1989 Dodge Caravan
This is my 1989 Dodge Grand Caravan SE, twin to the Plymouth Voyager. I bought it in 1993 with 125K miles. I drove it for about five years and put on almost fifty thousand miles. I was very satisfied with it, but one day while driving home from work, I stopped for traffic but the car would not start up again. The engine reved up, but the something in the transmission must have �snapped�. I towed it home and parked it in the driveway, hoping to fix it some day.
It has been sitting in my driveway ever since then and it is clear that I�ll never get around to fixing it. I�m putting it on sale on eBay, starting at a $91.00 to cover my eBay fees. More details are listed below under each photo.
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The body is in remarkably good shape with no major damage. There is some minor damage here and there, which is noted in the photos below. Note that this is the Grand Caravan SE model, which is longer than the standard model.
The right rear tire is flat and has been that way for a long time. I suspect that it will probably no longer hold air.
There is a trailer hitch mounted to the frame. The hitch bar and ball are included and are stored inside the van.
The left front tire is also flat. Like the right rear, it has been flat for a long time and will likely no longer hold air.
The van has a Mitsubishi V6 engine that has generally been trouble free. Like most similar Caravans and Voyagers of the era, it did tend to smoke a fair amount. When it was running, it never had trouble passing emissions and always seemed strong and peppy.
Obviously, the engine compartment is rather dirty. It has been sitting unused for a number of years. The battery is stone cold dead and likely will never hold a charge again. I did try to jump start it a while ago and it started up without much difficulty; however, it did have a rather loud knock that was not there when I parked it years ago. I don�t know what may have caused this or if it is repairable.
I haven�t worked on the car in years, but as I recall, it was fairly easy to service. Most of the components seem to be easy to access. The exception being the spark plugs for the rear bank. They are fairly well buried and a bit hard to get to.
A short while before the transmission when out, I replaced the silver metal pipe that is circled in the photo. It connects to the radiator and goes through the valley in the center of the engine, under the intake manifolds and I believe connects to the water pump (or another part of the cooling system) from the back. The O ring on the end must have slipped during installation, because it started leaking shortly after the repair. I was going to take it back out and reseat or replace the O ring, but the transmission died and I never got around to it.
At one point the car was involved in a minor cosmetic accident. It was stopped in traffic when a car pulled out from a driveway and hit the right rear corner. They guy must not have been paying any attention. Rather than getting the car professionally repaired, I decided to hammer out the dent as best as I could and live with it. The plastic trim cap at the end of the bumper was damaged and I never bothered to fix it. It does not fall off, but it won�t stay securely where it should.
When I bought the van, it had a dent in the tailgate next to the license plate. I pounded out the dent as much as I could, but it is still noticeable, especially if you look closely. The trim plate was fastened on with some rather large screws by the previous owner. I never got around to fixing it properly.
The sliding side door has a number of fairly small ripples in it. They were probably caused by people bumping it with their rear ends to close it all of the way. I tried to take a picture that would show the ripples, but they are somewhat hard to see.
While the car was sitting in my driveway, someone apparently decided to use the windshield for target practice with a BB gun. There are a number of small BB holes, mostly in the lower portion of the passenger�s side. There is also one hole in the lower portion of the driver�s side. There are also a number of circular crack marks on the lower passenger side of the windshield. I�m not sure if they are related to the BB holes of if someone hit, kicked or stepped on the windshield. As far as I know, there is no other BB damage on any part of the car other than the windshiled.
The car has been sitting in my driveway for many years and the inside is rather musty and somewhat moldy in places. The carpet has some stains from this. The map pocket in the side of the center seat was cracked when I bought it. I put some tape on the crack and left it as is.
There are two or three small holes in the fabric of the front seat. They were there for a while before the transmission broke down, but remarkably never seemed to get worse.
The front seats are in fairly good shape. They are a bit dirty, but can probably be cleaned up. The driver�s door and seat look rather dark in this photo. I believe that this is primarily shadows and is not grease or oil as it might look like in the photo. Obviously, there is a separate �captains chair� for the driver and the passenger
The middle seat is in fairly good shape. It is also a bit dirty, but can probably be cleaned as well. The middle bench seat holds two people. It is easily removable by lifting up a latch on either side and lifting it out of the car.
The rear seat is also in fairly good shape. Like the front and middle seats, it is also a bit dirty, but can probably be cleaned up. The rear seat holds three people. It also has latches on each side. It can either be removed from the van or moved into the middle position if the middle seat is removed. It also has a lever on the bottom that allows it to slide forward or backward to divide space between the cargo area in the back or the legroom for the people sitting on it.
This is the interior panel on the driver�s door. It is a bit dirty, but otherwise in good shape. Note that the chromed plastic trim ring around the door lock and handle is missing. The mounting tabs broke long ago and it would never stay on for long. I never got around to getting a new one.
Here is the right front passenger�s door panel. It is also a bit dirty, but in good shape. This one has the chrome trim ring, but the chrome has started to come off.
The rear hatchback is in good shape, although the grills on the speakers are a cracked in a few places.
In this view from the rear, two problems can be noted. The skirt on the rear seat is pulling loose on the left side and the plastic cap on the bumper is loose as previously mentioned.
Here is another view of the rear seat from a different angle. The handle in the center allows the seat to be folded forward for increased cargo storage.
Here is the rear seat in the folded position.
The interior side wall on the left side is in fairly good shape.
The interior side wall on the right side is in fairly good shape as well. The ashtray is broken and does not stay in the receptacle.
Most of the brown marking on this side of the carpet are pine needles which have been tracked into the car and were never cleaned out.
Most of the brown markings on this side of the carpet are from some tire chains that were put into the cargo area while they were still wet. They rusted and left stains on the carpet. I have no idea if the stains will come out. I never tired.
The instrument panel is rather minimalistic, but everything worked the last time that the car was running.
The mileage has been frozen at 173,774 miles.
Other damage that is not shown:
The glass on the rear view mirror on the right side door is cracked and was glued together years ago.
The factory car stereo is not properly screwed in. I was in the process of wiring in an auxiliary amplifier, but never finished. I think that I left the stereo sitting in the hole but not screwed in.
