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Actually, what I am talking about is more substantial than a net. The ones I've seen in European wagons (Mercedes, Volvo etc.) look more like a fence that stands vertically behind the seats.
It came down to the price. To get all those things in an SXT, we would've paid about $23K, 1K more than the Nissan. We tried real hard in the beginning to get the DGC, but sort of gave up on it once we realized it wasn't gonna happen for $22K. The feature we miss the most in the Caravan is the 3rd row plit seating. We love the 2nd row stow-n-go as well, but the Quest's 2nd row almost folds flat although without the two storage wells. On the other hand, we love the Quest's vast head and leg room, big and comfy seats, and its modern querky looks inside and out We also considered the base model Quest which doesn't have the power door and hatch and rear sonar but is $15K cheaper. Finally we decided it'd be worth paying the extra for the added convenience. BTW, the Dodge salesperson was very nice to work with. Happy motoring everybody :shades:
Does anyone know of 2006 changes?
Roll down 2nd row windows are a great selling point, but I have to say I've never missed them on my DGC. I would definitely miss my power rear vent windows. That said, I am almost positve the '07 DCX vans will have roll-down 2nd row windows. I just hope they keep the power vents as well.
Seriously, we almost never use any of our opening windows, front or rear. Too much outside noise and wind blowing in.
Occasionally we use the rear wing windows but that is about it. AC in the summer, heat in the winter, and vent in between as needed.
You can't open them when on the highway or when doing any speed at all in the city because of wind. I don't see much use for them at all except slow city driving or using them in a drive in restaurant
But if you would buy foreign just because they have a roll down side window, go buy it. There are more things I can use or want besides that. Stow-n-go I can use and no one else has that.
Dramamine has been the suggested item for a person to take to avoid motion sickness. Have Doctors been wrong all these years?
Thanks.
1) I’ve searched and I can’t find a recall notice for brakes. Has anyone else experienced this issue?
2) What’s the escalation process? I’ve never had a problem like this. I like the van, but I’m not going to risk wife and kids nor replace brakes every 4k miles.
As for my wife’s driving, I don’t see that as the issue. Tire wear is normal and she put 135k on a ’98 Ford Explorer without issue. My ’03 Dakota has not had an issue, nor a need for brake servicing and it has 24k miles. ’89 ranger lasted 180k. So it’s not the road conditions.
Any help or insight would be appreciated.
1) When tires are rotated, technicians are typically in habit of using an impact wrench to remove and replace the lug nuts (or bolts depending on the car). The problem here is that pneumatic impact wrenches are at best imprecise, and have been known to apply torque well in excess of 200 lb-ft while spec is more like 85-90. That extra torque is a very common cause of a truly warped rotor.
2) Improper pad "bedding" process. Brake pads need to be properly broken in or "bedded" to the rotor before they will operate at peak efficiency. Said bedding process entails gradually transferring certain pad deposits from the pad itself to the surface of the rotor, and is usually achieved by a series of medium speed and medium intensity "slows" (ie. without stopping), intermixed with at least thirty seconds of driving to allow the rotors to cool. If done improperly, part of the surface of the rotor will have more stopping power than other parts, and can be felt in the brake pedal as a mild pulsing sensation.
3) If item number 2 is left too long without being corrected then your rotors can develop a "Hot Spot" or "Hard Spot" (depending upon the vernacular of where you live), which is basically the retempering of a portion of the rotor. When this happens (and it can happen as the result of quite a few other reasons as well), a portion of the rotor has a different level of hardness when compared to the rest of the rotor, and can be felt in the brake pedal (and usually the seat of the pants as well) as a strong pulsing sensation.
I have seen a few other scenarios that can cause your pulsing problems, although never on DC Minivans (at least not yet). The most common (short of worn out brake components) is where the caliper is for some reason not perfectly square with the rotor. That can cause the top of one pad to wear first while the bottom of its opposing pad will wear first. As a result of this situation, the rotor becomes heated very unevenly and can be damaged as a result, once again, manifesting itself as a pulsing sensation in the brake pedal.
Were I in your shoes, I'd buy new pads and rotors from a reputable parts supplier (I use NAPA), and perform a complete brake job myself (and buy a torque wrench if you don't already have one and properly torque the lug nuts). Assuming that this option is not in the cards for you, I would first have a look at who rotates your tires. Did they use a torque wrench or an impact wrench? If the tires weren't rotated (or otherwise removed and replaced) before the first "Warped Rotor" event, then I'd think about having your pads checked for squareness (top to bottom). If they are not square, then they've been forced to wear unevenly by a possibly bent or otherwise flawed caliper or caliper mount.
