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Txs a lot, AND if you can, pics.
Tecnium we can get here in Italy too.

Had a maintenance day with my minivan. Ever since I'd replaced the rear shocks, about 8 months ago, I've been having a clunking noise coming from the back end. When I did the shocks I also dropped the spare tire carrier to clean and lube everything...so the new noise could have come from a few different places? I couldn't pinpoint the source of the noise and even my good independent shop couldn't. They were stumped. They thought it was coming from the brakes..

So today I replaced the shocks, again. ($30 each so not a big deal). I also replaced the original rotors and pads in the rear on my 2014 Caravan with 112K.
Fronts are still original with over 50% of the pads left.

The shocks were easy, 2 bolts each. Done in less than an hour. I found the source of the noise. It was coming from the left rear shock. It seemed the first inch of travel in the shock was undamped...so any small bump made a clunking noise. Big bumps didn't and when I carried a heavy load of mulch in the back it must have compressed the shocks enough to eliminate the noise.

The brakes took a long time. Mostly it was the cleaning and rust removal on the caliper brackets. I must have filed on them for an hour each to get down to clean metal. If I'd have known I'd be spending that much time cleaning them I would have just bought new caliper brackets to save me time. I also had to make sure the hubs were spotless and then covered in a thin layer of anti sieze before the rotors went on.

So new shocks, new rotors and new pads. Everything  cleaned up and anti siezed where necessary. I also cleaned the inside of my wheels and ceramic coated them while they were off the van.

I am sore all over and hoping a few beers will ease my pain this evening. This job would have cost around $600 USD at my shop...I figure I saved almost $500 USD by doing it myself. I also know that I did a much more thorough job than the shop would have.

Sort of scooter related because it was after working on my scooters and motorcycles that I realized working on my car wasn't much more difficult and would save me $ and give me a lot of job satisfaction.  Attached a few pics. (van, new shock and caliper bracket)

Update. I have another post about this but it's the wrong thread I think. I'm going to have to clean the new injector and am in the process of removing the fuel tank for cleaning. There's varnish in the bottom. I'll also install an in-line fuel filter before the injector.  I'm having trouble removing the engine cowling. There are screws or something at the base holding it but I can't find it. It looks like it's holding at the rear base of the cowling and at the front sides connecting to the floor. Anyone have pics of removing the cowling? I'll take pics to post here.

   DUH! I found the answer on Youtube!

Hello Ruffus,

Thank you very much for your reply. Your contribution was crucial in identifying the cause of the problem.

I have ordered the starter motor from the online store UbricarMotos, a supplier I regularly use for parts and maintenance items for my scooter.

I ordered the Kymco Xciting 400 Tecnium MT159-OT187 starter motor for €52.00.

I will let you know the results once I have replaced it. I also plan to disassemble the faulty starter motor and will share the results of the teardown to see exactly what caused the failure.

Thanks again.