This is long. LOOOOOONG.
After a few weeks, we found one that had low miles, and was listed well below Blue Book. We looked up the Carfax, which was clean as a whistle, test drove it, and everything seemed to check out. About a week after buying it, it started to shake violently when I drove on the freeway. I figured it was the alignment, so I had that fixed and it seemed to improve, so we assumed it would be fine. We had no idea what we were in for.
We set out on our road trip, and it started shaking again. It shook and shook and shook. It would get so bad that we would have to pull onto the side of the freeway, put it in park and wait for a couple of minutes, and then it seemed to reset. We did that every couple of hours. By the time we were in Nebraska, we were just praying that we would make it to Connecticut, and then we'd get the problem fixed. We also assumed that it was something minor like the rotors. Near the border of Wyoming and Nebraska, one of the wheel wells was suddenly ripped off, which sounded terrible and scared the bejeebers out of everyone. That also made the bumper come loose, so we were stressed the whole time that the bumper was going to fall off at some point. We eventually made it to CT, but we were hobbling. Nils took it to a couple of mechanics the next day, but they were giving him a major runaround.
A couple of days after we got there, we had planned to go to NYC for the day. It's only a couple of hours away from where we were staying, so we figured the ol' van could handle a short day trip. In hindsight, this was really stupid, but we underestimated what we were dealing with, and we were determined to have all the fun we had planned on! After a couple of mini breakdowns on the side of the freeway in Queens, (and getting a nice lecture/history lesson on George Washington from a cop, who then escorted us to a safer place to break down), we made it to Manhattan.
When our visit was done and we were trying to get out of the city, again, on the freeway- at 9:00 at night- in the ghetto, the van stopped accelerating and started to smoke. We just sat there and looked at each other. We said things like, "What are we supposed to do?" and "What are you supposed to do when you break down on the side of the freeway in Manhattan at 9:00 at night in a minivan with your four little kids?" We decided that our only option at that point was to pray. We said a prayer, and not a minute later, this guy came running across the freeway to help us. He led us to a gas station, where he and his buddies got us up and running. I will never forget that experience. It was honestly one of the craziest, most surreal moments of my life. In New York City, in a rough part of the city, to put it nicely. Sitting at a random gas station, having strangers work on my piece of crap minivan, my kids climbing all over stacks of tires, running amok, taking my little girls across the street to use the bathroom in a disgusting deli with a guy at the counter who did not look completely with it or stable. I couldn't believe it was really happening, but I felt like everything was going to be okay and that we were being watched out for. The guys working on the van were a bunch of characters, to say the least. One of them wouldn't tell us his name- he said, "Uh, my name? Well, today you can call me Abracadabra!" They were able to fix the immediate problem of the smoking and all, and assured us we would be okay to drive back to CT.
We made it back without too much trouble, and the next day found a shop that seemed honest and like they knew what they were doing. I swear, every hour they called Nils to tell him something new they found. The transmission mount was broken, and another motor mount wasn't even screwed into place. Thus the shaking, as the motor was never secured. There was a leak in the steering column, a lug nut that was missing and the post was broken off. It needed two new front tires, and there was the the wheel well and the bumper. All of this was adding up little by little, but none of it was too expensive or difficult to fix, so we weren't too worried.
Then came the kiss of death. They had the van running, and it suddenly stalled. The timing belt had broken, which essentially ruined the engine. As it turns out, the genius we bought the van from decided to change the timing belt himself before selling it. The problem is that he didn't know what he was doing, and did it wrong. He put parts on backwards which shredded the belt. We had to have the engine rebuilt on this minivan we had purchased 5 weeks prior. Our repair costs suddenly went from $900 to $3,700, not to mention the fact that we were across the country and without a vehicle for at least a week.
We stayed with Nils' sister and her husband, who were beyond amazing. They backtracked in NYC to come find us at that gas station and make sure we were safe. They told us we could stay at their house as long as we needed to. We had planned on going to Rochester, and they let us drive their Highlander there for 3 days. Just unbelievably cool and generous about everything. If it hadn't been for them, this trip would have been such a disaster.
We made it back to CT from Rochester, and had to wait for 2 more days for the van to be finished. It was so frustrating. We had planned to leave for home on a Wednesday from Rochester, but had to backtrack to CT and wait until Saturday to leave. When we were finally able to head out, the van seemed to be driving a lot better and we didn't really have issues. After three days of driving home, we were in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE in Wyoming- 4 hours from home, when the speedometer started to wig out. The needle was jumping all over the place and again, the van would not accelerate. We pulled off the nearest exit, and saw that transmission fluid had leaked all over the place. It was splattered all along the side of the van, and the wheel was coated with it. I looked under the van, and the fluid was just dripping out. I called roadside assistance, who arranged a tow, but let me know that we would have to take a taxi to the shop, since a tow truck couldn't accommodate six people. This was when I started to cry. Nils called the taxi company, who cheerfully told him that they would be happy to give us a ride, for $8 a person, and $3 per mile, each way. They were 60 miles away. This was when I started to cry harder. I mean, really. How much more ridiculous can this situation get?
We decided to bag the tow. We drove slowly to the nearest town and found a car dealership that had a shop. They topped off the transmission fluid and told us we'd be lucky to make it 10 miles down the road before the transmission went out. By this time I had stopped crying and was just angry. We called our neighbor and asked him to be on call- we might be needing a ride home from Wyoming. Thank heavens for neighbors who are willing to do that kind of crap, ya know? We were going to drive until the transmission fell out. The kids were praying in the back that we would make it home, and by the faith of our little children and driving annoyingly slow, we did.
We have been home for a month, now. After much deliberating and praying, we have decided to keep this treasure of a minivan. So far the transmission hasn't gone out, and when it does we will get it fixed. This experience was so horrible and stressful, but there are many silver linings. We were kept safe both going to CT and coming home. We were safe in NYC. The timing belt could have broken anywhere, and we would have been stranded in that spot. It broke in the shop in Connecticut, where we had a place to stay, with family to help us out. We were able to do everything we wanted to and see everything we wanted to see. We went to Rochester and saw the Hill Cumorah Pageant, which my brother and his family were in. We had an awesome time staying with and visiting our friends Larry and Mary Ann. Our trip was a blast!
While everything was happening, we were very aware of all of our blessings. I admit, I started to despair in Wyoming on the way home, but mama can only take so much!
And that is the story of how a minivan gave me PTSD.
2 comments:
All I can say is we love you! And so, so glad you were blessed in many ways.
I hope you called out the previous owner who obviously sold you a lemmon!
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