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I have a 96 chrysler town and country van with about 76k on it.
A month ago I had a new tire put on and they balanced the tires. Still needs alignment I think though but its not nearly as off as it was.
I also recently I changed the oil on it because it was nearly gone and blackened and was making this ticking sound. I also changed the filter and it is surely on tight. It fixed the noise and felt smoother to drive.
Anyways ever since that time the oil gauge has been stuck on empty and always blinks and makes a sound to check engine. I know there is sufficient oil and the filter is on really tight. Also, the other thing is when I turn on the lights the high beams symbol comes on no matter if they are on or not. These are just the minor problems.
3 days ago my van started making this noise the sound of a crappy lawnmower (sort of) when I accelerate- and it shakes, the car the wheel, everything. It also accelerates really slowly. I can get it to not do this by ever so slightly pressing the pedal and gaining 1mph per second or so, but its slow and I am afraid to drive it because it might get worse or break down.
I also noticed that the RPMs at certain points seemed to get stuck and jump back and forth and not allow me to accelerate at all at times. It seems to be when the car is shifting gears or at the top of a gear. This also increases the shaking and noise. It lasts for a little while or until I lay off the gas for a few seconds and try again.
I haven't had time to take it anywhere yet but someone said it costs 90$ for them just to look at it and run diagnostics. That can't be right can it?
PS- Is it bad to slowly come to a stop by releasing the gas and not breaking? Would that cause the transmission to wear out faster? Should I always break down to speed, even if there is tons of distance to coast to a stop?
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wtf why are you still driving that, get it to shop asap
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Unless you have multiple spark plugs failing (running on like 2 cylinders), it sounds like your transmission is dying. With a '96, that would mean scrapping it. My '93 had very similar problems 2-3 years ago, and we were lucky to get 500 in trade-in for it.
I'd take it to a mechanic that isn't gonna charge you much at all if you decide not to get any work done (i.e. scrap it or trade it in). Don't places like Auto-Zone offer free or really cheap diagnostic computer checks? I may be hallucinating on this, but I think they used to.
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United States24660 Posts
On August 14 2008 08:58 CharlieMurphy wrote:
PS- Is it bad to slowly come to a stop by releasing the gas and not breaking? Would that cause the transmission to wear out faster? Should I always break down to speed, even if there is tons of distance to coast to a stop?
In an automatic transmission (I assume that's what you have) coasting is fine...should be fine in a manual also so long as you don't let the rpm get below ~1000
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yea its an Auto Transmission with v6 3.3 liter
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On August 14 2008 09:03 XCetron wrote:
wtf why are you still driving that, get it to shop asap
I'm not, its sitting in the driveway and I've been using my mom's car.
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On August 14 2008 09:10 LonelyMargarita wrote:
Unless you have multiple spark plugs failing (running on like 2 cylinders), it sounds like your transmission is dying. With a '96, that would mean scrapping it. My '93 had very similar problems 2-3 years ago, and we were lucky to get 500 in trade-in for it.
I'd take it to a mechanic that isn't gonna charge you much at all if you decide not to get any work done (i.e. scrap it or trade it in). Don't places like Auto-Zone offer free or really cheap diagnostic computer checks? I may be hallucinating on this, but I think they used to.
If it is dying that sucks because I am still paying up to 2k for it 100$ a month since last October (plus a 500 deposit).
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Don't get suckered into doing diagnostics for $90. If you're even remotely friendly with mechanics, most will do it for free.
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On August 14 2008 09:22 CharlieMurphy wrote:Show nested quote +On August 14 2008 09:10 LonelyMargarita wrote:
Unless you have multiple spark plugs failing (running on like 2 cylinders), it sounds like your transmission is dying. With a '96, that would mean scrapping it. My '93 had very similar problems 2-3 years ago, and we were lucky to get 500 in trade-in for it.
I'd take it to a mechanic that isn't gonna charge you much at all if you decide not to get any work done (i.e. scrap it or trade it in). Don't places like Auto-Zone offer free or really cheap diagnostic computer checks? I may be hallucinating on this, but I think they used to. If it is dying that sucks because I am still paying up to 2k for it 100$ a month since last October (plus a 500 deposit).
How do you still owe 2k on a car that's not even worth 2k even if it didn't have problems? You shouldn't be driving it with its symptoms. Transmission problems with an auto can lead to stalling. Mine did fairly regularly, and sometimes when making left turns across streets that don't stop. You lose power steering and brakes, and have to pray it starts before the oncoming traffic hits you.
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On August 14 2008 09:25 Hawk wrote:
Don't get suckered into doing diagnostics for $90. If you're even remotely friendly with mechanics, most will do it for free.
I don't know any, and I told my mom there is no way it cost 90$ just to hook it up and run some tests.
I'm sure the mechanics could probably even narrow it down to just a couple things after running it for a minute and then checking their assumptions and confirming the correct diagnosis.
On August 14 2008 09:26 LonelyMargarita wrote:Show nested quote +On August 14 2008 09:22 CharlieMurphy wrote:On August 14 2008 09:10 LonelyMargarita wrote:
Unless you have multiple spark plugs failing (running on like 2 cylinders), it sounds like your transmission is dying. With a '96, that would mean scrapping it. My '93 had very similar problems 2-3 years ago, and we were lucky to get 500 in trade-in for it.
