Misc. Montana issues

My 2001 has about 108K now - After getting the intake gasket fixed at about 70K (under an extended warranty) I have been pretty lucky. Brakes and a transmission rebuild are all I've needed to do.

A strange thing happened - my left side headlight was accumulating water - I always figured it evaporated using the headlight - eventually it stopped working. Then out of the blue one day the van would not start. When I went to jump it - I found the positive terminal blown off the battery. - Didn't think much about - bought a new battery & new light bulb back in business - less than 3 months later - same thing. I started thinking -here we go major electrical issues starting. But then I realized the headlight was blown apart again - This time I drilled 1/4" weep holes in the bottom of the headlight enclosure a new battery, new lamp - I'm good - no problems 2 years later. I eventually went for new headlamp enclosures - ebay about $ 60.00.

I did need to repair the taillight assembly -typical problem.

Now - the lastest round of minor repairs need addressed:

- clunking in the front when turning, I'm going to look at the sway bars and strut bushings.
- the fuel gauge works until you drop below 1/2 then it goes nuts.
- The traction control kicks in when turning or hitting the gas hard upon takeoff.
- Also there are various light bulbs burned out in the radio and the overhead switches.

- none of these items sound too bad typical Montana problems - I already printed out the possible fixes and I am eager to see how many of these problems I can fix with information from this forum.