Vehicle: 2008 Chrysler Aspen

[Jamie]

Following my wife's little "off road excursion" in my 2005 Dodge Durango, I spent just over 6 months looking for a suitable replacement.

I knew I wanted another Durango, but I wanted at least a 2006 model so I could get a Hemi wit the Multi Displacement System, and the replacement had to have AWD, the factory Class IV towing package, and the 3.92:1 axle ratios. I had the funds from the insurance payout, as my price limit (although in a pinch we could have found another thousand or so). I saw vehicles that were practically swiss cheese with rust that people wanted real money for, and dealers trying to convince me that a vehicle had a particular set of factory options, when 5 minutes with the VIN and the Dodge/Chrysler "factory build equipment" site would tell me otherwise. I wouldn't even consider a vehicle if the seller wouldn't give me the VIN. In the end it was a 2008 Chrysler Aspen that I found in Montreal that I spent my money on. Picked it up 2 weeks ago and drove it home.

It's high mileage (almost exactly the same mileage as my Durango had when it met its untimely end), but it's a single owner vehicle, and the owner's wife worked in the service department of the same Chrysler dealership that the vehicle was purchased through. It has EVERY option that was offered in the Canadian market, so it has all the features that were on my "Must Have" list, plus more that I'd never have considered. It's well maintained (some rust minor non-penetrative rust bubbling under the paint) and because it was owned by a French speaking family, the English user manuals were still factory sealed. Even the two wireless headphones and the remote control for the back seat DVD player are still there (and working). Every other Durango I looked at with the factory roof mounted DVD player was missing the headphones and often the remote as well.

The Aspens are rare in the US, but they are even rarer in Canada (just 4,063 sold in Canada from the entire 3 year model run).

It needs new tires and a wheel alignment. The spare was missing (just the broken end of the tire hoist cable where the tire should have been), and things like the back-Up Camera, rear park sensors, and drivers' side exterior mirror defrost don't work (minor details). The maps in the GPS are at least a decade out of date (2006 maps were the latest installed when the vehicle was manufactured), and the software in the entertainment unit hadn't been updated since a "Bug Fix" recall in 2008.

I got a seriously good insurance payout on my 2005 Durango (more than I paid for it), and the insurance company even returned my deductible as an apology for the inconvenience when there as an issue in their office that caused a 2 week delay in getting the payout cheque to me. The Aspen, plus the travel to and from Montreal, and all the taxes, left me with $5 out of the insurance payout. The tires are an extra cost, but at least two of the tires on the Durango were just about ready to be replaced, and maintenance of a few "issues" on the Durango (water pump, exhaust, plus some niggling minor things), were going to cost me more than a set of tires for the Aspen.

The Hemi in the Durango had a best economy figure of 13.1 litres/100 km (18 miles/US Gal) if I really drove it carefully on the Highway. With the same axle ratios, transmission, and drivetrain, the Aspen returned 12.4 lit/100 km (19 miles/US Gal) after some driving in peak hour Montreal traffic, and about 1200 km on the highway on my drive home from Montreal. Looks like the MDS feature in the Hemi has already proved its value.

[G. David Felt]

Awesome, so glad you found a good deal and are happy. Surprised the dealer did not flash the DVD system, getting map updates for the nav are easy. Bet the camera is a wire connection as I have seen this in many of them. Check the fuses and then you can find a wire diagram on the web and chase down the wire connections to see everything is connected securely. If the camera is really dead, new 1080P camera's are reasonable now so you could upgrade to a much better camera in it's place.

Keep us updated on your upgrades and fixes, Looks awesome.

 

[Jamie]

The Aspen is a lot more "stealth" than the Durango ever was, and all the "Toy Truck" styling of the Durango is gone (I think only the front doors and tailgate are interchangeable). Without a "size reference" people just assume it's another ubiquitous Chrysler Minivan, so it doesn't get a second glance.

I have the wiring diagram for the same vintage RAM trucks with the camera, and I know what to look for, so it's not going to be a difficult fix.

I updated the system application software and the Gracenotes music identification database last week. Those two are free downloads that just need to be burned onto a disk and installed from the disk.

Went from (the 9.807 application software was renamed as 1.055 for the 2009 model year radios):

To:

It's also easy to update the navigation data, but the disk comes with an unlock pass code that is tied to the vehicle VIN. Only way to get a cheap copy of the data is to get someone that has already paid for the update to supply an image of a hard drive that's had the update installed. I can get a replacement hard drive with the latest Navigation Database on it delivered from Florida for less than half the cost of the database DVD disk from NavQuest. I'm waiting to see if a contact in Canada can do the same sort of deal. He's waiting to get a copy of the latest 2017 map data DVD.
In the mean time, I'm experimenting with the hard drive. The Nav/Entertainment system currently has a 30GB drive, but of that only 17GB is available for music. Fitting a bigger drive and re-doing the partitioning for more capacity is easy (although it's been reported that access slows dramatically once you go past about a 40GB of music files). The real challenge is replacing the PATA mechanical drive with an eSATA SSD drive. I'm looking at fitting a 64GB eSATA SSD in a PATA to eSATA adapter. I've heard conflicting reports about the level of success doing this. The big thing is that the domestic rated drives tend to stop spinning at temperatures below 10F, and you need the automotive grade drives to deal with low temperatures. A SSD drive should eliminate that problem.
 