I'd take it to a mechanic that isn't gonna charge you much at all if you decide not to get any work done (i.e. scrap it or trade it in). Don't places like Auto-Zone offer free or really cheap diagnostic computer checks? I may be hallucinating on this, but I think they used to. If it is dying that sucks because I am still paying up to 2k for it 100$ a month since last October (plus a 500 deposit). How do you still owe 2k on a car that's not even worth 2k even if it didn't have problems? You shouldn't be driving it with its symptoms. Transmission problems with an auto can lead to stalling. Mine did fairly regularly, and sometimes when making left turns across streets that don't stop. You lose power steering and brakes, and have to pray it starts before the oncoming traffic hits you.
Its was worth about 3k, the only problems it had when I got it was cosmetic stuff and the windows is busted (which I was planning to get fixed until this happened). As I said, I'm not driving it currently.
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90 bucks for diagnostics is pretty high. even in irvine, where prices are jacked up, its about 60.
heres a couple of things you can do:
- find an autozone near you. they let you use car computer scanners for free, and thatll help point out the problems.
- find a car buff friend to look under the hood and see if he notices any immediate issues
- shop around. when my oxygen sensor went out, i called around to get some estimates. one place was looking to charge 350, another gave an estimate 250. huge difference. (of course, my friend helped me with that, so all i had to pay was the cost of the part)
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It does sound like your Transmission, but I don't think that would set off your Check Engine Light.
Turn your AC all the way up and see how cold it gets. If it doesn't feel like it's even working (i.e. feels just like a fan instead of AC), it might be Ignition Coil.
Only really good way to tell is to run a Diagnostic. Diagnostics can run anywhere from $40-100. It just depends where and who does it.
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I don't know any car people. T_T Someone nearby wanna sign up?
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On August 14 2008 09:47 TheosEx wrote:
It does sound like your Transmission, but I don't think that would set off your Check Engine Light.
Turn your AC all the way up and see how cold it gets. If it doesn't feel like it's even working (i.e. feels just like a fan instead of AC), it might be Ignition Coil.
Only really good way to tell is to run a Diagnostic. Diagnostics can run anywhere from $40-100. It just depends where and who does it.
I never use the AC I don't even know if it ever worked. The check engine light isn't on, it just makes this beep sound every so often and shows the oil gauge on low.
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You really should get a diagnostic run on it. By how it sounds, it be worse later on. Even if you spend the money now on a Diagnostic, at least you know if it's something you need immediately (which it sounds like) or something you can hold off on.
If you absolutely can't find someone to run a diagnostic for free, find the cheapest place. Just say:
"I just need a computer diagnostic on my car. I just want to know the error code it shows, so maybe I can do it myself. How much is that going to cost me?"
Most places add other costs to their diagnostic services that bring the prices way up. Some places will let you get away with only doing a diagnostic for a few bucks, since they already have the equipment and it doesn't take any actual work. They just hook-up the car to a computer and the car spits out an error code.
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My mom said that a Firestone guy agreed to do it for free tomorrow. Fingas crossed
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Autozone still lets you read the codes for free yeah? Check your air filter too, that takes a second.
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I'm hoping its just something loose or something simple that needs to be replaced like that.
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On August 15 2008 08:10 CharlieMurphy wrote:
My mom said that a Firestone guy agreed to do it for free tomorrow. Fingas crossed
my mom is a fucking moron and/or they tricked her. She came home with a 99$ bill for running the diagnostic after telling me its free. Is there any way I can get out of paying this? She fuckin signed this form saying she owes 99$.. I never told her to 'do whatever for whatever cost'. Can I go in there and tell them that they weren't supposed to run this test, only a free Inspection?
Anyways, They ran the tests and there is some electronic computer shit they wanna do to fix the gauges and what not for like 600$, pfft yea right. Anyways the main problem is the Spark plugs probably need to be changed. How much do they usually cost? How much would the labor on that cost and could I just do it myself fairly easily with a guide?
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On August 17 2008 15:11 CharlieMurphy wrote:Show nested quote +On August 15 2008 08:10 CharlieMurphy wrote:
My mom said that a Firestone guy agreed to do it for free tomorrow. Fingas crossed my mom is a fucking moron and/or they tricked her. She came home with a 99$ bill for running the diagnostic after telling me its free. Is there any way I can get out of paying this? She fuckin signed this form saying she owes 99$.. I never told her to 'do whatever for whatever cost'. Can I go in there and tell them that they weren't supposed to run this test, only a free Inspection? Anyways, They ran the tests and there is some electronic computer shit they wanna do to fix the gauges and what not for like 600$, pfft yea right. Anyways the main problem is the Spark plugs probably need to be changed. How much do they usually cost? How much would the labor on that cost and could I just do it myself fairly easily with a guide?
Spark plugs take like ~1 hour to do, if you read it out of a manual it should be fairly simple and then maybe like ~2 hours for you, but it is quite cheap, and it is a good thing to know how to change your spark plugs, because they need to be inspected pretty often.
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EPT
