My 2008 Stow N Go 2.8 Crd Purchase Info Since October 2019

[Perrymgbv8]

Hi Folks

I'm a fairly new Grand Voyager owner. I just thought that I would share my ownership issues to date with you guys. Please bear with my rambles. Its been an interesting journey so far.

 

I bought my 2008 Grand Voyager in October 2019. It had 112,000 on the clock and was in fair condition but I knew there was no record in the service book of a cam belt being fitted. I also knew that the sat nav didn't work due to a hard drive failure in the head unit. I bought it for around £2k under book price so I was happy with that. Its been a pretty good car so far to be honest. I did my usual once over of a good clean inside, outside and underneath. I lubricated all the sliding and opening door mechanisms.

Gave the brakes a good going over and fitted new pads. I had to replace the NSR caliper as it was seized. I got this on a service exchange from Motorparts direct. 

 

I got a mate to do the cam belt, water pump etc last month for half the price a dealer would charge. I got some info about an oil cooler water pipe that was a weak point in the oil cooling system and decided to take a look at it.

 

I could see the point where this pipe gets weather beaten so I bought a second hand one from a breaker in the midlands

for £85.00 + vat delivered

 

I cleaned the second hand pipe and coated in with enamel paint as it had minor pitting.

This was a no brainer as this pipe was exposed while the cam belt was being changed. So it got fitted. The price of this small pipe new was around £250 from what I could see on line.

So I hit the old one with a wire brush to clean it and maybe have a spare or sell it on for cheap. It was lucky I changed it because, despite it NOT leaking, the wire brush popped a rusty scale off the pipe to reveal a 2mm hole? This is the water return pipe to the engine from the oil cooler and it must have been close to letting go FYI. This pipe was spotless apart from maybe 25% which seems to be exposed to the elements somehow behind the engine. So I dodged a bullet there for sure.

 

I only knew about this from a friend who recently purchased a 2009 stow n go model. This pipe let go on his 100 mile drive home with his new purchase. He was the one who told me about the Chrysler breaker as he bought a pipe form them.

 

The bottom DVD player had a disk stuck inside. This wasn't a problem as the head unit plays on all 3 screens anyway. There were no headphones or remote with the dvd system. Again, not really a problem to be honest. The Grand Children can still watch movies on the move so I was happy with that. But 2 weeks ago the head unit screen started pixilating and the controls would not work. I hauled out the head unit and bottom dvd player for inspection. The bottom dvd player stuck disk removal was quite easy. But I also found a 2 pence piece rattling around and shorting the pcb in the unit. So the bottom dvd unit is naff I think.

 

The head unit was removed and the hard drive removed as well for testing. The hard drive wont run. This hard drive is a Samsung unit that is cheap to buy as a blank hard drive. Finding a new one that is programmed with the Chrysler software seems very expensive? There do seem to be some used one on line though.

 

I sprayed all the connections to the head unit with electrical contact cleaning spray and then blew it off with compressed air straight away. I put the head unit back in today and the problems seem to have gone away. The radio works, the DVD plays ok and the screen is just fine now. And my reversing camera works ok.

 

I was happy to find out that my 2 channel infra red headphones from my old dvd system from way back in 2004 work in the voyager. My Daughter just bought me a remote control which I will be testing next week.

 

The next issue was the AC not working very well. I recharged it with 1100 grams of 134a seven weeks back. But it has slowly faded. I located a leak on the ac compressor discharge pipe on the crimped connection. I removed this pipe and noticed the rubber hose has perished with some cracking. I dread to think how much this ready made pipe would be from a dealer?? So the pipe is off now. I can see it seems to be a 3/8" bore size. I am going to modify the aluminium pipe connections each end of the hose by having 1/2" bsp tails welded on by a mate of mine. Another mate will then make up a hose to fit the new connections as he works for a hydraulic hose firm. Then I can re charge the system after the usual dehydration process to get it working again for the summer.

 

The next problem has been an annoying rattle / metallic sounding clonk from the nearside when driving over slight bumps or dips in the road. I have driven this bugger with friends listening for many test drives. We all came up with the metallic noise scenario. We have checked this thing over time and again with it up on a 2 post and 4 post lift but we have found nothing in the suspension or brakes to locate this annoying noise. I had the car up on a 4 post lift yesterday and spent another few hours looking for NOT the obvious.  And I found it !   It was the nearside skirt over the sill. Its made of plastic or similar. And it has ears that locate into lugs under the car. The two front lugs had rusted and failed so the sill was loose here. I only found this by going everywhere under the car with a small rubber mallet and gently tapping stuff. I stuck some 6mm neoprene tabs between the lugs and the sill as padding and the clunk has now gone   I will remove the rusted lugs and use self drilling screws and silicon to do a permanent fix soon.

 

Another issue is the drivers side door mirror. It lowers when in reverse. But when back in drive it does not come fully back up. I can live with that to be honest.

 

Another issue is the plastic engine cover. It rattles because the rubber jobbies are all missing from the lugs in the cover. I have seen how much these are on line and its silly money. Ford Mondeo rubber jobbies are very similar at only £7 per set. I may be able to cobble these to make the cover fit securely. OR, I may just line the lugs in the cover with cling film. Then put cling film over the male lugs on the engine and put some dollops of gutter sealant or silicon instant gasket seal into the lugs on the cover and push it back on. hopefully the sealant will form the shape it needs to stop the cover rattling at idle.

 

I bought my Grand Voyager on a whim because it seemed to be the best sized people carrier. I had previously been driving a Peugeot 807 people carrier for 3 years that I paid £500 for. I have never paid more than £500 for the family weekend people carrier to be honest. All of these cars have lasted for 3 years with minimal work required and when they went wrong I just scrapped them. So paying £4k for this car was a big leap for me. Despite a few hassles I am very happy with the car I must say. I am ok with car repairs as well as I find it a good hobby. The car is in very good condition underneath. My next job will be to get under for a good clean up and then spray all metal surfaces with chain oil for added protection.

 

After this is done I will remove the spare wheel and make sure this assembly works as it should.

 

If I had done some market research on my old Pug 807 I would never have bought it. The same goes for the Chrysler! I gave it a good look over and took it for a drive myself. I was happy with what I found after doing my own inspection. After that its all down to BUYER BEWARE I guess.

 

This is the end of my journey so far Guys!

 

I'm happy with the car despite its niggles at 12 years of age. Its only done 2000 miles since I bought it. its been fully serviced and is running just fine.

 

PS!

The original battery failed a few weeks back. I got a quote for an original replacement and it was £600 !!!

I got a battery from Motorparts direct for £70 and it works just fine. I did have to tweak the battery tray and fit a spacer under the battery clamp though FYI