Here’s the scoop -
1999 Plymouth Voyager with 98,000 miles
2 years ago, the whole instrument cluster went kapoot - no idea how fast I was crusing from rummage sale to rummage sale with my mom, how many miles were on the vehicle, how much gas I had left (would I make it to that next good buy?!) Brought it to the dealer… some connections were bad. Covered by warrenty. They fixed. Life is good.
Okay, so back to rummage sale-ing with my mom on this past Saturday and it happens again (the last time we did this together was two years ago when it happen… cue creepy music). I called the dealer on Monday, drove around clueless on Sunday (my motto - go with the flow and I oughta be okay).
Then Monday, I go out to bring it to the dealer and there’s nothing. It won’t turn over, no click, no nothing. But… (drum roll…) the instrument cluster is working. One problem solved, but now there’s bigger one. At least before I could go somewhere. Right then Mr. Tow Truck Driver was the only one to get that van to go anywhere.
One other thing that I was having problems with is that every once in awhile when I’m parked out front of our house when I go to put it into gear it doesn’t do it right… in Drive, it’ll make some weird sound as I hit the gas to pull away from the and then it’s like it’ll slip in as I go a few feet. The other day I almost rear ended our car when I put it into Reverse, but it rolled forward as if it were in Neutral. I jiggled the shifter around a couple times before I finally went backwards. I asked the dealership to check this out too.
Okay, background done. I picked it up from the dealership today and I’m not quite sure if I trust what they told me. They said a new battery would solve all my problems. The instrument panel going has nothing to do with the stuff the fixed 2 years ago (although they didn’t go look). They say that because the battery was getting low on Saturday, it gave power to the “important” stuff - getting the car to start so we could get to that next garage sale. Then on Monday it didn’t have enough oomph to do that, so hey, the instrument panel will have to do. They also said that the car not going into gear right probably was the fault of the battery going kapoots too.
Does this sound on the level? Was I right to question them and then get miffed when they spoke to me very condescendingly? Or do I need to sit down and write an apology letter?
Put in a battery and see. They could be right.
I am not sure a new battery will solve all the problems but it may. If the battery is over 3 or 4 years old I would replace it. Also try removing both ends of the battery cables (both of them) and cleaning both the cable and where it goes very well and reattaching making sure they are secure.