OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
So I was back from Texas for less than 24hrs when my wife asks if I could take a look at her friend's van, which apparently had been out of commission for over a month. I knew it was a MOPAR product but couldn't remember whether it was a Caravan or Voyager, not that it mattered. Apparently it wouldn't start.
My wife lends her the '06 to go get groceries and when she returns my wife brings up me taking a look at it. The conversation then entered the land of people with questionable aptitude who probably should not be touching vehicles and she's trying to replace this van because of it not starting. I discuss with her the merits of holding onto a vehicle that she "knows" versus buying another cheap used vehicle that is a whole other can of worms in terms of unknowns. She acknowledges this and then expresses that she is just extremely frustrated.
So I ask her what it is doing, she said it was randomly dying and then simply wouldn't start the one day. She had a "mechanic" friend come over and he:
1. Replaced the coil pack. No change.
2. Took the ECM with him because he was sure it was the ECM (WTH???) because his "reader" showed it had misfires (same reason he changed the coil pack).
3. Was going to come and change all the spark plugs (which had not happened yet) when she got frustrated and got him to return the ECM.
4. Said it needed a fuel pump.
He had then apparently cranked it until the battery died and then told her she probably needed a starter
I brought over one of my battery chargers since it was late (and dark), hooked it up and said I'd take a look at it the afternoon of the following day when the battery would be charged and we'd have light.
So with daylight on my side I discover that he had not put the ECM back. It was connected, but it was just laying in the engine bay
I decided I'd fix that later.
Do some basic troubleshooting:
1. Get her to turn the key on with my head near the tank: Yes, the fuel pump is coming on.
2. Check line pressure at the rail. Yes, we have fuel pressure.
3. Check for spark. Nope, we have no spark. Check the connection to the coil pack, it is not in great shape, the harness has been "repaired" and somebody broke the connector at the coil pack.
4. Closely examine "repair" which looked like a Jerry-Rig (electrical tape) and am able to easily pull one of the connections out of the electrical tape. Problem found I think to myself.
So I remove the electrical tape from the connection that was broken, discover that whomever had done the "repair" had simply twisted the wires together (no solder or shrink). I reconnect them, have her roll the van over and it starts right up.
At this point I have her drive the van over to my place so I can properly fix this. When she gets there I'm noticing the van seems to have the transmission slipping. She informs me that the cable is not well connected since she had the transmission replaced not long before this other issue started. I'm a little concerned what I might find.
And how
So the shift cable is literally just draped over the top of the pole for the gear selector. The attachment and bushing is missing. Apparently the guy that swapped out the transmission decided that zip ties were sufficient here. They weren't.
I priced out a cable (the piece does not come separately) through my dealer and told her once we've determined that the transmission may hold up, that I could install it for her. I was concerned at the quality of the work performed, though it looked as though the transmission install, aside from the cable MIGHT have been OK.
So, I cut out the hacked coil wiring and solder and weather shrink'd it back together. Cleaned and then put some dielectric grease on the plug and it was running like a champ. Though I am concerned about the harness and why it was cut into in the first place.
This led me to take a look at the shift cable issue and work a temporary solution that was safe enough for her until we could change the cable. Pulling off the air intake tubing, nothing had been tightened down
There was visible dirt in the intake tract, which, unfortunately, was not surprising.
I was able to use a rubber bushing I had in my toolbox to firm up the connection, then I capped it with a washer and clamped it firmly with a miniature C-clamp. Tested it, it worked properly. I told her that this was only temporary and it would need to be fixed properly soon.
Then checked the transmission fluid level. It wasn't on the stick.
Put in a quart of AMSOIL Multi-Vehicle (yes, this takes ATF+4, I didn't have any and this fluid is "compatible"). Boom, we had gears. It was barely on the stick. Capacity is 9.1 quarts. I put in two more quarts and it JUST brought it to the bottom of the safe range, but I had no more fluid left. I advised that this would need to be rectified and that she would need to watch for fluid loss (there was no visible leaking) as either it was improperly filled when the transmission was replaced or it was losing fluid. Either wasn't good.
Re-attached and properly tightened all the intake plumbing, re-attached the ECM to the fender, re-attached the power steering reservoir which was floating around the engine bay and brought it up to the safe level (it was extremely low) and then took it for a test drive. Worked as well as one could expect for a vehicle this poorly maintained.
I hooked up my scanner, there were codes for both banks misfiring (not surprising given the connection situation) as well as a pending one for the transmission (again, not surprising). I cleared them, test drove it, and nothing came back.
She's now driving the van and it is working properly. Saved her a huge chunk of money, as she'll only be out around $140 for the cable assembly once I am comfortable that replacing it is worthwhile. The van has roughly 200,000Km on it (120,000 miles). This is its 2nd transmission, the first one died because it somehow ended up with a hole in the case. She didn't seem to know how that happened
Anyways, I've done my good deed for the week and hopefully she won't let the people who worked on this thing touch it again. I simply cannot believe some people.
