Got a new 2000 GV SE Love it. Intro notes Questions
 

I am a van of the Voyagers. I had a 96 voyager for years. got some 250,000 miles on that one before the tranny started to get hinky on me.

combine that with the 7-8mpg drop I experienced with the inceptions of Ethanol "laced" fuel around here and it was not worth driving any longer (switched to a Geo Metro)

I REALLY REALLY missed my voyager. I LOVE my voyager. its the second most comfortable vehicle I have ever driven (my 92 clubwagon is king for comfort) but the voyager is a close second.

I was sad to do it but I tried for a YEAR to sell the voyager. no one would even give me scrap value for it. so I finally broke down and scraped my baby. got $500 for it. I stripped any parts I thought might be useful in a replacement. sadly I could not get my hitch off and it was rusted pretty badly (had a nice "stealth" hitch)

I went to go look at a 97 GV but it was the "base" model and it was pretty beat up. it had 340,000 miles on it which by itself did not bother me too much for $750 but he could not get it to run right (later discovered disgruntled fired employee dumped sugar in the tank) killed the FP and 2 injectors. its running smooth now but I had already found another van.

I had not intended to spend this much but I am glad I did.

I found a 2000 Grand Voyager SE in Gold with the very unusual (to me) beige gold interior for $1500.

175k on the click year old rebuilt tranny started ran drove shifted like freaking butter. 10minutes after I left called him up and said sold. got it the next day.

AIR did not work. recharged works now (hopefully tiny leak and the sealer will hold me till next summer)

I am VERY pleased. the extra room of the GV really is noticiable both in cargo space AND in leg room for middle bench!! (wish it had captains in the middle but hey can't have it all)

I did not realize how much I missed driving my voyager till I got this one 2 days ago.

I LOVE my voyager. I can't make it a daily driver. just too expensive on gas. The metro remains my daily driver but when I want some pampering or just REALLY can't go without the AC I now have a voyager once again. Hopefully this 2000 model 3.3l engine won't be "hit" so bad by the Ethanol laced fuel.

Some questions.

The lights do NOT turn on when I open the door. I fiddled with the dimmer dial. No joy their. I can turn the lights on but no position AUTO turns them on when I open the door.

I DID NOT check if any other doors "engaged" the lights I will be sure to check that tomorrow.

idea's ?

I proceeded to replace the back overhead and twin hatch lights with my preffered warm white 36smd LED arrays. ($3 ebay) WOW what an improvement. MUCH better bright more even light and better color without over doing it and FAR less power consumption.

The FRONT overhead lights. I could not readily figure out how to dismantle that one and I do not want to break it.

suggestions? how do I get to the bulbs in the front twin driver/passenger over head light fixture?

Going to add some warm white accent lighting under dash and under seats and some more 36smd units wired into the over head lights to REALLY light things up. (at 4 watts each I don't care I want Lots of light :-)

figure on wiring the "accent" lighting into the dash lights so they should "dim" with the dash lights.

got to get an ultra gauge for this. for now I will dig out my OBDII BT adapter and run torque. Just got the find the bugger.

is their anything I should look into as a first owner of a 2000 GV SE ? things prone to failure I should check etc.. ?

I have a pretty aggressive "shimmy" in the front driver wheel when I hit any sort of "bump" in the road. right side appears tight so far.

I am assuming ball joint or tie rod (will try to confirm tomorrow) suggestions?

Good resources for upgrades accessories etc.. ?

is their a source for a Stainless Steel Hitch Receiver for these? really tired of rust :-) I don't mind paying a little extra for stainless.

any other advice resources etc.. ?

thanks! I will get some pictures posted tomorrow.

Got some picture of vger for you guys

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Added my favorite wheel cover. sadly of the 12 I bought 10 years ago this is my last one and its a bit "dry" under the fabric broke the rubber in a few places getting it on.

anyone know where I can get more of this specific one? I love them but can't find them anywhere. rubber wheel cover with a nice clean ribbed fabric cover. simple efficient and comfy.

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The 3.3 - anyone know if this is a non interference engine or not?

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Need to stalk me a new one of these. all the vanes are busted up.

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Do they make PLUGS to cover up this hole I want to remove the antennae. always thought they were butt ugly. want it gone.

I confirmed ALL the doors invoke the interior lights except the drivers door
I think this is the culprit

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gonna try swapping it from the passenger door and see if that works to confirm.

