Ok, so there we are driving to the mountains for the weekend with the children and evertything all packed into the van when the lights on the dashboasrd start to flicker. I have been dealing with automobiles for years, so immediately I start thinking the alternator is going. Well, about 15 miles later the van hasn't stall4ed out yet and there haven't been any other major issues, so I just keep going. Next thing I know, the door locks are popping up and down, the radio is changing stations and shutting on and off by itself, and the rear power windows started to open on their own as well. Seeing as my wife and I have had nothing but problems with this jewel since we bought it, I figured it was just another hiccup.
Vacation over and home, I start ripping into the van and found the harness leading through the firewall was actually shorting out against the body causing everything to work in unison like that. Now, I don't know what this would have cost at a shop to fix as I did it in my driveway, but I know that it took me almost 2 full days to find and the parts alone(backyard repair) cost me over a hundred bucks.
Still occasionally have a problem with the radio clicking on and off while driving, but I am not gonna fix it, my wife only uses it while I am at work to bring the kids to doctor's and school, which neither are more than a mile from home. This will just be something added to the immensest long list of problems we have had with this since we bought it. Not bad, it's 6 years old, only had about 80,000 on it when this all happened and I've already had the engine out of it twice and replaced the transmission in it once, not to mention the stupid little things that keep going wrong with it.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Ok, so there we are driving to the mountains for the weekend with the children and evertything all packed into the van when the lights on the dashboasrd start to flicker. I have been dealing with automobiles for years, so immediately I start thinking the alternator is going. Well, about 15 miles later the van hasn't stall4ed out yet and there haven't been any other major issues, so I just keep going. Next thing I know, the door locks are popping up and down, the radio is changing stations and shutting on and off by itself, and the rear power windows started to open on their own as well. Seeing as my wife and I have had nothing but problems with this jewel since we bought it, I figured it was just another hiccup.
Vacation over and home, I start ripping into the van and found the harness leading through the firewall was actually shorting out against the body causing everything to work in unison like that. Now, I don't know what this would have cost at a shop to fix as I did it in my driveway, but I know that it took me almost 2 full days to find and the parts alone(backyard repair) cost me over a hundred bucks.
Still occasionally have a problem with the radio clicking on and off while driving, but I am not gonna fix it, my wife only uses it while I am at work to bring the kids to doctor's and school, which neither are more than a mile from home. This will just be something added to the immensest long list of problems we have had with this since we bought it. Not bad, it's 6 years old, only had about 80,000 on it when this all happened and I've already had the engine out of it twice and replaced the transmission in it once, not to mention the stupid little things that keep going wrong with it.
- Chris C., North Andover, MA, US