bfurth

Spark plugs won't be covered under the powertrain warranty - they're a maintenance item at 30k miles. It's also an $8 fix for 20 minutes of your own time. And don't change them out when the engine is hot - you run the risk of damaging the threads.

Spark plugs won't be covered under the powertrain warranty - they're a maintenance item at 30k miles. It's also an $8 fix for 20 minutes of your own time. And don't change them out when the engine is hot - you run the risk of damaging the threads.

For the love of all that is internally combusted - JUST SAY NO to electronic PARKING brakes!
When all else fails, a cable-driven brake that runs actual service brakes (even if they are only the rear brakes) is infinitely more useful than a secondary parking brake (see: drum type brakes inside a disk brake rotor like the old 4th gen Grand Caravan). And I wouldn't trust an electrically driven parking brake to function when I need brakes 3 seconds ago.

For the love of all that is internally combusted - JUST SAY NO to electronic PARKING brakes!
When all else fails, a cable-driven brake that runs actual service brakes (even if they are only the rear brakes) is infinitely more useful than a secondary parking brake (see: drum type brakes inside a disk brake rotor like the old 4th gen Grand Caravan). And I wouldn't trust an electrically driven parking brake to function when I need brakes 3 seconds ago.

Glad to hear everyone is ok.
Any car seats in the vehicle, occupied at the time of the collision or not, must be replaced. The only manufacturer that allows for re-use after a collision is Britax, and even then only under specific circumstances. The at-fault party's insurance carrier will be more than happy to reimburse you for actual expenses for replacing the seats you had, and they usually do so with logical replacements. For a 1 year old child, I assume they were either at or near the height/weight limits for the typical infant carrier, and it was probably getting close to moving them up to a bigger rear facing seat anyway. Now is the time to get a good convertible car seat (if they didn't have one already). Either way, replace it with something "similar"
If the van wasn't moving when it got hit, and it got hit from behind, airbags in front of the passengers would be of little use. Air bags will assist in more gently slowing you down. from a stop with impact to the rear, you would be suddenly accelerating forward. The seatbelt pre-tensioners would be the restraint that protects the occupant, not the airbag. In the case of newer Grand Caravans, it would also involve the active head rest.

With 30,000 miles on the tires, assuming they are the OEM Kumho Solus, they are probably close to end of life (or will be within the first year of ownership) anyway. Don't just use the tread wear indicator - get in there with a tread depth gauge and measure what's there with accuracy. At 5/32" or less, I would ask for new tires, or a substantial discount ($500 - $1,000) off the asking price because you'll be replacing those tires in less than a year.

With 30,000 miles on the tires, assuming they are the OEM Kumho Solus, they are probably close to end of life (or will be within the first year of ownership) anyway. Don't just use the tread wear indicator - get in there with a tread depth gauge and measure what's there with accuracy. At 5/32" or less, I would ask for new tires, or a substantial discount ($500 - $1,000) off the asking price because you'll be replacing those tires in less than a year.

The frame for the Trico and OEM are almost identical - the only difference I can find is the texture of the plastic on the top of the frame. The big difference I noticed between the OEM and the Trico is the metal piece of the wiper blade itself, or more accurately, how the rubber is molded around it. The Trico version just has two strips of metal, one on each side, that are the exact same length as the rubber. The OEM wiper has the rubber extend just beyond the length of the metal. As such, the metal sits perfectly inside the rubber and has no room to slip.
I suspect that what is happening is that the metal pieces on the after market blade is slipping on the rubber (which will lead to eventually cutting through it) because there is too much play between them. The OEM blade has no room for movement, and as such the blade maintains contact the way it's supposed to.

Just as a public service announcement, be wary of the cheap rear wiper blades available for the Journey. They may not provide full coverage for clearing the rear window as the OEM blade does.
I bought a Trico 12-A Exact Fit rear wiper blade (it is nearly identical in appearance to the OEM), and seriously disappointed in its inability to remain in contact with the glass for the entire stroke of the motor. When it reaches the top 3rd of the wiper path, the highest 3 inches of the blade lose contact with the glass.
OEM is more expensive, but remains in contact for the full wiper blade pass.

Copper plugs are about 1/3rd the cost of platinum or iridium plugs, but only last about 1/3rd as long. If you're changing the plugs on your own (and for this engine, unless you are REALLY bad at turning a wrench, you should be), the only difference is the 20 minutes every 30,000 miles it should take to change them out.
Also, by using "not what is listed as an OEM part," you run afoul of the powertrain warranty and any future issues with engine performance or emissions can be blamed on a non-factory-approved part to void a warranty claim.
Many engineers spent substantial amounts of time determining what the best spark plug is for this (and any other) engine. Unless your level of education in engineering exceeds theirs, it's probably best to stick with what they recommend. Or do what you want, it's your car.

