1998 Plymouth Grand Voyager

Please help me out here if you can.

I have a 1998 Plymouth Grand voyager, it was a fine car, until the other day. I was going up the street & it totally lost power, I had it practically floored & it was going 20 mph. When I got to a safe place I pulled off. We took the oil stick out & smoke came out of the hole.

The engine was smoking a bit but only when running. Took it to the shop, they said it was the motor it was shot & needed a new one. But they didnt even look at it. They just said it was done, Probably the bearings & the cylinder may not be firing? ONe of them.

Anyway, sound about right? It has 125k miles on it, but I am just stunned the motor went just like that.

I am afraid to put a motor in it because I mean, its not worth it & a used motor will probably just nickel & dime me to death until it blows as well.

I am thinking a new car, maybe a 2002 or newer.

What do you think?

Reply to
Coconut
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I would suggest more of a diagnosis than what they gave you. What engine does it have? If it is the 2.4L 4CYL, it may have blown the headgasket, as that was a known problem.

Assuming it is the 2.4, has the timing belt been changed? It should have been done at 101,000 miles, according to the manual. The belt may have broken. I can't remember if a broken belt on this engine will send the valves crashing into the pistons.

The 3.3 and 3.8 six cylinder engines have proven to be fairly reliable, especially if you changed the oil on a regular basis.

-Kirk Matheson

Reply to
kmatheson

Run away! Get a shop that is willing to properly diagnose before trying to screw you out of an engine rebuild. May need one, may not, but wouldn't let this place look under my hood again.

So am I. Did you pull any codes? Was the check engine light on? How much smoke? Other symptoms?

Reply to
PC Medic

Well, the only thing to consider FINANCIALLY is "can you get equivalent transportation for what it would cost to put a new engine in this one." The answer is probably "no." A new engine will be a few grand out the door... what kind of clunker POS would you be driving for a few grand. Now if you're also just tired of the van and are looking for something new, then that might be reason to give up on it and be willing to lose some money on the deal.

As for whether or not it even *is* the engine, well, it sounds like it was seizing up due to lack of oil (either no oil in it, or an oil pump/filter failure of some sort. But maybe not. If they didn't even check it out, I'd be skeptical. Chrysler minivan engines don't normally just up and blow. They normally outlive the van, or at least the owner's desire to keep driving the same van.

Coc>

Please help me out here if you can.

Reply to
Steve

Possible that something failed catastrophically in the engine, but that is unlikely. Was the temperature gauge in the red when you noticed the power loss? Almost sounds like a head gasket, but it is pretty hard to tell that only from your description above. It could be a number of things.

I'd tow it to another dealer/mechanic and get a second opinion.

Matt

Reply to
Matt Whiting

I was told by my mechanic that the noise I am hearing is due to a bent flex plate. The noise is terribly loud. Prior to this disagnosis, he had told me the noise was exhaust issue. I paid him $1100.00 to fix that, only to find there was still this aweful noise, he claims it's a different noise altogether. Any way, my question is, is it the flex plate, and how much should I expect to pay to fix that. My van has been parked for over 3 months. Is it drivable in this condition?

Reply to
Tammyjo

I would be surprised if anyone responds to this as you are replying to another posters post, and that does not lend any credibility to you.

Try again as a NEW post and start the story from the BEGINNING.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Mittelstaedt

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