My Old Van

I have mentioned before that my vehicle is a minivan.  A Ford Windstar minivan, to be exact.  It is a ’99 minivan, which makes it 12 years old with approximately 186,000 miles on it. Needless to say, it is on its last legs.

I purchased the van in 2002.  At the time I owned a Ford Escort, which had pretty much reached the end of its life. At least I didn’t want to sink any more money into it.  Besides, at the time, I was taking care of my dad and he was having difficulty getting in and out of that little car.  Not to mention the difficulty I was having lifting his wheelchair in and out of the back of the car. So I decided it was time to buy a new vehicle and further decided a minivan would be the best thing all the way around.  Easy for Dad to get in and out of and easy for me to manage his wheelchair.

As I said I purchased the van in 2002.  November 2002.  Dad loved it.  We went on numerous rides so he could enjoy the new vehicle. For about 2 ½ months. Then he died.

I decided at the time to keep the van because I loved riding higher up than I would in a car and I figured having the extra room would be helpful when I wanted to haul things or help with transporting people for events at church.

I have used the van for a number of youth events such as hauling the kids down to Salem, MA for the performance of “A Christmas Carol” on the trolley or up to Windham, ME for snow tubing.  I have also used it for hauling things for my brother from a couple of barbecues to a Hammond organ. It certainly has been a handy vehicle to own.

That said it is really starting to gasp its last breath. The check engine light is always on now. I know what is causing it so I pretty much ignore it.  What is causing it? Well, there is a valve in the gas tank that controls the fumes.  The valve is malfunctioning and, in order to replace it, I would need to replace the whole gas tank because Ford, in their infinite wisdom, made it that way. So the gas tank makes this burping sound every so often (I use the term “burping” although I have had people refer to it as another bodily sound).

Other problems my van has are strange sounds when I go over bumps, the gauges sometimes go wacky and spin all over the place, the gas gauge doesn’t always keep accurate measure so I have to use the trip tracker to keep track of my mileage so I won’t run out of gas, the steering wheel has developed this shaking problem occasionally and I think the tires are worn down too much (I don’t have the traction I used to have).  Also the backlight on the driver’s side goes out occasionally but if I bang on it, it pops back on again. All of these are fixable problems but, as I said, the van is 12 years old and I really don’t want to sink money into it.

Oh, did I mention that the back bumper needs to be replaced because it is rusted out in spots and the sliding door on the passenger side doesn’t close very easily because the track is all rusted out?  The bumper could be replaced but there isn’t anything I can do about the door.

All in all, it is time for the old van to be retired and for me to purchase a new vehicle.  I am trying to decide whether to get a Toyota Prius, Toyota Rav4 or a Toyota Camry. Either way, I am done with Fords and really would like something Toyota.

I have until the end of March to purchase something.  Then my inspection sticker will be expired on the van and it won’t pass inspection again without major work done on it.

I will miss the old van.  It has served me well.  Maybe I can donate it to someplace and they can spend some money to fix it and get a few more years out of it.  Maybe the Good News Garage will take it.  If anything, they could use it for spare parts.

I will post more as I search for a new vehicle and post a picture when I finally do purchase something. So…more to come!