Saturday, January 6, 2007

Time is Money?

People seem to be so busy these days that it is many times easier to spend a little money to have someone else do something (car repairs, home repairs, lawn maintenace, etc.) so that we can use our time for other pursuits. However, what happens when you don't have the time or the money!?
Well, in my case that generally means that I take the time, whether I have it or not, and do the work myself. That's exactly what happened this week. Our 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan has been running a little "rough." As I pulled out my handy Haynes repair manual, it suggested that the two most likely causes were fouled spark plugs and/or a clogged fuel filter. Well, since neither of those items had been replaced in the three years that we have owned the vehicle, I figured that it was worth it to go ahead and replace the spark plugs and the fuel filter.
On New Year's Day, I spent most of the afternoon and evening replacing 4 of the spark plugs and the associated spark plug wires. Does anyone know how to replace plugs 3 & 5 on a '97 Dodge Grand Caravan with a V6 3.3 liter engine? If you do, let me know. (If not, I'll probably end up parting with some money that I don't have to let our mechanic replace them.)
Today, Saturday, was the day for replacing the fuel filter. It was much easier even though you have to lower the fuel tank to access the filter. Also, I found out that the guy at the part's store gave me the wrong filter. He gave me the one for the Caravan, not the GRAND Caravan. That one word makes about 6 inches worth of a difference in the part. Anyway, I finished that and Stephenie says that the van seems to be running better.

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