Question for the car experts..

[draggar]

My wife's mini van died.

They said that all the censors melted as well as the catalytic converter.

Any thoughts on what might have caused this?

[Evil Queen]

bwa.... what?? Is that possible?

(btw; I need your opinion on dog food for my dog, I have a thread started in the advice section)

[ravevolution]

Wow thats crazy!!!

Well I can only assume if things got melted like the sensors that there had to be some type of overheating. Issue could be with the cooling system, like a leak from somewhere.

What year is the van?

[draggar]

2004ish? It's out of warranty, we checked when the transmission went out.

[Evil Queen]

It's a 2004(ish) van and it has melted sensors already? I would expect that on something closer to 10-15 years.

I agree with Rave, it sounds like a problem with overheating. When was the last time the coolants were checked/changed? Does your wife remember the last time she noticed how hot the vehicle was running?

[ravevolution]

Quoth draggar

2004ish? It's out of warranty, we checked when the transmission went out.

Wow thats premature, even if it is out of manufacturer warranty. It's not a old van.

Then you had the transmission go out before?

Either the van is a lemon or (not pointing fingers, just from experience) that there wasn't proper maintenance done on the van. Was there ever a check engine light that came on?

Seems thought this vehicle has had it share of issues

[bean]

How many miles? What kind of van?

Which sensors "melted", and have they told you why the catalytic converter has gone bad? If it's clogged, that will cause poor performance and high temps. And you absolutely need a second, third, etc opinion if it'll start and run.

Symptoms, and what codes is the engine computer giving?

[Imprl59]

Quoth draggar

My wife's mini van died.

They said that all the censors melted as well as the catalytic converter.

Any thoughts on what might have caused this?

All of the sensors have not melted. If that is actually what the mechanic told you then you need to take it to another mechanic. Find out what sensors have melted and let us know. Has the van been running bad? Have you seen a flashing check engine light?

[Greenday]

Since it's not old, I'm going to say it had no coolant resulting in overheating. That or you must put a thousand miles a day on it or something

[draggar]

Quoth ravevolution

Then you had the transmission go out before?

Earlier this year the transmission went out and when they fixed that they noticed the (or a?) computer went bad. This place didn't know if the bad computer caused the transmission to fail or vice versa.

Either the van is a lemon or (not pointing fingers, just from experience) that there wasn't proper maintenance done on the van. Was there ever a check engine light that came on?

Don't worry, I wasn't responsible for the maintenance on this, I couldn't even drive it (modified for my wife plus the crates forced the seat to be all the way to the front).

It wouldn't surprise me if it turns out poor maintenance. She claims she didn't need to get oil changes until around 15,000 miles because she uses full synthetic. Honestly, I think it's been a lot longer 9and this angers me because I paid for a batch of FREE oil changes last year and they're still good!!).

Quoth bean

How many miles? What kind of van?

70,000? Dodge Caravan

Which sensors "melted", and have they told you why the catalytic converter has gone bad? If it's clogged, that will cause poor performance and high temps. And you absolutely need a second, third, etc opinion if it'll start and run.

Symptoms, and what codes is the engine computer giving?

Quoth Imprl59

All of the sensors have not melted. If that is actually what the mechanic told you then you need to take it to another mechanic. Find out what sensors have melted and let us know. Has the van been running bad? Have you seen a flashing check engine light?

My wife read off the list, they didn't say what I said exactly, I just don't remember which ones. I know one was the cooling / overheating sensor.

Symptoms - it wouldn't go over 50 on the highway and had little to no power.

I don't know about the check engine light but it wouldn't surprise me if she ignored it.

We had a good mechanic but last time it broke down the AAA tow truck driver "recommended" a "really good place" nearby because he had heard a lot of bad things about where we've been going to (oddly, one of my neighbors has been going to them for years with no issues). She was (choose your adjective) enough to follow the driver's advice.

Thy put in a reconditioned catalytic converter for something like $450 (this was a few months ago).