My Grand Caravan Sport has been running smoothly ever since we bought it used in Feb. 2004. This past week, however, when first started and when idling, the van would become jerky and would "miss" (my husband's phraziology). Now, the "Check Engine Light" is on and the "missing" has become so bad it makes you feel like the van is going to shut down. My father-in-law was speculating that it might be in need of new plugs??
As you can tell, mechanics are NOT my speciality, but I rely heavily on the use of my van, so anyone out there who can help me guess as to what's going on -- I'm all ears!
Thanks! :help:
darylcesal
07-17-2005, 10:07 PM
Sounds like a possible EGR valve problem. How does it perform at higher RPM's? If the EGR valve is stuck open (piece of carbon holding it open) it will barely idle and run ok at higher RPMs. On my GM if this happens I take it out, get on it and hopefully the higher rpm's will "break free" the piece of carbon. Good luck.
cadavan
07-17-2005, 10:16 PM
Thank you, darylcesal! That's exactly what it's doing! When I drive continuously and at faster speeds, it works fine. Hopefully that's all that is wrong. Since I have a 30+ mile commute each way to work, and it hasn't unlodged, we were going to have it looked at tomorrow...any idea on how expensive of a service visit we might be looking at?
Thanks again!
darylcesal
07-18-2005, 07:53 AM
Try to save yourself the $$ and take it out on the highway and floor it. You don't have to go fast, just random hard hits of the accelerator. This might work, might not. The EGR valve on my truck listed for 185.00 at auto zone and I found one at the junkyard for five bucks. The dealer might have a field day with the prices on this one. Hopefully fix # 1 helps.
gas28man
07-18-2005, 10:47 AM
You can also save big bucks by just cleaning the throttle body inlet. You probably have some carbon buildup. The EGR connects just beyond the throttle body so cleaning up here may solve your problem.
Go to an auto parts store and get some fuel injector cleaning spray (I bought some by STP) and a bunch of rags and shop towels. Take off the hose that runs from the air cleaner to the throttle body, and also remove the throttle body itself. Just keep spraying and wiping, spraying and wiping on the inside of the throttle body and inside the intake manifold until you don't see black/brown anymore, and all you see is clean aluminum.
Should solve the problem for a couple of years until the carbon builds up again.
Good luck.
Rick
cadavan
07-19-2005, 11:05 PM
Thanks to everyone who responded to my dilemma. We ended up taking it in for servicing since gunning it at higher speeds didn't work. The end result really was the (spark?) plugs needing replaced. After that, a needed oil change, the 60,000 mile maintenance a little early and $700+ later, and it's running like new. (And so it should!)
Thanks again!
gas28man
07-20-2005, 11:35 AM
$700?!?!?! OUCH!!!
An oil change and a set of plugs should have been around $100. What does the 60,000-mile maintenance get you for the remaining $600?
Rick
GAFIREFOOL
12-30-2005, 10:32 PM
I just had the same problom and thats how I found this site. My plugs and wires failed at 40,000 miles and the dealer wanted $355 to change them out.They said that they need to remove the manifold to do the job and that it was 2.5 hours to do the job at $80 /hr plus parts.I got the parts at autozone for $52 and had the plugs changed in the driveway with just a basic 3/8 socket wrench and a 4" extension in less than an hour,no headaches at all! I have had serious issues with this dealer and do not trust them at all now.
