When we first went to buy our van the sales person told us a little about it. I told them that I was disalbed and had just been rearended by an 18 wheeler just 26 days after my 8th. Back operation, and that we needed one that would run good without to many mechanical problems because not only was I disalbed but also on a fixed income. And also that my girlfriend and i had started a business in july and needed a good van in order to cary out expanding the business.
they proceeded doing all of the paperwork. While they were doing the paperwork and approving us we went out to look at it, the van looked pretty good only having 68,000 miles on it. I thought with such low miles on it that it would be a pretty good van. We went back into the dealership and after 30 to 45 min. Later they said ok sign several papers and give us $1400. Oo and here is your keys.
I told them that I wanted to at least drive it, so the sales woman Shelly went with us, she told me where to go so I was on a nice smooth road and only able to go 35 mph, I asked her about 1/2 way through the drive if I could take it over a bumpy road, she said "There is construction up ahead" There was no construction up ahead and our test drive only lasted about 10 min. As she guided us back to the dealership. I was not happy with the test drive but because of the low mileage on it I decided to go ahead and take it.
As soon as we were traveling home and got above 45 mph I was hearing a loud squeal from the left front wheel, and a small shake in the steering wheel, when we would come to a complete stop there was a loud grinding noise in the rear wheels, and a vibration in the transmission when stoped unless I put it in nuteral.
In a few days I called Mr. James the manager, I told him there was a problem with the brakes, he told me although there was no warrantee on the van to bring it in because the brakes were a safty issue. I took it over to Toyota of Irving there parent company, they lifted the van up to check the brakes, in about 10 min. They came in and told me everything was ok. I went out in the shop and asked them if they checked the rear? They said no,
I told them the noise I was hearing, They removed the rear tires and brake drums, the brakes looked ok son I asked them just to blow out the dust and greese the moving parts, and they did it. As we drove home it still had the squeal and shake in the front end, then the check engine light came on, after the check engine light came on I stoped and checked the oil, water, belts and everything was ok so I kept driving.
After having the van for about two weeks there started to be a real bad ratteling noise when we would start it, after the motor warmed up the noise would stop. After about three weeks something started knocking very bad in the right front wheel aera. I jacked it up at home and could find nothing. The next day I took it to Pep-Boys, they had it for about two hours and could not find the problem.
The next day I took it to a friend that has a mechanic's shop. It took him two days to find and fix the problem. The upper and lower control arms were coming loose, and with just a little time the entire right front wheel would have come off. He also told me there were some parts that were under the intake manifold that needed to be replaced and that would make the check engine light go off, and that the ratteling noise that we started hearing first was the catalytic converter coming from the motor and leading to the exhaust system and that when he banged on it that it would stop.
He said it would need to be replaced soon because it would clog and keep the exhaust from escaping and the motor would stop running, besides never being able to pass inspection. He also said i needed to take it to a transmission shop and have the transmission completely flushed and additives put in it and that might keep the transmission going but he could not guarantee it. The cost of that woud be about $100. Oo but if the transmission did not respond to the additives being that it is a front wheel drive it would cost around $2500. Oo-$3000. Oo to rebuild the transmission.
The noise from the catalytic converter continued to get worse to the point where the motor would stall and I would have to get out and bang it with a hammer to get it running again. I checked at several auto parts stores and the cheepest converter was over $500. Oo Making $340. Oo a month payments on the van, $121.00 full coverage insurance that they demanded and also demanded that I lower my deductable, i could not aford all of the expence.
I got well enough to check the brakes and my wife and I removed the front tires and brake rotors, when doing that we noticed that one of the tires was differnt from the others and that it had a broken belt in it, that was the cause of the vibration in the front wheel. I knew by looking at the rotors that they needed to be turned. I took them to two differnt auto parts stors and both of them told me that they could not be turned, that they were to worn and had to be replaced. (I had been a mechanic for years and know for a fact that rotors should last longer than 70,000 miles)
We had an emergency in Alice Texas 400 miles from here. We took the van to Wal-Mart and had new tires put on it and the oil changed. On the trip to and from south Texas the van died at least 10 times where I would have to get out and bang on the converter to get it going again.
Electrical: Withen two weeks of having the van I could no longer lock the doors from the drivers side. Then about two weeks later when I would open the back window I could not close it unless I drove it for a while with my hand on the switch, it got worse and to the point that I had to remove the door panal and move the wires around to get it to close, One day it happened again so I removed the door pannel and just disconected the switch so it would not open. A couple of weeks later all of the electrical locks started messing up where we would have to manually lock every door on the van.
I took it back to my friend on thursday 4-20-06 to have the catalytic converter replaced, he called me friday at about 5P.M. And told me he could not get it done until monday. I called Mr. James at Big Shoe on saturday and asked him if I could make the payment on tuesday, he said NO I had to come in and pay at least 1/2 of the payment or the van would be electrically shut off by monday. I had never been late on a payment, paying the large insurance bills, or even the repairs on the van!
My wife found this web site and I hope enough people complain about Big Shoe that something is done to stop this ripping off of the public!
Shawn
N. Richland Hills, Texas
U.S.A.
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