Time for a new vehicle?

Last week Wednesday, the van stalled out while backing out from the library parking lot and it took three times to restart it. On the Thursday it stalled on the way to work but I was able to pop it into neutral and restart while it was still rolling. So I called the garage and booked it in to get checked and get the oil changed.

I dropped it off last Friday and they looked at it. It stalled a few times for them when they tried it. Which is always nice in that’s it’s not just me.

They worked on it on Saturday, and Monday, and were having trouble figuring out what was wrong since it wasn’t giving them an engine code. We had had trouble with the alternator back in December so they checked that and found that it was overcharging. It should be sending 140 magical units and it was producing 210 magical units instead. So they tried swapping that but then it wouldn’t work at all.

On Tuesday we got a call on the machine and when I called them back this morning then found that it might be the battery. I had asked them about the battery when I dropped it off but I’m not really a car guy, so I was only guessing as it was one of the few systems I am familiar with. They replaced that, and it seems to be working now.
Another $400 dollars later, for an oil change, and a new battery. We’ll still have to look for a newer vehicle but at least now we are not as rushed.