Patches' replacement is doing much better now that I've dumped a bunch of money into it.....I've replaced the driver's side CV axle, oil pan, valve cover gasket, EGR valve and transducer, oil change, tune up, tires (got a great deal on 4 used mounted on rims off CL), brakes, rad hoses, rear shocks, door lock actuators, a couple door seals, and repaired the ABS.
Since I have TV trips coming up and it's snowy and cold out, I took it to a friend's shop to diagnose a coolant leak that I couldn't find, and a transmission leak that I thought was the side gearcase cover. The coolant leak was the water pump, and the transmission leak ended up being a cracked solenoid pack. Total bill on that was just over $500....owch.
It's throwing an intermittent P0420 code for the EGR that replacing the EGR didn't solve, so in the spring I'll have to yank and clean the intake.
One problem though....I was doing the front valve cover and I noticed that one of the intake bolts moved when I grazed it with my knuckle. Someone must have tried to tighten it to clear the code, and the sucker must have snapped off. The previous owner just stuck the rest of the bolt back in the hole, and must have walked away whistling with his hands folded behind his back looking up at the sky.....
Either way, I'll get it done. Done worse
Still, all in all, I now have a touch under $1200 into it. And in the end, it'll be a FAR more reliable vehicle than a $1200 vehicle I would buy elsewhere, because anything in this price range you KNOW will need work of some kind. Some worse, some better.....but in the cheap minivan genre, it's difficult to find one that anyone ever cared about.