But alas, many of us are stuck with a backup family hauler. They don't sell a 7 seat Jeep (yet). The Grand Wagoneer should take that role nicely. But for the price? I'll take the Journey, thank you very much.

Copper plugs are about 1/3rd the cost of platinum or iridium plugs, but only last about 1/3rd as long. If you're changing the plugs on your own (and for this engine, unless you are REALLY bad at turning a wrench, you should be), the only difference is the 20 minutes every 30,000 miles it should take to change them out.
Also, by using "not what is listed as an OEM part," you run afoul of the powertrain warranty and any future issues with engine performance or emissions can be blamed on a non-factory-approved part to void a warranty claim.
Many engineers spent substantial amounts of time determining what the best spark plug is for this (and any other) engine. Unless your level of education in engineering exceeds theirs, it's probably best to stick with what they recommend. Or do what you want, it's your car.

Copper plugs are about 1/3rd the cost of platinum or iridium plugs, but only last about 1/3rd as long. If you're changing the plugs on your own (and for this engine, unless you are REALLY bad at turning a wrench, you should be), the only difference is the 20 minutes every 30,000 miles it should take to change them out.
Also, by using "not what is listed as an OEM part," you run afoul of the powertrain warranty and any future issues with engine performance or emissions can be blamed on a non-factory-approved part to void a warranty claim.
Many engineers spent substantial amounts of time determining what the best spark plug is for this (and any other) engine. Unless your level of education in engineering exceeds theirs, it's probably best to stick with what they recommend. Or do what you want, it's your car.

But alas, many of us are stuck with a backup family hauler. They don't sell a 7 seat Jeep (yet). The Grand Wagoneer should take that role nicely. But for the price? I'll take the Journey, thank you very much.

Copper plugs are about 1/3rd the cost of platinum or iridium plugs, but only last about 1/3rd as long. If you're changing the plugs on your own (and for this engine, unless you are REALLY bad at turning a wrench, you should be), the only difference is the 20 minutes every 30,000 miles it should take to change them out.
Also, by using "not what is listed as an OEM part," you run afoul of the powertrain warranty and any future issues with engine performance or emissions can be blamed on a non-factory-approved part to void a warranty claim.
Many engineers spent substantial amounts of time determining what the best spark plug is for this (and any other) engine. Unless your level of education in engineering exceeds theirs, it's probably best to stick with what they recommend. Or do what you want, it's your car.

But alas, many of us are stuck with a backup family hauler. They don't sell a 7 seat Jeep (yet). The Grand Wagoneer should take that role nicely. But for the price? I'll take the Journey, thank you very much.

Go to your local optometrist and get a cleaning cloth and solution for anti-glare coated lenses - if it costs $5, I'd be surprised. The manufacturer of that coating recommends against things so abrasive as cotton t-shirts. If those cleaning cloths won't scratch that, they certainly won't scratch the instrument cluster plastic. And, if the cleaning solution clears up well enough for glass that sits less than an inch from your eye, it will certainly not leave any residue on the plastic.

I only clean mine (and the speedometer/tach lenses, and EVIC screen) with the same cloth I use for my glasses (which have an anti-glare coating). No scratches from that yet.

Judging by the images from their website, it won't work for the Journey. The pinch weld for us is nearly 1" in height. That adapter looks like it's only 1/2" deep maybe. It also only serves for lifting, not something that can be used with jack stands. I'll get photos over the weekend of what I'm making - no one has voiced any safety concernes over the use of vulcanized rubber, and there are several products on the market of similar material. I'm just going to make my own for a total cost of materials of $8 (and an as-yet undetermined amount of time with a hack saw).

So Windows Media Player seems to be the solution to playlists on a "not iPod." Should album art appear on a 4.3S radio? If so, it's all file issues on my end. There's one album I've got that the songs titles keep getting screwed up. Must be something in the metadata for the files that I need to clean up.

Next up - trying the same test with a flash drive!

I used to work at Apple tech support (many many years ago). I used to be able to make iTunes sing and dance (the USER not so much...) You can put your iTunes folder pretty much anywhere you want, so long as your profile (iTunes Library) knows where to look for the files. What I want is what file format the 4.3 UConnect radio uses for reading playlists from a USB device (not an iPhone running iOS whatever or a VERY old iPod that still has a click wheel).
I could do it by folder, but that eats up too much space and creates duplicates if you want song X in 2 or 3 different playlists. Mind you - this is mostly due to curiosity and the current level of function doesn't bother me. But there's a button that should work and I haven't made it work yet. As an IT person, this bothers me.

I get the hatred towards minivans - they're not "cool." Now that I'm a father of three, I've wised up. You know what's "cool?" Pure functional practicality.
And Vipers. And Challenger Hellcats. But I can't afford either of those.

The F-150 will fare just fine - until it gets hit. They can be repaired, but it's a new vehicle structure compared to traditional steel frame or unibody. Like anything else, make sure you know your body shop.

That's not "all the 1's." Do it again in 100,000 miles...