My wife lends her the '06 to go get groceries and when she returns my wife brings up me taking a look at it. The conversation then entered the land of people with questionable aptitude who probably should not be touching vehicles and she's trying to replace this van because of it not starting. I discuss with her the merits of holding onto a vehicle that she "knows" versus buying another cheap used vehicle that is a whole other can of worms in terms of unknowns. She acknowledges this and then expresses that she is just extremely frustrated.
So I ask her what it is doing, she said it was randomly dying and then simply wouldn't start the one day. She had a "mechanic" friend come over and he:
1. Replaced the coil pack. No change.
2. Took the ECM with him because he was sure it was the ECM (WTH???) because his "reader" showed it had misfires (same reason he changed the coil pack).
3. Was going to come and change all the spark plugs (which had not happened yet) when she got frustrated and got him to return the ECM.
4. Said it needed a fuel pump.
He had then apparently cranked it until the battery died and then told her she probably needed a starter
I brought over one of my battery chargers since it was late (and dark), hooked it up and said I'd take a look at it the afternoon of the following day when the battery would be charged and we'd have light.
So with daylight on my side I discover that he had not put the ECM back. It was connected, but it was just laying in the engine bay
Do some basic troubleshooting:
1. Get her to turn the key on with my head near the tank: Yes, the fuel pump is coming on.
2. Check line pressure at the rail. Yes, we have fuel pressure.
3. Check for spark. Nope, we have no spark. Check the connection to the coil pack, it is not in great shape, the harness has been "repaired" and somebody broke the connector at the coil pack.
4. Closely examine "repair" which looked like a Jerry-Rig (electrical tape) and am able to easily pull one of the connections out of the electrical tape. Problem found I think to myself.
So I remove the electrical tape from the connection that was broken, discover that whomever had done the "repair" had simply twisted the wires together (no solder or shrink). I reconnect them, have her roll the van over and it starts right up.
At this point I have her drive the van over to my place so I can properly fix this. When she gets there I'm noticing the van seems to have the transmission slipping. She informs me that the cable is not well connected since she had the transmission replaced not long before this other issue started. I'm a little concerned what I might find.
And how
So the shift cable is literally just draped over the top of the pole for the gear selector. The attachment and bushing is missing. Apparently the guy that swapped out the transmission decided that zip ties were sufficient here. They weren't.
I priced out a cable (the piece does not come separately) through my dealer and told her once we've determined that the transmission may hold up, that I could install it for her. I was concerned at the quality of the work performed, though it looked as though the transmission install, aside from the cable MIGHT have been OK.
So, I cut out the hacked coil wiring and solder and weather shrink'd it back together. Cleaned and then put some dielectric grease on the plug and it was running like a champ. Though I am concerned about the harness and why it was cut into in the first place.
This led me to take a look at the shift cable issue and work a temporary solution that was safe enough for her until we could change the cable. Pulling off the air intake tubing, nothing had been tightened down
I was able to use a rubber bushing I had in my toolbox to firm up the connection, then I capped it with a washer and clamped it firmly with a miniature C-clamp. Tested it, it worked properly. I told her that this was only temporary and it would need to be fixed properly soon.
Then checked the transmission fluid level. It wasn't on the stick.
Put in a quart of AMSOIL Multi-Vehicle (yes, this takes ATF+4, I didn't have any and this fluid is "compatible"). Boom, we had gears. It was barely on the stick. Capacity is 9.1 quarts. I put in two more quarts and it JUST brought it to the bottom of the safe range, but I had no more fluid left. I advised that this would need to be rectified and that she would need to watch for fluid loss (there was no visible leaking) as either it was improperly filled when the transmission was replaced or it was losing fluid. Either wasn't good.
Re-attached and properly tightened all the intake plumbing, re-attached the ECM to the fender, re-attached the power steering reservoir which was floating around the engine bay and brought it up to the safe level (it was extremely low) and then took it for a test drive. Worked as well as one could expect for a vehicle this poorly maintained.
I hooked up my scanner, there were codes for both banks misfiring (not surprising given the connection situation) as well as a pending one for the transmission (again, not surprising). I cleared them, test drove it, and nothing came back.
She's now driving the van and it is working properly. Saved her a huge chunk of money, as she'll only be out around $140 for the cable assembly once I am comfortable that replacing it is worthwhile. The van has roughly 200,000Km on it (120,000 miles). This is its 2nd transmission, the first one died because it somehow ended up with a hole in the case. She didn't seem to know how that happened
Anyways, I've done my good deed for the week and hopefully she won't let the people who worked on this thing touch it again. I simply cannot believe some people.
