Vehicles – Page 2 – Dishers.com

April 15, 2010

Hath Hell Frozen Over?

We are once again a 3-car family. Yesterday we picked up another vehicle to round out the Disher fleet.

Wait for it…

A Mini van…

A gently used 2003 Pontiac Montana.

Keeping on the Ramsey debt free strategy we added another clean used car to the stable, and paid cash. This puppy is fully loaded and well cared for. Every option, including DVD stuff for the kiddos. We really only need to get 2 years out of it to break even, but it should last longer.

If you know me, I know what you’re thinking.

“What the hell? A Mini van? and a GM product no less?“

No I didn’t bump my head, and I’m feeling OK.

This is a strategic move.

(a) It gets Claudine into something more fuel efficient for all the driving she does. It’s actually easier for her to get Matthew into the car seat in this thing. If Molly decides to resume gymnastics, all the driving that Claudine does will be better in this over the Excursion.

(b) It allows us to park the Cirrus for a while. It’s been nickel and diming us to death, and quite frankly I’m just completely sick and tired of driving it. It’s still a decent vehicle and Maggie will be 16 soon so she’ll need something to learn in. The Cirrus is a good choice for this but if I had to drive it much longer it may very well have ended up in a lake or river.

(c) It allows me to take over the Excursion and recoup some man-points that have been lost from driving that Cirrus for so long. Since I ride as often as I can the fuel burden won’t be as bad.

(Sorry tree huggers, we will never, ever, get rid of the Excursion, it is the Ultimate utility vehicle for hauling people, vacation/trips, and pulling the horse trailer, etc, etc.).

The most interesting part of this is that it is a GM product. I’ve been anti-GM all my life, but this thing fit the bill and we just didn’t like anything Ford had to offer in this space. Time will tell if that’s a mistake.

February 25, 2009February 25, 2009

Escort vs. Train

This morning on his way to school, Michael hit a train. Yep, you read that right. Miraculously, he walked away. Sore as hell, just a few scratches on his right hand, banged up his knee a bit, but other than that he’s OK.

Apparently, he was behind a school bus that turned right at the tracks. The school bus blocked his view of the flashing lights, and the train was coming from the right. When he cleared the school bus he saw the train, but it was too late. Hit slammed on the brakes and ended up hitting the 4th car from the Engine (according to the conductor).

He’s very, very lucky.

From Escort vs. Train

Channel 12’s Coverage

Channel 9’s Coverage

Ky Post Coverage

January 6, 2009

1999 Chrysler Cirrus Blower Motor Resistor

So do you have a 1998-2000 Chrysler Cirrus or Dodge Stratus or Plymouth Breeze?

Does your AC/Heater Blower not work at all or maybe only on the highest setting?

If so you need one of these:

They cost about $21 from a local autoparts store, or $35 from the dealer, or $16 plus shipping from RockAuto.com

My blower quit about a week ago and the internet search began. Lots of people pointed out what I needed but they said it was behind the glove box.

It was not.

The real location is under the glove box. On the passenger side, there is a black plastic cover that spans the entire floorboard area and covers the bottom of the glove box and blower housing. You need to remove it. To do so, there are two plastic clips. The rivet kind, pull the inside while holding the outside and the pop right out.

Once you get the black cover out, it’s right there with two connectors. Unplug those, two 8mm or 5/16th screws and out it comes.

I now have a four speed blower which helps when you need heat.

December 11, 2008

The Ohio Salvage Title Process

What a pain.

In June we purchased a nice/reasonable teenager car (1998 Escort ZX2). Fairly low miles, good tires, with heat and AC for $1500.

Last week it was wrecked, or rather run into in a parking lot incident. The damage wasn’t all that bad, but the suspension was broken.

The person was covered by Progressive. All in all the claim service has been decent. The problem is they won’t use any used/remanufactured/aftermarket suspension parts. So the cost of fixing the suspension pushed passed the value of the vehicle.

Hence, it’s "Totaled".

It’s still a decent car given it’s purpose. Good gas mileage, working AC, etc.

So we’re taking the settlement, minus the buy back ($250) and we’re going to fix it. Cost to fix: ~$1200-ish. that does not include a new bumper, but does include beating out the dent in the fender so it’s not so bad. Remember, teenage driver, to/from school and work is it’s primary purpose.

So, the Salvage process goes like this.

To get the settlement from Progressive I have to convert the Title to salvage. Cost: $5.00.

I then have to bounce next door and buy a Salvage Inspection Certificate. Cost: $53.00.

The car is now Salvage and as such is not licensed to be on the road. (We can’t drive it). It will be fixed tomorrow or Saturday, but we’re stuck. We can’t drive it until our inspection date which generally runs 30 days out. The body shop had an inspection certificate which they claim is transferable so they made the inspection appointment for us for Dec 22nd. So we’re without wheels until then.

We now wait for the car to be repaired, and for Dec 22nd to roll around. We are permitted to drive it to the inspection location (on the certificate).

Once it passes, we then have to go back to the Title agency and convert the title to rebuilt salvage. (Another $6.00). Then again bounce next door to the registrar and pay to have the plate put back on it (Another $4.50).

The little costs add up, but it’s more the time and running around that’s a big pain in the butt.

It seems to me that this whole process could be streamlined for instant rebuilds like ours. I recognize that most of them don’t go this way, but the typical 30 day lag for the inspection for instant rebuilds is a big inconvenience.

Another fine example of how efficient our governments are.

October 4, 2008

Ford Excursion : Brake Eater

Just put front brakes on our 200 Ford Excursion for what I think is the 5th time in 140k miles.

That’s 28k per set. I know it’s had all (4) wheels done twice, just the fronts twice, (now 3x).

That heavy behemoth just eats brakes. Best part was, it went pretty smooth, I don’t think I cussed once.

We’ll see how the $77 NAPA Ceramic pads do. We’ve had issues with non-Ford pads in the past… The brakes just get bound up every now and then and will pull hard (generally to the left, but not always) under hard braking. Usually falling back to Ford brakes took care of this.

We’ll see.