Hello, here’s my van story, and I would appreciate some advice. Bought a ‘96 Previa S/C on eBay, paid what I think was a premium price for what seemed to be a good van. Shortly after purchasing, on our way from CA to OH, it started to overheat going up grades. Stopped in Barstow on a Friday night, talked to every mechanic we could trying to determine what was wrong, went to Toyota dealership Saturday morning and they weren’t sure and didn’t seem to want to have anything to do with this van (“maybe headgasket, we don’t know, we don’t fix ‘em anyway”). Lucked into a mechanic who seemed to know what was wrong based on the symptoms: bad radiator (bottom was cool even with engine heated up—fluid not circulating properly), bad thermostat stuck open, bad fan clutch (operated normally, but did not kick into high gear when extra cooling was needed). Four days and $1000 later, we were on our way. Made it home, tried to negotiate half of the repair with the eBay seller, no luck. Van needed new tires and rear shocks, $500. Brakes started going to the floor with van loaded; a local import mechanic said we needed new brakes and rotors—he did the job and charged us $700. He also said the flex couplers on the SADS were bad, but he wouldn’t bother replacing them—they’ll just be noisy. When I’m driving, the van does this weird fading thing sometimes---it’s almost like a stall but the engine’s still running, and when I accelerate it seems to then run okay--???

I want to love this van, but I’m not feeling the love back. Hubby & I aren’t mechanics (as you probably guessed). We had an old Previa van (’91 or ’92, I think) we bought from a friend that had over 200K miles on it and was one of the best vehicles we’ve ever owned—we ran it for about 6 years, and the Silver Bullet took our family of 5 on a trip across the country in 2002 when it had almost 300K miles on it. A mechanic who didn’t know better killed the Bullet by putting a spark plug in wrong :(

I really need to find someone locally who knows these vans and can get the Golden Egg running right. A few questions and a final comment:
• What questions would you ask to go about finding a mechanic who really, truly knows these vans? Does anyone on here know of a good mechanic in the Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana area?
• Can the bad SADS couplers really be ignored? For how long? (Noise could be heard 3 month ago only when idling with the A/C on; now I hear noise intermittently and randomly when the van is running with no A/C on). If the couplers need to be replaced, is there anywhere to get Toyota OEM replacements, and if not, are any of the ones on eBay any good?
• I’ve read posters on here and toyotavanpeople.com saying that the SADS should be replaced along with the couplers—how do you know the drive shaft is bad? I’ve also read on here the recommendation to get a used one at a junk yard and put on new couplers—how do you know the junkyard one is better than the existing SADS? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I just really don’t know. • Any idea what could be causing the weird fading/fake stall thing? Fuel pump?
• Are there repairs and maintenance things that could be done by a rookie like myself? (I can read directions and think things through—used to work on my old Rambler Ambassador ;)
• Final comment: be glad you didn’t win this van on eBay!

Sorry for the long post. I’m really trying to stay with this van, but I know my hubby’s not convinced. Really wish we were neighbors of timsrv Thanks for reading, and if you have advice, I’d appreciate it.
Carol (goldenegg)