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Location: Moose Jaw, in between the Moose's butt and nose.
5,152 posts, read 8,526,495 times
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It may be a dumb ?, but I honestly, may not be able to afford to fix it.....There's this one mechanic who said that he will fix it and said I can buy a strut from a wrecking yard, but, also said only if I fix the brakes as well.....just got laid off at a job too and need to move to better my chances of getting another one, even if it's only 100 miles away.....
Fix it or park it. Why not fix it yourself? That's the way to save money, and with no job, you've got time to do it. Brakes are cheap and easy. Find out how to do it on the internet, or find a friend who knows how, to teach you. I don't know if you can do the strut yourself or not, but at least do the brakes.
Thanks for taking the risk of hurting the rest of us with your negligent maintenance.
Please take the bus if you can not afford to have it repaired.
This.
And FWIW, I have never heard of a 'loose strut'. A strut doesn't 'go loose' with wear. It stops damping as well, which is bad but not THAT dangerous unless it's COMPLETELY blown, but LOOSE? If that's truly what is going on, you have a bigger issue than just a bad strut. What it is I couldn't begin to tell you, but it ain't good.
The above replies seem a little over dramatic in my opinion.
Anyhow, I'm not worried so much about the strut as I am with the brakes. Struts or Socks dampen the vehicles ride and does play a key roll in vehicle control. But it's nothing you can't learn to deal with until you get to a point where you can fix it. A lot of people actually drive around on wear out shocks/struts and not know it. The reason is shocks/struts degrade over time thus the owner gets used to the poor performance. Anyhow, Keep in mind, front strut replacing generally requires a front end alignment. If you choose to do it your self, use a black sharpe marker to outline the current ligament settings before removing...generally some cam type washer. You can borrow a spring compressor at Autozone to remove the spring. It's time consuming but fairly easy depending on the vehicle model...the wife's Enclave is in the shop for a strut and it's a nightmare.
Now for my concern, the brakes, for obvious reasons brakes are more important. Failure to maintain a good working brake system can lead to mayor issues including wrecks. If you don't have the cash for turning drums/rotors, I would at least install a set up pad/shoes. This will help reduce damage to the rotors/drums and improve braking.
What will happen is that, in a few thousand (or hundred) miles, it will feel like the axles are welded right to the frame. Every tiny bump, the wheel will leap right off the road, giving you zero braking or steering traction on the affected wheel, which is very disappointing in an emergency.
As for "ruining" your rotors, they are so cheap that the cost of replacing them is minimal, and it won't matter how badly they are scored. You can keep driving on them, braking iron on iron, without doing any further damage, since even now, they will probably need to be replaced. Your brakes are probably safe now, as long as all four wheels are gripping the road more or less equally. You can test for that by braking fairly hard at low speed on gravel, and then getting out to look to see if all four skid marks are fairly uniform.
IF it is a Dodge Caravan, the rear shock absorbers tend to come loose with some regularity. It is easy to reattach them and costs about $1.50. Of course it will just come loose and fall off again unless you do something to lock it down. It is a design defect.
Brakes pads are very easy and can be done in about an hour. However you may well need to have the rotors turned or replaced. Again if it is an older Dodge Caravan, you might need new calipers now you are getting into big money. Drum brakes are more difficult, but still not terribly hard. It may take you half a day to place the shoes in drum brakes if you ahve never done it before.
The problem is that old clunkers are really only a little bit cheaper than buying a newer more expensive car that is less worn out. Usually you end up spending as much on rpeairs as you would on payments for something newer.
IF it is a Dodge Caravan, the rear shock absorbers tend to come loose with some regularity. It is easy to reattach them and costs about $1.50. Of course it will just come loose and fall off again unless you do something to lock it down. It is a design defect.
What years are you referring to? 90-95? I have not seen this problem on our old 88, nor on two 1999 models, nor on our current 2005. Would like to know.
^^It's not so much the shock coming loose as it is the lower bushing wearing out and letting the shock rattle around.
You mean the sway bar bushings? If yes, then that is a design defect for vans up to 2007.
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