Oops!! My Town & Country Shifter Knob Fell Off

Note the gear shifter on the dashboard to the right of the steering wheel.

You may remember in my blog post of February 8, 2012 that we bought a new (to us) Chrysler Town and Country van when our 2005 van died on our way to New Bern.  This was of necessity a hasty purchase, but I've been very happy with it and had been driving it worry free until the other day.  After a matinee movie, as I was backing out of the parking space, the knob of the shifter came off.  Without the knob, I was faced with a straight, narrow piece of metal sticking out of the dashboard.  With some difficulty, I managed to switch from Rear to Drive and drive to a service station where the attendant was able to reposition the knob and tighten the screw which held it.

After talking with a representative at the Chrysler Customer Service, I took the van in on Thursday to a Chrysler dealer, Westgate of Raleigh, to have the gear shift checked out.  I'm generally leery of car dealers and most of our car service and repairs are done by our long time independent car mechanic.  But I was happily impressed with Westgate.  After explaining to the Service Advisor about the problem with the knob, I mentioned that I also needed instruction on how to shift from Drive into the lower or higher gears. (Yes, I had read the instruction manual which did not clearly explain this.) The gear shift on this model is on the dashboard and other than the P, R, N, D gears there are plus and minus positions that must be used to gear up or down.  I had been driving around in Drive and had not used the plus and minus.  Adam took me for a short drive and demonstrated how to gear up or down, and then I gave it a try with his supervision.

Gear shifter knob.

Plus and minus for gearing up or down.

When I mentioned to the mechanic that I had recently changed the oil, but that I kept getting a message to "change oil", he took me out and showed me how to reset that. So in addition to having the gear shift checked out, I learned how to gear up and down and how to reset the oil change message.  

Ronald, the mechanic, and Adam, the Service Advisor.

I am very impressed with the Westgate Chrysler service department, and I won't hesitate to return whenever I need help that my regular mechanic can't provide or for things that are still covered by the Chrysler warranty.  Westgate covered this by what they call "a free spring checkup" so it cost me nothing.  Thank you, Westgate.

Most of all I've learned not to take the gear shift knob for granted and to keep check that the screw that holds it on is always tight.

"Why don't you just buy one"......a car that is.

Yesterday with our 2005 Chrysler Town & Country fully packed and with Maggie, our "Heinz 57 terrier", in tow, we headed to New Bern for this weekend's Antique Show where I will be a vendor.  Instead of our usual route via Hwy. 70 through Goldsboro we followed the directions of "Jane Garmin" our GPS who had sent us down Hwy. 264 bypassing Knightdale, Zebulon. etc. We had decided we liked this route---few billboards, light traffic, 70 mph speed limit. 

About an hour out of Raleigh, the van began making this high-pitched screeching noise that quickly became a louder clunking noise.  I thought, "Wish I could call the Car Guys for a diagnosis." or "Where's Benji, our mechanic, when we need him?"  As we approached the town of Wilson, we exited the bypass and fortunately found Cox Chrysler and Jeep Dealer about a mile down the road.

Cox in Wilson.

Bad news!  Transmission fluid leaking, some kind of seal broken, a bearing shot---a day or two to repair at a cost of several thousand dollars.  We usually drive our vehicles until they die, and it looked like this one was on its death bed and would be costly to resurrect.  We discussed renting a van for the week ($400.) transferring all the "stuff"  and leaving the van for repair.  The mechanic suggested, "Why don't you just buy one?"  I explained it would have to be a white T & C.  White because it's a safe color and a T & C because all the back seats can be stowed when I'm hauling "stuff" for an antique show.

They had a 2010, one owner, white, T& C with low mileage and 50,000 miles still under warranty.  After checking the internet for the value of our 2005 T & C with `120,000 miles and a shot transmission, we considered trading.  After a bit of bargaining back and forth, we struck a deal, and within two hours we were the owners of a "newer" T & C.  Never have we bought a vehicle so quickly.

Then came the transfer of all the "stuff" from our van to the new one.  When I pack for an antique show, every item has a particular place.  I even have a "map" of how all the boxes are placed, and of course leaving room for Maggie's crate in which she travels.  A very helpful worker from Cox carefully unloaded and reloaded everything and we were on our way.

Unloading our cargo.

Transferring cargo from old van on right to newer van on left.

Maggie and her crate in new van ready to go.

We were pleased and impressed with all the folks at Cox Chrysler and Jeep. They were extremely helpful, and I think we got a fair deal on the trade.

Luckily, we have a day to relax here in New Bern before set up day on Thursday.  The show runs from Friday to Sunday.