Hi karl,<br /><br />Not too many on CL around here. Don't know why, because I'm surrounded by worker bees. N FL economy is so bad, tho, that I think everything that could be ripped up or out and sold already has been for most folks. <br /><br />JOSEPHINE UPDATE:<br /><br />Talked to the van vet today. Good news and bad news. They confirmed that there is nothing big wrong with the van. Yay!!! So our initial judgement was right, and they also confirm that there are a bunch of little maintenancy-type things that need to be done.<br /><br />1. Coolant leak in a seal.<br />2. Some misc seal leaks in the tranny, but tranny itself is good. They want to service her.<br />With a Dodge van you have to drop the tranny to replace the freezer plug (forgive me if that is not tranny related, but it is one of the things that needed to be replaced) and the other seals that need it, so they will go ahead with the service.<br />3. Complete tune up as she's been driven only about 200 miles in the past year and a half, and driven hard under load before that. Needs some things changed, including the oil, etc.<br />That's the first part.<br /><br />The next when I can afford it (getting ready to sell the camper pop-up to pay for this)<br />For her to tow safely, she needs<br />4. All four shocks replaced.<br />5. Front brakes: wheel bearings packed, rotors replaced (they are too far gone to fix, I did ask) and pads. <br /><br />These guys have a good relationship with some very good friends of mine, and have been told that they must be fair with me, so I am trusting them. They have an excellent and long-standing reputation for doing good repair.<br /><br />All the repairs above come to about $1200. A bit less than the cost of the van to begin with. It brings the total price of the van to about $2500. I actually expected that, but did not expect to get the low miles and the 4 new tires into the mix. So I'm OK with it, as long as I can scrape the money together to do it. Wish I was a mechanic and not an old, vision losing, achy person who has to depend on others to fix her vehicle, but it is what it is. Here's hoping these folks live up to the reputation. I'm sure they will. In my rural neighborhood, you don't stay in business in the same shop for 30 years if you make your living screwing people out of money. <img src="/images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif" alt="" align="absmiddle" border="0" /><br /><br />So this is the first and most important thing to me: making sure she is mechanically sound and safe and can pull me, my furry crew, and a small cargo trailer from FL to CA with a few stops in between for visits, and be relatively crisis free. Goddess willin'.
