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Brooks
Carleton1 says: door armrests, Triple Zone Temperature Control, Trip Computer
Door armrests-- I'm so sick of hearing about those stupid arm rests. If that's all it's got going for it than buy it. As far as they go I drove a 01 and at 6'3" and the back tilted as I like it all they are goof for is to look at, since I sit back to far to do any good. Triple Zone, Odyssey has dual zone, our Caddy STS had temp control for both front passengers and we kept it on the same temp. Advertising gimmick. Trip computer, what a joke, I have never seen one that tells accurately what's going on. Now to me a trip computer tells me where to turn, how far to my destination, directions, where to cash my check, get gas, eat, hospitals in case I'm in an accident with a DC van and it catches on fire and a host of other important things. Now thats a real trip computer.
Sorry, I don't have a physics transcript for you I CLEP-ed out
Carlton1 - Aren't you getting an '02 Odyssey?
Is there anyway to speed up safety findings? Seven years before they recalled a steering wheel that could separate in an accident? How many of these vans are still on the road seven years later? I don't think NHTSA will act quickly on the pre-July '01 D/C vans due to how critical IIHS is of the NHTSA testing. Personally I look at the two test as complementary.
Is this feature essential? Of course not. But it's the sort of feature that you get used to and want in your next car. Same with the trip computer. I admittedly don't use the computer functions that much except for compass, outside temp, and distance-to-empty, but I do use the others occasionally and would miss them if they weren't there. In fact, I miss the user-programmable computer functions I had on my BMW in Germany 10 years ago.
Now padded armrests and suede-backed seats are meaningless to me. But steering wheel radio controls are another gimmick I love. My last car had them as part of a package. They turned out to be so useful I put them on the "must" list of options for the minivan. And the DC minivan implementation is just outstanding ... within a day or so you're perusing your cd changer without taking hands off the wheel or eyes off the road.
Another gimmick that's nice to have is memory seating, a fact I realize whenever a mechanic or car wash attendant screws up my seat position in my non-memory seat car.
The automatic rear hatch? The jury's still out on that ... we used it a lot, but not clear if I'd cry over it if my next minivan didn't have it. The removable console? Jury's also out on that .. it's very well designed, and nice to have the flexibility of removing it for cargo or rear access.
Instead of being involved in a collision, perhaps the owner of that Odyssey did something even more dangerous like parking out in the sun too long.
Honda Odyssey spontaneous combustion theory
Thanks,
Drew
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Steve
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At start up, the cruise light comes on in the dash, and goes out. The "on" botton does not turn the cruise on. I checked in the owner's manual. There is no separate or combined fuse or relay for cruise control. Or is there one and I missed it? I checked the electrical connection and the vaccum lines to the Cruise control unit, and did not find anything unusual.
Does anyone have any idea what is wrong, or where I can start looking at.
Although we still like the look, the room, I am thinking that it is a shame that Chrysler is incapable of making more a reliable van.
With 83K miles, we have gone thru belt tensioner, trans. selonoid pack, water pump, and a starter. Knock on wood, transmission has been holding up OK.
You guys have been on this issue for way toooo long. But anyhow, I think the real issue is not that of liquid, but of vapor. A chemical reaction is partially driven by surface area, a substance in vapor form has much more surface area than a liquid or solid. With that said, capillary action or not, the real danger would be in released vapor, not as much as the liquid itself. (Why do you think it's dangerous to have a flame source near your gas filling hole?)
As for the flamed kiss Odyssey, who knows? Could have ran into a gas tanker, faulty wiring, etc..? (I've seen weirder things happen before.) With this logic, I apply it to the DC vans too.
I have just had my water pump, belt tensioner and belt replaced for just under $400. WOWWW! That hurt! How much was your repair?
Never again will I buy a Chrysler.
The reason I'm writing though is to warn those contemplating protecting their purchase with a DC extended warranty service contract. We bought one but when I learned nine days after the 60 day cancellation period was up, that the one service manager who actually cared, quit, I decided to cancel the contract. DC, took close to 25% of the $1272 I paid as a penalty (even though it was a 7 year contract and we were still covered under the new car warranty), but when I called to complain, I encountered 20 minute hold times and the most arrogant people I have ever dealt with anywhere.
I have run customer service departments and my goal was to always try to please the customer. These guys have either sold DC shares short, or they have no respect for us because we actually purchased their products.
After many years of buying Chrysler products in my family from my Dad's 1964 Dodge Polara 500 to this van, we're done with these clowns. I'd rather walk than buy another DC product.
- Had the air bag warning light problem. They've ordered a part to fix it.
- Still having crackling noises with the left front strut area. We unfortunately got one of the minivans that had the steering arm recall from April, and it looks like the recall wasn't applied correctly. They will look at it again when the air bag light part comes in.
- Left sliding door making noises ... looks to me like chain needs lubrication.
- Fuel usage is a disappointment. It's about 1-2 MPG less than our old '94 T & C w/ AWD. My guess is that the "efficiencies" with the new 3.8L engine and the improved aerodynamics are outweighed, literally, by the additional vehicle weight. However, I've never seen the real mileage differ this much from EPA estimates, so wonder if something else is wrong???
But I even asked the guys at Chrysler when I had the '96 if I had a fuel problem, because it was such worse mileage compared to the previous 1988 Grand Voyager. All they said was that it was normal and they couldn't really do anything about it.
So if you're getting around 14-15 mpg, don't be too shocked. I guess after Chrysler switched from the 1984-1995 vans to the now 1996- ? vans, mileage was not one of the areas they decided to improve on.
And yes, referring to an earlier post you made, I've decided that there is a lot less usable room in the cargo area. Slightly more room from the top of the seat on down, but much, much less cargo room above the top of the seat.
