1994 Caravan Starting troubles

You would be surprised of how many tires are balanced properly and still
cause the vehicle to shake because of piss poor tires. And they are a dime a
dozen from all tire manufactures.

Glenn

 

I`m the blonde in the back row..You can see my name under the
photo..So there!

http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=13393

 

I went to the junkyard and got one today to try out..It was from a
95 Caravan but it looks fairly new so maybe whoever owned the van
replaced it not long before the thing got junked..Or else they had
replaced it thinking that would cure whatever they finally junked it
for...But the high temp is suppose to be 26 here tomorrow with high
winds so I may put off any sort of testing..Spent all day today
changing a starter for someone else

True...It just seemed odd to me that BOTH the old and the new
started would be faulty in the exact same manner..I guess it`s not
impossible it could happen...But we shall see..So far it still starts
but sometimes takes 2-5 tries..other times it will start 5 times in a
row on the first try

Yes..That`s the thing about testing..It can be testing perfectly
fine but that next time it`s turned on may be the time it doesn`t
work..Even if you test it 5 times maybe it will be the 6th time when
it fails

 

<
m>,

It would be a simple task to remove the solenoid cover and
inspect the contacts and plunger to see if your rebuilt actually
-was- rebuilt.

 

I'm surprised at how many tire installers will not inform customers
about bent wheels and install new tires on them anyway. Also, it
makes me cringe to think how many installers have so much faith in the
torque of the air gun.. whenever I get new tires, either I jack the
car up at home and carry just the wheels to the tire store in another
car, or I tell the guy I'm going to put the wheels back on myself with
my tire iron right there on the spot.

My cousin's F350 lost a wheel a couple weeks ago because the dip$hit
tire installer didn't bother to put a breaker bar and a socket on the
lugs after buzzing them on with the air wrench. My cousin said,
"it's a really bad feeling when you see a 41 inch tire rolling past
you at 60 mph"... i'll bet it is!

 

You have to much time on your hands

Not defending the loose tire thing but everyone makes mistakes. A rim,
especially alluminun ones can be installed with an air air gun or even a
torque wrench and still be binding at the hub and will loosen up after the
vheicle is driving several miles. It has happened to me in the past as
well.I wonder why your cousin didnt bother to locate what the problem was
that was making noise before the tire came off??? Im sure it didnt just pop
off with out a warning. And what kind of work do you do and what mistakes do
you make? Do you erase your mistakes with an erasure or back space the the
key board key?

Just a thought

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

That`s true..One time I was working on my old Astro van and intended
to go back and tinker some more so I just laid the hood down softly
instead of slamming it shut and before I knew it I had gotten 5 phone
calls and had to do some online work and suddenly it was late and I
decided to head home forgetting the hood wasn`t latched..Everything
was fine until I got on the interstate and accelerated up to 65 MPH..I
noticed the hood begin to flap slightly and instantly knew what was
wrong but before I could even say, "Oh Sh*t!" and reach for the brakes
the wind caught under the hood and pushed it like a sail and it
slammed flat back against the windshield at 65MPH shattering it
completely..Ugh.....But back to the tire thing...The local mass
transit company recently changed from steel to aluminum rims on all
their busses and didn`t change the wheel studs so as a result even
bottomed out the lugs weren`t totally tight and a number of busses
lost wheels...Who knows how many people changed those wheels or were
involved with the process but no one ever thought of that little glitch

 

Ha! Reminds me of the hilarious scene in the movie "Canonball Run".

Mel Tillis was driving one of the cars in the cross country street race
that the movie was about. He heads into this residential neighborhood
just flying, and the audience can see he is headed into a cul-de-sac
with a curb, some bushes just beyond the curb, and a swimming pool just
beyond the bushes. The front wheels hit the curb, the car goes
airborne, and the hood flies up and back against the windshield. With
the car flying in the air, heading for the swimming pool, you hear Mel
*sing* - not say, but sing to his passengers - "I can't see shit can you!?".

(For those of you that don't know who Mel Tillis is, he is a real life
country singer that has a stammering problem when he talks, but when he
sings, no stammer.)

I don't remember much else about the movie, but I will never forget that
scene.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Maybe so, but I take my personal safety seriously. And I damned sure
ain't going to take the word of Hector's air wrench when all he's
thinking about is his next burrito.

I was a mechanic for about 8 years myself.. obviously, not to the
credentialed level of yourself... I'm not saying I've never made
mistakes and that I don't still make mistakes. Fortunately, though,
none of my mistakes have almost cost someone his/her life.. True,
the wheel coming off most likely gave plenty of warning, but I'm sure
the radio was blasting (no excuse). Also, it's hard to hear stuff
like that over the hum of the 41" tires and the 5 inch straight
pipe.. I guess it *was* a bad example -- trucks like that shouldn't
be on surface streets anyway. Georgia is pretty lax about rednecked
trucks. As far as the backspace is concerned -- would be nice to
have a real life one sometimes!