I see some people here asking for advice on buying a van. When I bought mine, I was told it was sitting for a while, and the battery went dead. Now I suspect that a dead battery was put into it to hide a "check engine" light. This may apply to any vehicle you buy. I asked for and recieved a new battery when I bought it. What I didn't know is that I also bought a van with a bad catalytic converter, due to a badly needed tune-up. Any full size van is hard to tune up, due to the location of the engine. So neglect can take it's toll. The air filter was the worse I've ever seen. You can imagine the rest. My "out-of-pocket" expenses haven't been too bad, mostly due to the 59K original miles, but those of you buying vans with much more miles should really take a good look at the engine. One of the things that I noticed was a hearty "4-barrel" sound from the engine when I stomped on it. Although the van did not accellerate much better, the sound was pleasing. Unfourtunately, the sound was due to exposing the intake vacuum to atmospheric pressure without any resulting increase in revolutions. The catalytic converter was clogged, creating a 318cu air compressor. As of this day the van has returned to it's glory days, with just the tinge of shake at idle due, I hope, to poor choice of plugs. FYI, I tried Bosch platinum plugs, and I'm going to switch to standard Champions to see if there is a diff. I will update on that even though there is a thread here on plugs.
Daytrepper
03-16-2007, 02:16 AM
Did you purchase it from a private seller or a dealer?
Dodgevanman
03-16-2007, 07:06 AM
Stinks that it needed a bunch of work, but I'm glad to hear that she's running good now.
I'm not sure why some people think full-size vans are hard to work on...you pull off the engine box and wham-o the whole engine is right there and easy to work on. At least in a Dodge it is.
stev
03-16-2007, 03:59 PM
Oh please avoid putting in the Champion plugs in that engine. You'll just have more problems than ever. I had some that frozen to the engine block! Get the Autolites that eveyone here in the Truck forums and the Van forums mention. Just do a search for the Autolites. :)
Also, your bad idle is more than likely a very dirty TB and dirty IAC along with dirty IAC ports. Look at the sticky at the top in this Van forum to fix that. :)
68vistacruiser
03-21-2007, 08:41 PM
Sorry I didn't get back sooner. I bought the van from a dealer in Wisconson, without a warrenty. Actually the cost and trouble with the motor hasn't been nearly as bad as the service I got from Joliet Dodge in Joliet, Illinois. I gave it to them for a wheel alignment, and they basically took my money and did nothing. I had a bad drag link that I replaced afterwards, and now I have to get another alignment to fis the steering wheel. As for the plugs, I put the stock Champions in, and the idle did not smooth out. Now I have a slight engine knock, so I'll have to put the Boschs back in. At least the Champions were cheap. The real bitch I've found about working on the engine is dealing with the engine box. I have a center councel that gets in the way, then the carpet is real tight around the bottom of the box. After that, the front 2 driver side plugs are a real pain. Everything else in the van seems fine. Tranny shifts good, no noises from the rear end, quiet suspension. The motor just doesn't sound like a work buddies 318 from the same year. I'll get it figured out. Or I'll put in a hemi! (I'm actually kind of serious about that!)