I hope some of this is helpful. Keep us posted.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Your feedback is very helpful. With regards to:
1) Tire rotation – Hasn’t occurred yet, but good input.
2) Bedding process - How many miles does this take to occur, 300 or so? Since we travel down a hill would you suggest using the transmission during this period to help offload brake use?
I’ll ask the service folks whether they saw an issue with squareness. I infer from your response that the pads would show this.
Going forward, I don’t feel that root cause has been identified and that is what I’m looking for Chrysler to commit to. I could do the work, but I’m in the warranty period so for me it is a matter of principle. I’ll have to look back through my warranty to see how long I’m covered.
I doubt that they did this, but what effect would replacing the rotors but not the pads have (since it wasn’t specified by the dealer in the first work order)?
Thanks again for your help.
The bedding process usually takes a couple of hundred miles to be sure, however, when using used pads (ie. the friction surface isn’t perfectly flat and smooth) with new rotors (ie. nearly perfect and flat face), you should figure a little longer. Having said that, two years ago when we ordered our 2003 GC ES, the plan was to trade in our 1998. When the new van came in we did in fact provisionally trade in the 1998 (I say provisionally because we’d lost our title during a move from another state and so we technically still owned the 1998), however two days later we decided that since my mother-in-law was arriving a month or so later, and going to be staying for a couple of months, having a third car around would be quite handy.
I went back to the dealership and found that while they hadn’t found a buyer for it yet, they had done a little work on it before putting it on their used car lot. They did agree to allow me to essentially buy it from them for the amount of the credit they’d given us on the 2003 plus whatever work they’d performed on it. It turned out that they had touched up the paint in a couple of spots (no surprise for a van with 70,000 NYC Metro Area miles), and for some odd reason, they decided to change the front rotors. I have yet to figure that one out because I had just done a full front brake job on it six months (and maybe 15,000 miles) prior, and had mounted brand new rotors in the process. When I questioned why I was being asked to pay for a partial brake job when the existing brakes were only six months old, they were unable to answer and in the end, removed that from our bill. Go figure. Anyway, shortly after getting the 1998 back, I noticed a slight pulsation in the brake pedal, and attempted to re-bed the pads to the rotors a couple of times. No joy. As of a couple of months ago the pulsation had gotten so bad that I was quite sure that the rotors were by then basically junk, forcing me to do yet another brake job on it, needless to say with new pads and rotors yet again. Two years? That's not too bad. Well, it is when you consider that the 1998 is our third car and has less than 10,000 miles of driving under its belt since we got it back.
I told you all of that as a way of suggesting that replacing the rotors may not be enough to eradicate the problem. Said another way, I’m not at all convinced that your two apparent rotor failures were caused by the same thing. So, what is the root cause? I don’t actually know, however, my bet is that if you get the rotors AND pads replaced, and if you are then able to properly bed them in, you should probably be able to get a more normal thirty to forty-five thousand out of them.
Best Regards,
Shipo
I think I would also ask the dealer if he said there was going to be a recall on those rotors, was he putting the same kind on there that they are recalling. So far, your's is the only one I have heard having brake problems. I would think if they were thinking of recalling the van for that problem, we would be getting all kinds of complaints on them, but we're not. At least not that I have read about.
http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm
What Ts me off..... Few weeks ago I was in Olive Garden parking lot. Some women in a Taurus pulls up next to me, SLAMS open her door into my car. It was as if she kicked her door open. I was sitting in my car at the time!!!!!! I rolled down the window and gave her a few choice words. Luckily, It was my company Taurus, which is the biggest POC car I've ever had - bar none!!!!
I also try and keep away from semi, cement, or stone carrying trucks, as they can kick stones from their load or tires, on to my van.
Anyway, yes, the radio will continue to play for 30 sec. after the ignition is shut off. If the door remains closed. Once you open the door, the radio will shut off. The A/C will stop as soon as you turn off the ignition. The fan should not run. If the dealer doesn't know, I'd take it to another one.
The A/C fan should stop, on some cars the radiator fan continues to run if the engine is really hot, to help cool it down faster....maybe this is what you're hearing???
Know what you mean.
2. The dealership has one SXT in Linen Gold doesn't have the power liftgate. Can this be added at the dealership?
TIA!
You might also want to post your question in the Climate Control Problems: All Cars discussion.
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We are watching the van closely. I find the whole thing bizarre. I think that I will take it to another dealer for a once over. I don't even mind paying for an hour of labor to really have a good mechanic go over it, knowing if they find anything, it's under warranty. Thanks for the info on the fan...