Hmm, to gamble on it or nah maybe not?

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Yet these exact vans are sold in Japan, Thailand, Australia, a slightly modified version in the UK etc etc.. you'd think if they had the SAME result it has on ME on everyone that there would be tons of complaints easily searchable instead of heaps of praise for fuel economy, decent reliability, and the fact that they hold their resale value extremely well.

It Can't be that everyone has My experience driving them or there'd be tons of easily searchable complaints. I think it simply must affect Me a lot more.

Google says engine mounts wear out in 5-7 years - well, so says some company that sells them. I've never had an engine mount replaced in any vehicle I don't think.. usually people replace them when they fail vs. as preventative maintenance.

I kinda doubt it would make miraculous changes, but, I am curious to ask the mechanic that works on these things what he thinks - if the mounts seem fine and the amount of vibration is normal, or if they're worn out and it'd make a world of difference in dampening vibrations if they were changed. It's a 2004, so they're about 19 years old. I do wonder what the mechanic has to say about that. What IF it only vibrates like it does because the mounts are shot ? Maybe. Doubt it, but, maybe.. I'll at least ask the guy.

edit: Found some website that says the engine mounts in these vans take a long time to fail.. generally last over 93,000 miles. This one is about 103,000 miles.. so - makes me wonder - is that something that's worn out that's causing bad vibes to make my back go haywire that can be corrected via replacing the part(s) ? I'm at least going to have the mechanic check it out and lmk what he thinks.

Worth a try. I have only had one vehicle which had the driving position ahead of the front wheels and it was a little camper. It went ok with its little engine but was a bit crampt to drive for longer journeys which kinda defeated the object for it being a camper! Was fun though. Only high winds was the issue as it was lightweight bug a ted like a sail! In one way this held it on the road at corners as though it was tall and narrow, the wind seemed to help prevent it from tipping as I actually on e went up on a single wheel as though two side wheels rising off the road was almost normal (Strangely controllable due to suspension) having the remaining wheel slide out while one is already on two wheels is somewhat of a concern... But the way the wind acted on the thing seemed to help it get back on the ground.
But I would not dare use it in the winter months!
Also could go up on the front pair of wheels with the back pair in the air if I attempted to brake too fast. Would hear a bang as the rear wheels came back down. Quite an amusing vehicle to drive and strangely never tipped despite my enthusiasm for driving! (I was younger then!)
Even wheelspun it (Rear wheel drive) with its little 970cc engine! Got a guy looking with his mouth open when I did that! Haha! Funny little thing it was!

Your loaf is lumpy.lol

Vibrating.

But it doesn’t feel particularly rough. But maybe it IS particularly rough compared to its brand new/well maintained state.

People I’ve consulted with don’t think that the engine should vibrate so much at idle and think the mounts might be shot.

Gonna ask the mechanic about it on Monday.


Also, there happened to be a kinesiologist at the bonfire tonight and she told me it sounds like nerve pain s muscular. She also gave me a few different stretching exercises to do for my arms and spine that may help.

Had a mechanic check out the van.. says he doesn't detect any abnormal amount of vibrations from the engine - totally normal range for a vehicle like this. He's also never heard of anyone experiencing what I have driving any of them, either. It's entirely possible it's just MY back.


I went and checked out a GMC Sierra on dual fuel gas/propane. Didn't realize they start on gas until they're warm and then switch over to propane. Anyways, maintenance cost would be higher than my car by quite a bit, and fuel cost would be approximately $300 or so per month more expensive. Plus more expensive tires, brakes, propane injectors etc etc it'd probably end up costing about $400-500/month more to operate than my car. It's quite fuel efficient/economical For A Vehicle That Large. Affordable if I'm working steadily at whichever occupation, however, if I end up moving soon my rent cost will go up by $300-400 or so for my portion, sooo then I could be looking at nearly $1000/mo in additional costs.. which means I should probably just take some measurements of my car's trunk/door openings and see if I can jam certain toolboxes through them and if so maybe just make do with my car and drive it until the wheels fall off.

Not sure on some of the larger tool boxes - I recall looking at some rolling Dewalt ones and didn't buy one because I couldn't fit it into my car through any opening. Not sure if that's still the case with newer models - I'll have to check. Also pretty annoying jamming a shop vac in through the rear passenger door with the seat folded down once in a while when I do that.. but I can use small vacuums. Might just need to get rid of a bunch of tools and crap I never use, downsize junk, optimize my use of trunk/thule box space & then remove whatever tools and things I'm not using for a job and tetris them into a corner of the garage and stuff my trunk with whatever the tools of the day are - rinse and repeat for the foreseeable future ?

Fuel prices aren't coming down and are projected to continue going up over the next couple years, sooo.. maybe I really truly shouldn't switch vehicles to anything that's going to add $125/week to operating costs. (And none of those figures include making a vehicle payment at all! That's another whole lot of money if I ever went that route again.)

Switching to the van would have been a huuuuuge upgrade in cargo space and convenience for just barely any additional fuel cost - if any - it's almost the same as driving my car. Might be $60/month more. But $300 or so more for fuel + more expensive maintenance costs = $500/mo.. that's a lot harder to stomach.. and I wouldn't want to dramatically reduce how much I drive, either - I want to be able to budget to drive 100km or so per day every day.

Maaaybe if I do switch vehicles I need to simply consider something entirely different than I have. Even a wagon or hatchback allows for larger items in/out of it vs. my sedan. But there's value in knowing every little thing about my car seeing as I've been the one owner.. just gotta see if I can keep jamming the things I need to use into it. So far I've been able to - but something larger would definitely be more convenient - just hard to part with an additional $500/mo even for a "fuel efficient," truck. Hmm.. maybe I need to u-bolt down some sort of platform on the other side of my roof rack and then strap more things to the roof. I dunno for sure.. but I do know I have to clean this van up a bit, take photos, and post it for sale and get rid of it because I don't think driving it is going to get any better on my back & body - it's wild how much how it vibrates completely F's me up.

