2003 T&C, AT and Cooling system

[meep]

Howdy!

We just added a "new" vehicle to the garage. With 4 growing kids, and a distaste for debt, we picked up a minivan... in good shape mostly but it needs work. the price was right.

Rundown:
2003 T&C 3.8L
84,000 miles
CEL for low voltage, and two emissions codes, evap system and another. (the gas cap is broken so i suspect the evap codes are from flaky cap, and the low voltage was an attempt to reset the light, yes I caught this before purchase).
Shifts fine, starts fine, runs fine, handles great.
flaky door lock, flaky power door.

Worry spots:
AT-- fluid not burnt but it looks brown. Going to replace filter, add inline filter, and then flush with ATF+4. QUESTION: that AT pan, i've tried to remove before on a friends T&C, and it wouldn't budge (glued on with oem rtv). Any tricks to getting it off???

Losing a cup of coolant from the overflow every time it cools down. no visible leaks. no steam on startup. no visible bubbles. system doesn't hold pressure. Coolant is grimy dexcool, but no oil in it (no foam in crank case either). QUESTION: are there known problem spots to start with on this car? I plan to drain and plain water flush and refill with a universal fluid.

It's got some oil seepage, from the valve covers and also around the pan. Figure it just needs new gaskets. the VC seepage drips onto the exh and makes a bit of a stink.

If anyone knows of any other "typical" things to check in this vehicle, please holler. It's sitting in the driveway now for "minimal use" until I can get into it.

Mikey

 

[Drew99GT]

As for the cooling system, try a new pressure cap to eliminate that possibility.

 

[Lead Shoes]

The trick to getting an rtv sealed pan off is a thin tip screwdriver and a hammer to break the seal and wedge between it.

 

[meep]

Ok-- did the AT-- I had to hit the pan so hard it deformed the lip before I could get a screwdriver in there to pry it off... done and it's happier.

COOLING SYSTEM:

doesn't overheat. but was sold to us low on coolant. topped it off. Runs and gets to middle, but the hoses never firm up with pressure.

So I slapped on a new rad cap. Let it run until hot, hoses are hot, fans on... can still squeeze the hoses... like it's not holding pressure.

So I take it to a shop. It holds 13 psi for 36 hours. (should hold 16 but the new cap was venting at 13, they told me). Best they could suggest are the hoses are waay too soft (they are) and are ballooning instead of firming up-- the rad cap never has to release, and we aren't driving it hard enough to push the engine into boiling off the coolant.

No leaks found. No oil in the coolant. No coolant in the oil.

Does this sound right? I've never seen anything like it--- a 200F hose that I can easily squeeze by hand.

Glad it's not a HG--- they said there is NO indication that it's a HG.

Ordered full set of hoses, and have coolant+distilled water on standby.

also gets new pan and VC gaskets, oil flush, brake fluid replace, and then we start tracking down emissions errors.

So the family hauler rebuild project continues...

M