The Blue Beast was found 70miles away on craigslist, a blue 2003 Safari AWD with just under 230,000miles on it.
I figured what the heck, another 3rd gen would be a good investment even if only for parts.
Didn't want to low ball the guy, so I was packing up my tools and put my cardboard away when the guy offered for me to take it at a very reasonable price, so I countered with $50 less and he accepted.
Pros:
It was cheap
Drove all the way home without issue
Engine/transmission runs/shifts well
A/C works
Tires are good
Cheap purchase price
New alternator, new fuel injector spider
Liftgate works
No rust!
Included trailer hitch and ball
Seats in the back look good
Did I mention that it was cheap?
Cons:
Loud growl from the front differential, haven't even bothered looking at it yet probably deserves a steel cased differential in there anyway.
External coolant leak
No communication from EBCM
PS PDL and handle don't work
Drivers side mirror smashed and mostly gone.
Blower doesn't run on high
Rear differential worn.
Front DS&PS seats are worn, recliner handle stripped. Floppy DS armrest.
Parking brake needs adjusting/repair
Paint isn't perfect
Needs a good cleaning
Will -- I think you should check this website -- this one guy on here has all sorts of details on how to fix everything about these vans... maybe he has something about fixing the CD player:
Thanks for the offer. I have one sitting in a box in the garage, just haven't added an AUX input to it yet.
Lubed up the hood/doors/latches today, well overdue.
Decided to look at the blower motor today while I had a few minutes. First pulled the 30a fuse that supplies the high speed side. That was good, so I pulled the coolant recovery/washer fluid tanks and took a look at the connector. It's burnt to a crisp.
Parts are ordered, should be done by the end of the week.
Swapped out the radio from the white 03 POS, as it already has the aux input that I did here https://www.astrosafari.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=23577. I did replace the broken buttons on the front a while back. The one I had in the garage was a tape player with remote CD, threw that into the POS. It's amazing how fast you can swap out a radio on these, took me longer to dig it out of the garage.
Finished up by replacing the windshield washer and coolant tanks.
While I didn't need to replace the blower motor on this one yet, if yours requires a blower motor replacement, here is a good thread on replacing the blower motor: The Blue Beast 2003 AWD Safari
Here is the radio that I swapped out from my 03POS. Probably will switch this out to a DoubleDIN navigation radio in the future. But it will work while I decide which model I want to install.
Just been driving it around town, still has a coolant leak that I haven't fixed yet.
Getting ready to put it up on jack stands to swap out the front differential from the white POS. Would have been really, really cool if they had used flanges on the front differential.
Decided not to go with the cast front differential. It's ~$100 at the junk yard but I don't think that I will ever really need a locker in the front. If I change my mind I will go through all of the work again.
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