The '96 van was great in that it had more shoulder room up front, and much bigger windows all around, yet the very curvy setup of the rear cargo area left something to be desired.
Plus, the rear air compressor was moved to the passenger side of the already crowded cargo area of the 1996 vans. That was because the rear air compressor in the 1988-1995 vans was behind the driver in the middle row. But in the '96 vans, they had to find a new place to put the rear air compressor, since the new driver side sliding door took up its old place.
And now I have my 2001 van that is VERY similar in many ways to my 1996 van since Chrysler didn't change too much. My new van isn't all the different to my 1996 van in terms of cargo space or looks, but I will say the power lift gate motor in the cargo area does take out more usable space that I even had in my 1996 van.
Not to go too far into my rant :-) , but I find it amazing that Chrysler can keep on increasing the lengths of the vans, the widths of the vans, the luxury of the vans, etc., but can't seem to increase the real cargo area behind the third seat in terms of cubic feet. It just keeps on shrinking and shrinking. Oh well, I've come to terms with the fact that it can't carry a bike behind the third seat without folding the seat down and scratching the top half of the cargo area. At least my '96 and '01 van had and have more passenger room and luxury features than my '88 van. Although, my '88 beat both in terms of 3rd row cargo...BUT I think I've already gone over that one enough today :-)
Worst (in winter, city stop and go): 16 mpg.
Usual City: 20 mpg.
Usual highway: 24 mpg.
High speed driving (>85 mph, with AC and loaded): 19 mpg
Best (at 55 mph, with AC and light load: 27 mpg.
(all figures approximate)
Drew
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We have requested an arbitration hearing under the California lemon law, and it's scheduled for Tuesday morning (Sept 11th). I'm looking for info from others who have suffered through similar problems, to give me some background before the hearing.
ANY assistance would be appreciated. Please, point me to this or any other website that might have consumer comments on this subject.
As time is running out, please feel free to write directly to: z1x1us@yahoo.com.
Thanks so much for your help!
If you're in the South SF Bay area, you might consider calling on Dannick's in Sunnyvale. They've built a solid business for years working primarily on DC minivans, *and* they'll give you the straight scoop when the dealer will not.
Bought a 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan EX in July. Didn't notice anything on the test drive, nice features, nice van. Out on the road later I noticed a jerking motion whenever the van would shift into overdrive around 45 mph and would continue (not as noticeable) at higher speeds as well, almost like the engine was skipping or like driving a stick shift too slow for the gear you're in. I was told by the dealer I had a torque converter/computer problem that might fix itself after a 5,000 mile break-in. 5,000 miles came with the problem still there. The dealer consulted Chrysler and replaced the torque converter and pump. When I picked the van up the mechanic said the same symptoms were still there but to drive it and see if I noticed any improvement. None noticed, now the dealer is supposedly consulting the regional service manager for advice. Anybody out there with a similar problem? Advice?
Our 99 T&C with about 43,000 miles on it started to make a few warning sounds from the front brakes... peeking into the wheel showed the pads were fairly warn. Well, I guess 43k on a set of front pads is acceptable.
I bought a new set of pads, disassembled and removed the rotors. They were fairly rusty,had some groves etc, and new ones were $17, so I just splurged for new.
During cleanup I removed the old pads after squeezing the piston back into the caliper. I had kept the old pad there to prevent the c-clamp from leaving marks on the piston. I was surprised when I removed the old pad on the passenger side, and saw that some of the edge of the piston was cracked and rusted away....??? I pressed on the damaged section with my finger, and more pieces came away in my fingers. Never having a plastic piston, I did not know what to make of it.
After some research, I found that these are "new technology" phenolic pistons. I called the local Chrysler dealer and discovered that replacements would be identical.
Oh, yes, by the way, since we have more than 36,000 miles on the van, I get to pay for new calipers that are identical to the ones that crumbled after 43,000 miles. To be fair, only one side is crumbling, the other one is fine, but I intend to replace both as a pair.
That was just one of many problems. When the rear seals of both axles started leaking oil at 45,000 miles we felt we had endured enough of the "Reliability" of our foreign made car and traded it off.
We have had far better reliability with GM, Ford and DC than we had with either Volvo or Volkswagen or my sister had with Nissan. Parts and Labor also much less expensive with vehicles from the "Big 3".
Drew
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Tom
I swore off buying Ford products after our '87 Aerostar. I have now sworn off buying Chrysler products.
At 84K, if it is selonoid pack AGAIN, does anyone know if I can force Chrysler or the dealer to pay for it this time. It is annoying when the same component goes bad twice. At $25K, I expected much better realibility. Our old 89 Mazda MPV with 155K never gave us any trouble.
Is it possible that a drink will have spilled into the temp selector slide?
Has anybody else seen this?
Yes it's possible, and most likely one of us Odyssey owners did it while it was parked with the door unlocked.
The dealer was doing some other work for me when I told him about it, so they replaced the valve body in just a few minutes and only charged me five bucks for the part. But it was beginning to do it again (two years after the first fix) at the time I traded it off on a 99 Limited last May.
The later models have replaced most of the slider controls with rotary dials, but I'll bet they are still using that vacuum system to open and close the little doors within the system.
This method of control has always been a weak spot with Chrysler Corp. products. I had a 1973 Dodge Royal Sportsman full-sized van back in 1973 and was climbing the grade from Cheyenne to Laramie, WY on I-80 one cold morning. At that altitude, the vacuum system wasn't up to the task and each time I pushed hard enough on the gas to maintain my speed, the system switched from heat to a/c! I had to stop periodically and let the heater warm up the inside before resuming my trek.
So you may have a bad valve body or a vacuum hose off or cracked or such.
Come on! I pay $25k for a van and I get nothing but a headache? I WILL NOT BUY ANOTHER DODGE PRODUCT!!!!