AB2² | Alex's Blog

Okay, so I just bought another van, because a rather unfortunate and painful accident claimed the last one, and the thing ran perfectly fine for a while, just had a little squeak from the accessory belt that actually shut up for the most part.

But NOW the thing’s A/C compressor drive belt snapped. (Apparently this is called a V-belt or something like that…) So I have no A/C. And it’s summer.

If that weren’t bad enough, now it’s making an odd clicking noise (Apparently the cushion(s) on the lifter(s) are messed up…) and the engine sputters and spews black smoke out the back end of the car. And I say the back of the car because it doesn’t appear to only be coming from the tail pipe… more the entire undercarriage and the tail pipe… so I can only assume something is (at the very least) fucked up with the exhaust system.

The guy I bought this van from was such a shiester… he was so full of shit… so I can’t help but blame this on him at least partially… because he probably had someone rig something that was about to fail so it’d work a little bit longer while he sold it.

I also blame this on WalMart. Yes, WalMart. On my way to California, I noticed the oil was a bit low, and hadn’t been changed in who knows how long… so I had the WalMart Service Center (because they were the only place open for 100 miles…) change the oil. Well apparently 500 miles later on my trip, I discovered they didn’t put in enough oil… about 3 quarts were put in probably… and the engine holds like 5 I think… So the engine was probably rather displeased with this. I know I would be if I was an engine. Actually, I’m still displeased with it because I own said engine that is now messed up, and will probably require an expensive repair.

So my van was totaled in a rather unfortunate series of rapidly occurring events a month back, and my mother’s Dodge Grand Caravan was a lemon, and also inherently shitty because it’s a Dodge that was manufactured in 2006.

So we got rid of my mom’s van, she traded it in for a Honda Odyssey. This thing is f*cking awesome.
It’s got power sliding doors, a stereo system with a radio, CD player, and bluetooth speakerphone for your cellphone, and it’s a Honda so it won’t go breaking like that piece of Dodge crap that she had before. I love the fact that the A/C system has an actual digital thermostat, and it’s fully automatic… it’ll regulate the temperature to whatever you set it to, as low as 60 degrees F, in the most efficient way possible. It’s got a 3.0 V6 engine, and is Front Wheel Drive. It’s really nice because it has an electronic traction control, and the thing doesn’t slip on the road like the Dodge 2006 Grand Caravan.

I bought a Dodge 1998 Grand Caravan, that had around 135,000 miles on it. Paid $3,000 for it, but my mechanic says the engine is in good shape, as well as the transmission. The interior is in great shape… very clean and fluffy… nothing ripped up on the inside. The A/C makes the thing like a refrigerator, which I like on account of that I hate heat, and I live in Alabama. It has a 3.0 liter V6 engine, and is Front Wheel Drive, unlike the previous van I had, which was All Wheel Drive. I would have preferred a larger engine (3.8 liter) and All Wheel Drive… but I don’t really need it so I guess there’s no point in complaining. The one thing I am upset about is that it didn’t come with a CD player… but that’s something I can fix… pretty easily… so I’ll put a nice stereo in it when I get the money.