Hi all - I've just bought a cheap old 1990 3.3L Dodge Caravan here in the UK for the purposes of driving to Ukraine later this month across Europe for a charity in the former Soviet country that helps orphans.Basically they need a left hand drive car (here inEngland we drive on the right, of course) so I've bought the Dodge to register in Ukraine and it's being donated, along with a cargo of humanitarian aid.

So - It's an old vehicle I paid£800 for ($1600) that I intend to drive almost 2000 miles across Europe in and then has to have a bit of life leftin it to be of use to theorphanage in Ukraine.It's done 106,000 miles, mostly in the U.S - was only imported to England in 1997. Seemsa solid enough old wagon, butthere are a few 'gremlins' I'd like advice on - firstly there's a judder above 60mph (doesn't feel like a wheel alighnment issue -dunno.). Theother is the temp guage is a bit tempramental - I wasn't sure if thetemperature control sensor was working properly -theradiator fan seemsvery late in kicking in. Other than that the passenger sideelectric window has seized - motor turns, but window stays shut. But I'm not particularly worried about that.One other thing - what are the recommended tyre pressures?

Many thanks ifanyone knows the answers!

Dan.

 

Sounds like an interesting adventure! I suspect the vibration at that speed is tire unbalance. It could also be tire roughness due to flat spotting but I think a balance job should do it. I would set the tire pressure at 30 psi (your units may be different) minimum, but depending on loading you probably should go 32 to 38--the ride will suffer and depending on the roads, higher pressures can increase the possibility of punctures. As far as the cooling fan coming on, I can't answer that without knowing what temperature it is running at. If it is running at normal temps, the fan may never come on. Here in Arizona, my fan seldomly comes on (even at 100F) unless I let it idle for a long time or turn on the AC.