It seems like nothing works on my car. The tape player ate my Nine Inch Nails tape. There’s a button for the digital dash whose middle is smashed in and now a glaring light shines through. The digital dash itself doesn’t work meaning that I have no clue how many miles are on the car and how fast I’m going and how much gas…etc. The blinker light on the dash, however does light up. At night when the headlights are on, the left blinker light stays lit while the right one doesn’t and it only comes on when the right blinker is on like it should. The left blinker sometimes turns itself on and I have to hold the lever to keep it from turning on even though it is just a solid light when it is on. I can’t turn the high beams on because the lever won’t let me. I pull it and nothing happens so I have to hold a piece of plastic on the steering column and pull like a wild woman on the lever until the high beams come on sometimes all it does is turn the headlights off altogether. Then, the cruise control light comes on when I turn it on, but it feels like my car is stuck in perpetual cruise control w/o me even turning it on because I can let my foot off the gas and it will stay at that speed regardless of whether the cruise is on or not. The check engine light is always on and I have changed all the car’s fluids already. Recently I was told that the oil pan is smashed and pinched in some kind of extreme angle. No clue what that even would look like, but apparently a rock did it. The air conditioner doesn’t work, but the heat does still. I think it may be attributed to the gaping hole in one of the hoses that’s hanging out of the bottom of the car on the passenger’s side. There’s two plastic-like hoses hanging out the bottom that seem parallel to each other and one has a huge hole in it. Speaking of holes, there’s a cigarette burn in the front passenger seat and I don’t even smoke! The hood won’t open with the hood release b/c whoever had the car before me jimmy rigged it by cutting the cable for the hood release and pulling it out through the front of the car. Now I have to pull a cable that cuts my hands up and hurts like an s.o.b. when the end accidentally pricks my hand and sometimes I can’t even get the hood open. On the inside where that line was cut, the fuse box hangs down and slaps against my leg while I’m driving. I sure hope I don’t get electrocuted, but good news is that I recently replaced all the fuses. The fuse box just won’t go back into its place and swings around. There’s a massive dent in the side of the car on the rear driver’s side. That was from some lady who wasn’t paying attention and decided it would be a good idea to back out of a parking lot onto the road while the road was full of stopped cars. My car happened to be the unlucky one in the middle that got slammed into! Who backs out that fast anyway!? The trunk has a mechanical gear that pulls the trunk closed tight. All I have to do in a normal situation is tap the trunk down so it clicks onto the lever and then the trunk gets pulled closed, but I accidentally slammed my trunk one day w/o thinking and now it won’t close all the way anymore and I can’t figure out what I did to it because it looks just fine. The trunk is now partially open and rain and dust gets all over everything in my trunk so I guess I won’t be hauling anything special back there anymore. The two tires on the driver’s side are balder than bald and each one at different times has gone flat on me and I’ve had each one repaired. The passenger side tires are not as bald as the other side, but they are still bald to the point where any respectable tire shop would not cut new tread into the tires because there’s not enough rubber to cut new tread. The car goes through coolant like an alcoholic at Mardi Gras to a giant martini and I can’t find any visible leaks and no indication of leaking on the pavement like with oil and other various car fluids. I locked my keys in the trunk once and had to unbolt the back seat and smash it down to shove an incredibly skinny guy through to get my keys. Ever since, I haven’t been able to bolt the backseat down properly. It feels secure, but you won’t catch me riding back there. It’s bad enough I’m driving the car, let alone riding in the back seat. The last thing I can think of that’s awry with this car is the windows. The rear driver’s side window does not roll down with the passenger or driver controls. The rear passenger side window will roll down with the driver controls but not up and will roll up and down with the rear passenger. This car is just one big annoyance on wheels. Is it worth it to even repair the car or sell or just take it to the junk yard?
If I were you, I would sell it to a junk yard.
However, unless you begin to develop an adult-like sense of responsibility, the next car will likely not fare much better. If you wonder why I doubt that you have an adult-like sense of responsibility, I present Exhibit A:
“The two tires on the driver’s side are balder than bald and each one at different times has gone flat on me and I’ve had each one repaired. The passenger side tires are not as bald as the other side, but they are still bald to the point where any respectable tire shop would not cut new tread into the tires because there’s not enough rubber to cut new tread.”
Exhibit B:
“I can let my foot off the gas and it will stay at that speed regardless of whether the cruise is on or not.”
Anyone who endangers the public by driving on bald tires and by driving a car with what sounds like a sticking throttle is not acting in a responsible manner. Please don’t tell us that you don’t have the money for new tires or car repairs right now. If you can’t replace bald tires or repair the car, it needs to be parked until you do have the money.
Do everyone a favor and call a junk yard. They will even come to your house to tow the car away, free of charge, thus reducing the hazard to the public.