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One of the few flaws. the fabric is perfect but the vinyl is tearing on the drivers seat. Problem is I have NEVER seen a "non grey" voyager in the PNP's its gonna be interesting finding a replacement.

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Needed more power. this spot was perfect. center is a dual USB adapter left is my dash cam. right is open for whatever. Later will hard wire this instead of plugging into the existing jack. Will run new line direct to battery and activate via relay using the build in jack

the pull out cupholder will not be used (got a center console with 4 cup holders) so I am going to gut that and install more 12v / USB Ports and a 110v port in its place using the cup holder as the "frame"

My dash cam
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the wire is in the headliner down the pillar under the dash.
720p full automated.

I assume the stereo is a 1.5 din? looked not quite big enough for double din bit definitely larger than a single din.

replacement options? don't need tape or cd just need usb sd and bt.

it has 8 speaker sound and its really not bad but not as nice as my infinity sound from my 96 voyager. I kept those speakers and will migrate them into this voyager if they fit.

No way to "edit" ones posts here?

- yes .. .. but the period is limited to literally a minute or minutes
- as in, you can't go back days later and make a retrospective change

I looked 5 seconds after posting and no edit button. annoying just means extra posts instead of just changing/editing a post.

looks like I am going to have to do a TOTAL flush of the coolant system. I think the PO may have used some stop leak (nasty dirty crap in the overflow bottle)

it appears it does have a leak. IN the bottle or the hose going to the bottle (at work have not been able to investigate in detail yet) which of course stop leak is not going to work on and I hate that nasty stuf usually causes more problems than it solves.

so gonna have to fix the bottle/hose leak and then flush the system and hope not too much of that crap is gunking anything up :-)

Got some goodies for vger today. we hit the P&P today what a disappointment. not a single metro. though I guess that might actually be a good thing IE people are keeping them on the road.

anyway brother got some goodies for his intrepid I got some goodies for vger

got my quad seating!! $18 each. Sweet. Different "design" fabric but same color so good enough for me

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Was going to nab the bench too so everything in the back would have same fabric ($25) but it lacked the nice grocery bag hooks which I REALLY like having to nixed the bench.

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Them Hooks :-)

sadly the tilt up function appears to be jammed (where the whole seat "tips forward" to make it easier to climb into the back seat.) but thats ok I will work on that later. just glad to have my quad seating. much nicer much more comfortable for others AND it means I can go 3 seater and still have full length half width cargo if I want. yeah :-)

Got a new windscreen cowl

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as you can see mine is all busted up. looked like crap. so $10 got a new one. perfect physically just a tiny bit of mis coloring (really hard to notice) but I will use some of that back to black stuff to make it PERFECT later on.

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Much nicer. I raped the twist locks and the sprayer nozzles off the old one before chucking it. spare parts is always nice.

Check Engine light came on. Grrr evap system pressure loss. Took a gamble on the gas cap (it was crungy) and so far no more check engine light (though I bet it would take a few miles to really tell) but fingers crossed that its a nice easy $12 cheapy fix.

also confirmed my no lights when drivers door opens was the door switch. swapped with passenger side driver side now works passenger side now fails. SO $4 at the P&P got another switch (took from passenger side since it gets less usage) and bingo. ALL the doors now turn on the interior lights when opened :-)

Not much today. My headlights had the common "haze" on them

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so I got the $24 3M kit from auto zone (OUCH used to be $15) at least its got a $5 rebate.

and "had my way" with them with my drill :-)

500 grit 800 grit 3000 grit and compound

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not bad. had enough "life" left in the materials to do my dad's windstar lights a bit too. MUCH improved.

Nice work. Glad to see someone who loves their GV as much as I did mine. When you start making trips to the local pick-n-pull for your "I bought it new in 19XX" van, you know you're well passed the point of today's spoiled vehicle owners; we treat vehicles much the same way we Americans (or is it Californian's?) do everything else, disposable.

Gotta love that anti-haze cleaner, too.

I donated my 2000 GV to a needy family around the corner, still worth 4500 KBB. I doubt anyone will take care of 'bessie' as well as we did.

I tend to keep cars for a very long time and for a very large number of miles (typically around 400,000 miles or so). Short of something beyond practical means to repair happening I expect to have this van for at least 10 years or until EV's are viable.

this van and my metro till the end or till EV's and just maybe I will simply convert it to EV :-)

got some FUN goodies yesterday. Cleaned up the license plate with a nice subtle slim gold frame AND got a wicked cool tool bag for it (I always build a small toolbag for each car)

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