200k and it has to go.

Well our faithful 93 T&C will finally have to be released from our garage.
With the odometer just over 200k miles the wife called from the mall saying
it would not start. Fuel pump. While doing the gas tank r&r I happened to
grab hold of a frame area and noticed quite a bit of metal falling off.
After examination the main part of the frame where the lift pad is was
nearly gone. So the rear of the vehicle would collapse if hit.
I was really hoping to get 300k out of it (this was a personal quest). The
engine ran flawlessly everything still working and NO rust on the body but
the frame went. Go figure. Actually if the pump hadn't gone out I doubt I
would have seen it.
Noticed on my 99 they changed the frame design so maybe it will get 300k?
we'll see.....
Larry

 

Just picked up a new 2004 Chrysler mini-van two weeks ago. I drove to my
local body supply store and picked up a spray can of 3M Rust Proofing, a
semi-clear, waxy coating material. It will prevent the "frame" and other
rust prone materials from rust. Worth its weight in gold. (IMO).

Richard.

 

Maybe. You better off with oil. a B&F guy I know uses oil and when I had an
old Mercury Gran Marquis de Sade I needed to have it painted. He said he
could do it but said given the age to take advantage of MAACO and than fill
the repaired seams with oil. Well it's messy bu ti works. That was a long
time ago but I saw it recently and it's still not showing any rust where I
did this. Using oil also will pretty much stop anything tha's started too.
The waxy products according to him actually will make things rust worse.
Larry

 

grab hold of a frame area and noticed quite a bit of metal falling off.
I would get a quote on what it would cost to re-weld/fix the section
if the thing runs well.

 

It's gone. I traded it off yesterday. where it went bad there's nothing that
can be done and I'm afraid even if it could it would have cost me a left
cajone and I'm sure there would be no guarantee of it's safety. We still
have our 99 T&C and I think after that there will be no more mini-vans as
I'm already getting spoiled by the Chevysaurus (Suburban) we bought. I'm
kind of mini van'd out. They're good vehicles and I certainly get my money's
worth out of them. Really the only one I didn't find reliable and durable
was the 88 GC I had with a mitsushitti 3.0 and 3 spd. trans. That one was
awful. Our 92 GV which went to mini van heaven after a serious wreck had
176000 and was an extremely good one, this 93 was quite good, and our 99
except for the trans at 148000 is nearly flawless. I still believe they're
the best of the breed. I'm just tired of driving them.
Larry

 

I own a K1500 extended cab pickup in addition to my two minivans and,
trust me, you'll get tired of driving the Burban after a while as well.
Especially parking it, paying for gas and tires, especially if it has
the large tires like my truck (265/16s) as they cost a fortune for good
ones.

I don't like driving minivans either, but they sure are practical to
haul kids and stuff around fairly economically. However, give me a
Vette or my motorcycle any day!


Matt

 

not a chance GO LOOK AT THE STRUT TOWERS.im seeing some scary stuff from the
rust in that area

 

NO rust there just in the lower frame area where the lift pads are at the
back. THat whole section on the left side was GONE. NOt sure what's holding
everything else together but I guess the body structure of the van must be
pretty strong.
Larry