Geez, if you have faith the van just buy a professional trucker Recaro.

That won't fix the problem for me. The entire van vibrates, not just the seat. The shifter, the dash, the steering wheel, the arm rest on the door, the centre console etc - touch anything and the vibrations are going through me. It's why my left arm/shoulder/neck is stiffer than the right just from touching the shifter. Whatever frequency this thing vibrates at just simply does Not jive with my body and I can't keep it.

I'm gonna test fit some new tool boxes in my car soon and see if I can keep getting away with using it and continue to save $500/mo over driving a truck. Might be able to make a bit of room in the garage by getting rid of crap I never use, then switch out tools depending on the type of work I'm doing in the moment.

If I move houses, I might have less room at first.. but if we rent a whole house and I have a 1-2 car garage I'll have plenty of room and won't have to try to store as much as possible inside my trunk and the thule box. Hmm.. and if I have less space at first I guess I gotta drive to my parents place to swap tools. They're gonna love that.

Gonna sell it.

Went to Home Depot yesterday and bought and returned a Dewalt tough system 2.0 stacking toolbox ($328 for a plastic toolbox. Ouch! But gonna need one eventually.) Anyways, determined it will fit in the back seat of my car only. Due to the wheels on the large bottom box it won’t fit into my trunk.

Looked up a few large hatchback/small suv vehicles like Scion xB, Honda Element, Kia Soul and Ford Escape and no vehicle in that class gets nearly as good of fuel economy as my car. And I drive a lot when I’m in full work & beach trip mode. So doesn’t make sense to spend an extra $5-7k changing vehicles and then an extra $100-150+ or so per month on fuel just to be able to put a toolbox through a rear hatch instead of on the backseat of my car whenever I change job sites. So, in the end I might just drive my car until the wheels fall off because I’ve had it since new and Know there aren’t any problems and almost anything else will cost me quite a bit more to drive a lot. That and gas prices are expected to continue to rise over the next couple years soooo.. whatever - if it’s a 5 seater car I expect I can put 600-800lbs of tools & materials on it a handful of times/month considering it’s meant to take the weight of passengers.

Van's posted for sale in a couple places. I have a few inquiries already to respond to, maybe arrange test drives even today/tmw.

Still contemplating possibly switching to a wagon/hatchback/small suv.. buuut, almost everything will cost more to buy And more to fuel. So, as inconvenient as it is to put things in and out of my car's rear passenger doors.. I dunno if there's an economically viable option to switch to Unless I buy something quite a bit older than my car and gamble on it's maintenance record. I mean, there are some cars that would have a more convenient configuration - like a pontiac vibe/toyota matrix.. closest to my car in fuel consumption of all the ones I've checked.. but it'd be 9 years older, lower powered I think, etc. There are very, very, few vehicles that get a real world 29mpg. Spending an extra $10k to then get 22-24mpg would kinda suck. Scion Xb would be cool af, but they're like $16K. There's a red Honda Element for sale with a rebuilt title for like $7700, but they only get 22mpg so my fuel bill would shoot up an extra $150+/month if I drive every day. That's not Huge Huge like if I had to maintain a full size truck or van.. but still, $1800-2k/year more straight into the gas tank. :/ Stupid physics!

I have a feeling one of the inquiries about the van is a fake chat bot as the person texting my phone number is requesting that I pay for some kind of title check on the vin called a gov report - which I've never heard of. Concerned about title/liens/loans etc. Told him no dice - I know the title is good because I was able to transfer it into my name and register it via ICBC and the title is Mine. I have the registration slip soooo no additional proof is needed that it's mine as that's literally government issued proof. You want a report, feel free to run the vin and pay for it yourself just as I paid for the mechanical inspection before I bought it.

Pretty sure I won't hear back from the guy as I'm increasingly suspicious it's just a chat bot trying to sell vin checks/steal credit card info.

I listed it for a high-ish price and have had quite a few inquiries with a couple serious ones recently - one guy even wanting tons of info as he'd be driving out from Saskatchewan to get it if he bought it. I think his plans would be to fill it with bench seats and use it to transport farm labour on the cheap.

Anyways, it's out on a long term test drive with a friend of mine who will likely buy it from me with a down payment & then make payments over ~2 years. I'd get every penny I have into it back, and he'd get a super inexpensive to operate van to use to take on side jobs doing landscaping & building maintenance things. Only downside is if anything on it ever broke it'd be nice not to ever hear about it like I wouldn't if I just sold it off and it left town. I made that clear, so would make it written into a contract for purchase & sale that he assumes all responsibility for mechanical maintenance and repairs etc etc even before it's paid off.

And while I do browse other vehicles for sale now and then, I won't likely buy another one because it seems very likely that I will inherit my father's truck in a matter of months. I'm already on the insurance and can drive it. Function wise it'll work fine for all work needs as it has a long box & canopy (2010 ford ranger extended cab), but since it's a 6cyl automatic 4x4 it's the least fuel efficient model of it's year and gets an amazing combined 15mpg. Twice the fuel cost of my little car... so, what's likely is that I'll insure it with fairly minimal insurance and use it to transport tools/materials etc any time a job is too large to fit everything in the trunk of my car, then commute in my car during the job, and use the truck again to pick up tools/materials/scrap etc vs. drive it daily and spend $1000/mo on gas. Probably needs new tires before next Winter so might make it less fuel efficient by getting bigger ones put on just so it rides a little higher & looks a little cooler. Who cares if I only drive it a few times/month ?