RAY: It might be. Start by having your mechanic do an oil-pressure test on the engine. That'll tell you a lot. If the engine's oil pressure is marginal, then you can just go ahead and put a "Do Not Resuscitate" order on the Town and Country's health-care proxy.
For instance, if the oil pressure is supposed to be between 35-55 psi at idle, and the test shows it’s at 36, I’d say drive it until it drops, then remove the plates and the dog and leave the van by the side of the road.
If it passes the oil-pressure test, then ask the mechanic to look over the rest of the car to determine what other key parts are about to – in terms your horse would understand – buy the farm. He can check the water pump, the tie rods, the front brakes, the rack and pinion, etc. Because on a car with 120,000 miles, any or all of that stuff could be ready to go.
If the car checks out reasonably well, then I’d say keep it, and put a rebuilt transmission in it. It’ll probably cost you about $2,500. But what other car are you going to get that meets your needs for $2,500? With a rebuilt transmission, no less!
And at 4,000 miles a year, you might get another five years out of it. And then, if you want to preserve your Bernie stickers, you can hacksaw off the rear bumper and weld it onto your next vehicle.
Before dropping a bundle on a master cylinder, do this simple test
Dear Car Talk:
I have a 2003 Kia Sedona. The front brakes hang up on both sides. They don't lock up, but they stay engaged, as if my foot is still on the brake. If the car sits for five or 10 minutes, they go back to normal. I had the calipers and hoses replaced. What think ye? – Claude
RAY: I think ye didn't need the calipers or the hoses, Claude. I think you probably need a power-brake booster, or a brake master cylinder.
The way we diagnose these is we take the car on a drive and use the brakes a lot to get them to hang up. Then, once they misbehave for us, we hop out of the car and unbolt the master cylinder from the power-brake booster.
It’s just two bolts, and you don’t even have to remove them completely. You just want to create some separation between the master cylinder and the booster. A half-inch will do it. That removes the booster from the braking equation.
So if removing the booster causes the brakes to free up, we know that the booster is bad. And if the brakes don’t release, then we know it’s the master cylinder. Nine times out of 10, it’s the booster.
It sounds like you like to gamble on auto parts, Claude, so if you want to take a chance on wasting a few hundred more dollars, just throw a new booster in there.
But if you’d rather approach it scientifically, take a wrench with you and do that test first.
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