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| Oh what a sad day, when it came time to part with the good old minivan. Let me backtrack to the beginning of my time with the van... December of 1993 we brought the 1987 Grand Caravan home from Cutter Ford in Aiea, Hawaii on the island of Oahu. Yes, it was used. But we needed a larger vehicle and weren't able to get a brand spanking new one... We traded our 1988 Sentra for this van. Took some getting used to from the smaller car. But it was great. Trips to the beach, we could take more stuff... Crossing the Pali highway no longer required us to turn off the A/C to get up the hill... Oh, the stuff this thing could haul! When we bought this van, we also bought a used car warranty, and I'm glad we did. In short order, the van blew up its A/C system, power steering pump and left front wheel bearing. All covered by that warranty. May of 94 and it was time to leave Hawaii, the van was sent to Los Angeles by ship, and we joined it two weeks later. The van made for an enjoyable trip cross country. Each kid had a seat to themselves. It was a very pleasant trip overall... November of 95 I had to replace the water pump. What a job that was. Yikes... July 4, 96 required a new radiator, and sometime later in 96 it needed front brakes. October of 97 saw a replacement for my 84 Celebrity, it was a 94 Chysler Concorde. The 'Corde became the family car, and the van became my commuter... By this time, the van was starting to show some age. It had been abused by me greatly. July of 98 and we moved from San Diego to the desert... Loaded the van with just about everything we needed, the rest was taken care of by the moving company. I already had a slight oil leak, but the end of the trip saw me with a bigger leak than before. And the C/V joints had been hollering for a while too. In Nov of 98, I finally replaced the leaking front crank seal. What a chore THAT was. Sometime in 99 I did another brake job. I also replaced the rear shocks. In the spring of 2000 I replaced the left steering knuckle wheel bearing and axle. About 9 months later, I replaced the right shaft. Feb of 2001 I had the pinch bolt fall out of the steering knuckle. This little bolt holds the knuckle to the lower balljoint... The van came to an abrupt stop in the middle of an intersection while turning. A Jeep owner had all the tools I needed to get the van sort of fixed, enough so that when the cops showed up, they were in time to help push the van out of the way. I later returned and filled the tranny back up with fluid and drove it home... Thanks Brian... Summer of 2001 and the harmonic balancer chewed up the front of the crankshaft, a new shaft was put in place at 195,000 miles. A look inside the cylinders showed ORIGINAL HONING CROSSHATCHING!!!! So I left the top end of the motor alone! The van was mostly used around town until September of 2002 when it was pressed into service for the daily 140 mile commute. All I did was replace the rear the rear wheel bearings, and the inner and outer tie rod ends But finally, the van was replaced in March of 2003. In May 2003, the van found a new home... I don't expect to do any updates to this page, except maybe to add a photo. I miss the van, and would like anotehr, but it doesn't fit with what we need right now. In the future, who knows... Below, you will find links for minivan stories, modifications, and repair links. Maybe even links to racing vans and such. Stay tuned... |
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