1996 Plymouth Voyager SE 3.0 V6
Summary:
Awful. Avoid
Faults:
Water pump went out.
Indicator mysteriously stops working.
Indicator cables shot.
Brake pipes corroded to bursting = total system failure.
Rumbling rear bearings.
Liftgate key latch broken.
Can't get brake drum off (offside).
Oil leaks.
Power steering fluid leaks.
Windshield wiper fell off.
Front suspension mountings shot.
EGR valve went out leading to rough running.
Parking brake is knackered.
Front brakes are a joke.
Headlamps are useless.
Heavy on gas (and I have a VERY light foot)
Car is basically too dangerous to be on the road but here we are.
At least the transmission is OK!
General Comments:
To be fair with nealry 300K km on the clock it was going to have its share of issues. The gripe I have with this machine is how every job no matter how small seems to turn into a major mission.
Example 1 - water pump. Mechanic basically had to dismantle the car to get at it. It's a $50 component!
Example 2 - needed new brake pipes. Aside from Chrysler manufacturing certain pipes out of 2 metals welded together (thus making a circuit that any first year chemistry student will tell you is a rust disaster waiting to happen), the pipes appear to be some nightmarish mixture of male one end, female the other, different nut sizes, the list goes on.
Example 3 - indicator buld socket is some mad plastic moulding which clips into another plastic moulding, which clips into... needless to say when one bit goes out you end up having to source the shole lot.
It's served it's purpose for me (got me up and running cheap when I had no wheels) but I would have been much better off with the repayments on a brand new car. It was a gamble and I lost.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 5th September, 2008
7th Sep 2008, 16:56
RTFA mate cos you clearly miss the point.
I didn't say I expected the car to be problem-free.
The issue is how hard it is to do every little repair.
I've had old beaters before, lots of them. 1991 MR2, MX5, 1978 MG Midget, 1976 Mini, even a 1962 Triumph, Herald, 1967 Dodge Coronet etc etc etc. All of them went wrong. But all of them were easy to fix. Only my 1987 Jaguar came close to the Voyager for mad electrical gremlins, shonky reliability, leaky gaskets, impossible-to-reach parts, non-standard fittings, bolts, switches, brackets... the list goes on.
Its like Chrysler got together the worlds 10 brightest engineers and locked them in a room until they designed the world's most hard-to-fix car. Presumably 8 of them came from Jaguar.
Also, you have to consider just how many faults the vehicle has had, and if you care to read other posts about this model, you will see the same ones coming up time and time again.
Ironically my van seems to be one of the few to have a good tranny.
11th Oct 2008, 15:23
Update Oct 10 2008. 290,000km.
Well it's nearly time for the van to go to the Chrysler parking lot in the sky, assuming there is any room.
Since my last post it's developed a short circuit somewhere in the wiring harness, which does weird stuff with the indicators and the rumbling wheel bearings now develop a mighty roar such that even I am scared to drive it on the freeway. Other than that and all the other faults, it's been running like a champ.
I am going to sell it spares or repairs. To be fair to the old girl 290,000 isn't a bad innings, but it really is alarming how bad it is at only 12 years old.
Funny thing was I went past a highway patrol safety checkpoint today. The officer reminded me I had until the end of the month on the safety sticker. Heh heh heh. Irony.
Can't figure out what to get next. For some reason the local round here seem to thing 2000 Civics, Corollas etc are worth $7500. I went to see a Sunfire that was basically knackered. Owner wanted $5000. Fantasy.
I hear good things about Buicks. Time will tell.
Bye Bye Van. RIP.
6th Sep 2008, 07:43
It was old & used up when you bought it - What did you expect?