to hear your wife is so involved and supportive of the hobby.

Walt will be 98 in two years. I’m sure he will be happy to be driving at all.

I get a lot of my Craftsman stuff at my local ACE hardware store. The family owners of the store have been in business for over 130 years. Needless to say customer service there is excellent.

Too much emphasis placed on price and not enough on quality these days. The Sears K-Mart merger killed both companies. Sears is killing itself from within by selling off the only things that make money for them. Retail today is a tough market with so much on line competition. I like brick and mortar places that still care for their customers and offer service after the sale. Sadly they are getting fewer in number.

We get to the point where we all have to make a decision like this in our lifetime. At 96 the Tesla or similar new car better fits his needs over the Hudson for a multitude of reasons. I realize it’s blasphemy to hear he says he really likes his new car.