I just bought this nice car " or so it seems" it has 148,000 mile on a 4 injected banger,
this is a 7 passenger van,
automatic, power steering, brakes, and AC,
the car start fine but after driving for a while it starts to misfire a bit,
and there is a constant LOW but steady thumping noise from the valve cover (not tapping but a low thumping)
I wonder if there is a need for a valve adjustment,I've been told that that noise is normal on such engines.
this car doesn't smoke, and it just passed the smog test (California emission test)
it also doesn't burn too much oil, I drove it for over a 400 miles since I bought it,
today I'll do a oil, oil filter, plugs, and air filter change.
I need to know how and what to buy to do a engine tune up,
also the trans shifter is off by one letter' and it need to be realigned,
where in the car do I do that,
is it under the dash board or on the transmission housing,
how many miles per gallon should this car get,
and (sorry) but I still didn't find where the spare tire is located.A billion thx for your help [:@]

 

If you look in front of your rear bumper the spare should be tucked up under there. The mechanism to lower it should be under a plug under the rear door. Not to sure about the motor noise but the 4 bangers I've owned all made a bit of a racket. Good luck with the wee van.

 

Thx SPs77 Dodge. I've found the tire thing, and I'm struggling to find a way to remove furthermost back seat so that there is some room back there to carry stuff, I haven't figure out how to do it the easy way, other then unbolting it! [:-]

 

There should be 2 levers on the part of the rear seat legs just above the floor that you lift, then tilt the seat, and pull up and out. You may need some help as some can be very heavy. If there not on the rear legs they could be on the front.