I also have an 09 Grand Caravan with all the same problems.
Really?
Have you read the various warranties that are in effect on this new vehicle?
Kidding…I was only kidding!
I suspected that, but I couldn’t be sure.
All kidding aside, what do you think about someone who continues to drive a car with bald tires and a sticking throttle?
Someone who drives around with bald tires and a sticking throttle is of course irresponsible; sounds like the same type of person who would write without using paragraphs.
I don’t understand why you even bothered to read it. No paragraph breaks. It makes my eyes hurt.
If the OP is riding around with a sticking throttle and bald tires, he or she is an accident waiting to happen. But there are probably thousands of people driving around with sticking throttles and bald tires, so how’s this person any worse?
Unless he or she is texting while driving around with a sticking throttle and bald tires.
And, hey, if your car’s tape player ate your Nine Inch Nails tape, wouldn’t you be pissed?
Oh, to be young again.
Nah!
Did I miss something? What’s the problem?
OP has a twenty year old car that is a classic POS (When was the last car made with a tape player?). The question is in the bottom line.
My answer is: Don’t even think about putting any significant money in this car. Drive it to the junkyard. Too many problems on a car worth nothing.
Yes, you should park the car until you can afford some new tires and unstick the throttle; the tires don’t have to be expensive, just the cheapest Walmart Chinese stuff. Or some good used ones traded in at a tire shop.
Alternately, this car would qualify for “Pimp My Ride” if you’re lucky!
If you’re not prepared to do some basic maintenance, please phone the wrecking yard and you will get about 2 cents per pound, I believe.
Other than that, how’s she running? No but seriously folks. Hey Ismibrandy…For your sake as well as ours…junk yard…PLEASE.
Um…actually I own more than one vehicle and I don’t drive this one around for those reasons. I know those are the problems with the car because I’ve been using it as a junker to take out in the mud.
I am just trying to figure out if fixing it up so it is in a condition to be sold would be worth the time and effort or not so it will quit being a waste of my driveway space.
So sorry I didn’t use paragraphs. I guess we can’t all be intelligent and perfect. And yes, I was very pissed about the tape.
Consolidate this post down to a paragraph of 7-8 concise sentences and you will get better responses.
ismibrandi:
I think I know what’s wrong with your trunk lock but it’s probably not worth your time to fix it.
Instead of calling the junk yard and giveing your car up for free, put an ad in the paper and list it as a PARTS CAR FOR SALE…
There is still stuff worth something on it, since you didn’t mention problems with these things there IS some value in the alternator,radiator, engine, transmission, driveshaft, rear end, steering sys. window glass. All this stuff has some value to someone.
Put a price of $400.00 on it and see if you get any calls. If they don’t bite on $400. you can always come down a bit. Even if all you get is enough to buy 40 copies of “nine inch nails” it’s still better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, which is about the same as giveing it to the junk yard for free.
…ismistephaan
Our 03 has a tape deck and 6 disk changer:)
My '02 has both a tape deck and a CD changer.
Luckily, it has been maintained according to “the book”, burns no oil, and has needed only one relatively minor repair in 98,000 miles.
Well, if I can get the trunk to close, it might be easier to try to sell the car based on appearance…that and the tires…but what do you think could be wrong with the trunk? Is it something that can be fixed w/o taking it in to the shop for repairs?
I think the latch/lock has just closed into the “closed/locked” position so that when you try and close the trunk lid the latch can’t secure itself to the lock rod anymore, because it (the latch) is already in the closed position.
ie: even though the trunk lid is “open” the latch is in the closed position, so when you try and close it, it just bangs on the lock rod and won’t latch.
Try this: Look at the latch portion. Go through the unlock/unlatch process. It should open back up unless it is bent from trying to slam the trunk lid when the latch was already in the closed position.
If it is a little bent it will probably stick and not unlatch into the open position, but you can probably free it by prying it with a screw driver. This might take two ppl. one to hold the key/lock in the open position, and one to massage the latch with the screwdriver. It sounds more complicated reading these instructions than it actually is to do it.
Just take a good look at it and you will see how the latch and pin holder work. When you see how it is suppose to work, you will better understand what I’m explaining here.
I WOULD NOT take it to the shop and pay money to fix this. That would just cut into your profit you might make when you sell this car. After all you are selling it as a “parts car” They aren’t going to expect to see a “trailer queen” when they come to look at it. They will be expecting to see things wrong with it.
I did check to make sure the little hook was open to make sure it could catch the latch and it does catch onto the latch. The latch, however, does not pull the trunk closed like it should. It is an electric trunk closer…I guess that’s what it is called, and basically once the connection is made between the latch and the metal piece, the circuit is completed and that activates the motor to pull the trunk closed.
I think it might be that motor that’s supposed to pull it down…well, you’re right…best to just get rid of it as a parts car.