Hi everybody, first time visiting. I'm a long-time Caravan owner, now on my 4th (1994, 1999, 1993 previously). I just bought a 2000 Grand Caravan SE, and honestly it's the first almost nice one I've owned. 219,600 miles on it but the transition shifts smooth, all the belts were recently replaced, interior isn't worn even though it belonged to a couple with three toddlers.

The only outstanding issues with it, to date, are that the blower motor will need to be replaced (only works on high), there are two small rust spots on the tailgate, there's a small oil leak from the header gasket, and the paint is VERY scratched up. Not down to the metal, but many of them down into the primer. The paint will probably be my first that I fix, since it's the least technically challenging project, only takes my time and patience to learn how to properly apply the scratch repair kit.

Being as it is in pretty clean & serviceable condition, I'm looking for some opinions on other mods, upgrades etc. I might be able to do on my own or with a friend. I'm not particularly mechanically inclined (little skill, little time, limited tools, no garage) so I'm probably not going to be interested in getting under the hood too much. Here's some things I'd be interested in looking into:

1) I have manual seats. Is it possible to easily swap these out with powered & heated seats from a Caravan, Voyager or Town & Country of the same year?

2) According to the owner's manual, daytime running lights were only an option on Canadian-sold vehicles, which mine is not. Is it possible to switch mine over to daytime lights?

3) One thing I miss from my 1993 Grand Caravan LE is the feature of having the lights stay on 60 seconds after your turn off the engine. Any way to add this back easily?

Are there any other cheap/easy/fun projects I can try to enhance my ownership experience? :-) Thank you for any replies, and I've enjoyed reading what I've seen on the forums so far.

 

I really appreciate people that take an older machine and attempt to make it right.
The blower motor resistor needs to be replaced not the blower. The blower only working on high is a flag for the resistor having gone bad.
Fill in the scratches, wet sand with 2000 grit and shoot some clear over the top. Won't be perfect but will make a huge appearance change.
Yes you can swap out the seats. The trick is the harnesses. If you are so inclined, get hold of a real shop manual and make your own harnesses for the seats. It's really not that hard to do.
You can get your lights to run as DRLs with relay or two and a bit of wiring. Again really simple to do but you will need some guidance.
The interior light off delay is also doable but a bit of a pain.
As far as other projects go, your imagination is your guide. Think about what you want to do, ask questions, decide if it's worth it and then go for it!
As you can probably tell, I can't leave anything stock and I love to do low cost mods that will take a weekend or less. My approach is that there are no silly questions from people who want to learn.

 

Well, I dunno if I attempt to make them RIGHT... my first one I ran into the ground until the transmission gave out. Second I owned it a month and a half before a driver made a left turn right in front of my path and I t-boned them, airbags deployed, insurance declared it a total loss. Several months later a neighbor sold me their '93 for $700 and it was reliable, until two months ago when YET AGAIN somebody makes a left turn right in front of my path. If not for the fact that no body shop would pull off the front end and replace the tie bar for less than $1500 (not counting paint), I'd have fixed it and kept driving it, 246k...)

Aha! Thanks for the clarification. Seems a lot easier to go after now!

Yeah I won't expect perfection out of a 13 year old vehicle, but just making the paint job look nicer could get another $500-$700 in private party sale out of it.

How much work/difficulty are we talking about? Aside from a basic tool kit for removing screws/bolts, I have no tools, no work space or garage. And a property manager who really frowns on DIY work in your driveway.

No, not the interior light (although that might be nice), but the headlamps. On the '93 LE if you turn off the engine, then kill the lamps, they'll stay lit for another 60 seconds. Makes it nice to have a lighted path from the van to my doorway.

 

If you don't have good tools and a place to work, the power seats will be a problem to do. Given your circumstances I wouldn't do it.
The headlight off delay is programmable but I don't know how it works on your model. In some cases it's on or off only programming. In some cases the actual timing can be changed. Post another thread for this question.
By the way, you have to stay away from those left turn wonders.

 

Indeed! I've been involved in three accidents in my life, all of them same scenario: coming up on an intersection, traffic in left turn lane blocks the visibility of traffic in the opposite left turn lane, large gap in the traffic flow and the driver in the opposite direction takes a risk.