[Drew Dowdell]

Great to see you back.... I've always had a soft spot for these.

[G. David Felt]

54 minutes ago, JamesB said:

The Aspen is a lot more "stealth" than the Durango ever was, and all the "Toy Truck" styling of the Durango is gone (I think only the front doors and tailgate are interchangeable). Without a "size reference" people just assume it's another ubiquitous Chrysler Minivan, so it doesn't get a second glance.

I have the wiring diagram for the same vintage RAM trucks with the camera, and I know what to look for, so it's not going to be a difficult fix.

I updated the system application software and the Gracenotes music identification database last week. Those two are free downloads that just need to be burned onto a disk and installed from the disk.

Went from (the 9.807 application software was renamed as 1.055 for the 2009 model year radios):

To:

It's also easy to update the navigation data, but the disk comes with an unlock pass code that is tied to the vehicle VIN. Only way to get a cheap copy of the data is to get someone that has already paid for the update to supply an image of a hard drive that's had the update installed. I can get a replacement hard drive with the latest Navigation Database on it delivered from Florida for less than half the cost of the database DVD disk from NavQuest. I'm waiting to see if a contact in Canada can do the same sort of deal. He's waiting to get a copy of the latest 2017 map data DVD.
In the mean time, I'm experimenting with the hard drive. The Nav/Entertainment system currently has a 30GB drive, but of that only 17GB is available for music. Fitting a bigger drive and re-doing the partitioning for more capacity is easy (although it's been reported that access slows dramatically once you go past about a 40GB of music files). The real challenge is replacing the PATA mechanical drive with an eSATA SSD drive. I'm looking at fitting a 64GB eSATA SSD in a PATA to eSATA adapter. I've heard conflicting reports about the level of success doing this. The big thing is that the domestic rated drives tend to stop spinning at temperatures below 10F, and you need the automotive grade drives to deal with low temperatures. A SSD drive should eliminate that problem.
 

Very cool,m love what your doing.

[oldshurst442]

Chrysler Aspin, huh?

Do beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano upon the sight of a Chrysler Aspin?

All I know is that John Denver is full of shyte, man!

 

 

Edited September 21, 2017 by oldshurst442

[oldshurst442]

Oh...nice truck.

I would never do anything to offend anyone!

I just like to entertain from time to time.

You could tell Seabass to kick my ass if you did not approve of the joke on top!

 

Edited September 21, 2017 by oldshurst442

[regfootball]

Aspens were really nice rides.  Congrats!

[Jamie]

Been busy with the Aspen. Decided to go straight to studded winter tires instead of spending money on replacement summer tires right as winter was about to start. The tires that were on it when I bought it ranged from barely legal to dangerous, so I parked it until I could source some safe/legal tires.

Got a set of alloy 17x7 wheels off a 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 and fitted a set of 245/70R17 studded winter tires to them (wheels cost $175 and the 60% tread remaining tires were a steal at $150). There's only a limited range of "inexpensive" used factory wheels that will fit the 2nd Generation Durangos and Aspens as they have a less than common 5x5.5" PCD. You're pretty much limited to 2002 and onwards Dodge Ram 1500s, 2nd Generation Dakotas, and the odd early 5 bolt Ford F150s, so it took me a while to find a suitable set of wheels. I'll wait until next Summer to get new set of 265/50R20 tires for the 20x8 factory wheels for use when there's less snow and ice on the roads.

Once the winter wheels/tires were fitted, I could get the vehicle licensed and run it through the safety inspection. Other than needing the backing plates for the handbrake shoes replaced, everything else was good. I'm now waiting for replacement backing plates to arrive. Unfortunately the rear axles have to be pulled to fit new plates, and I really don't have a suitable workshop to do it in, so I'm letting my local service centre do it. Once that's done, they'll sign off on the inspection.

I'm currently learning about TPMS sensors. When I got the Aspen, the sensor in one wheel wasn't working. I knew absolutely nothing about the TPMS systems, so I taught myself about them. Once I started to research TPMS systems and learn what to look for, I found out that the failed sensor in the left rear wheel was not so much failed as totally missing. It appears that somebody had replaced the sensor with a standard tire stem. There are no TPMS sensors fitted to the winter wheel/tire combo, but I plan to add them and learn about the programming/activation/sensor repair process. Got a couple of the right frequency (315MHz) sensors with another set of Ram wheels, but like many sensors of the same vintage, the alloy valve stems are so badly damaged that those tires can't be properly inflated. Fortunately that's a cheap fix if you know where to get inexpensive repair kits. I'm going to need a decent TPMS diagnostic tool so I can do things like read the battery voltage, etc, but this is something for the future. I don't need TPMS sensors to be legal here.

Haven't done anything with the Media Player/Nav system, or the backup camera. Things have been just a bit too hectic. Decided that my wife's car (2002 Saturn SL1) will cost too much to get it through the 2 yearly vehicle inspection (it's due in 3 days), so we'll put it off the road. We have an Identical model Saturn that we bought as a "parts donor", and it is actually in far better shape, so the parts we robbed from it will be refitted, and we'll get that one inspected and on the road. It'll be a stop gap, as my wife has decided she wants something like the Aspen but just a bit smaller. She's got a preference for Dodge/Chrysler vehicles, so we have decided to look for a 2007-2008 Chrysler Pacifica for her. We don't care if it takes 6 months to find the right one .. we can wait.