Ok, had to replace the serpentine belt not 4 months ago. Well, it continued to squeal, but only in the rain, which it finally did a couple weeks back. Yesterday, it was raining. Belt was squealing. I was coming home, and the belt popped off and shredded. I was only a couple miles from home, so I just went home. Called my mom and told her what to get and bring to me (I live 20 miles from town). Of course, they don't have a tensioner anywhere in town and I have one on order, will be here tomorrow afternoon. I decided the problems were probably just coming from that, and I might as well change it. Well, when I popped the hood, in the rain, I found something very interesting. There is a tube, just above and slightly left of the belt and alternator. Apparently it funnels water from the hood down to under the van. Well, it was completely busted, and the rain was pouring down straight onto the belt, and splashing on the alternator. So, a little redneck engineering, duct tape, and piece of a waterhose later, and that problem was solved. I put the new belt on, and it is very tight. There doesn't seem to be any play in it. It ran like a dream until this morning. I was leaving town to come home and the battery light came on. Drove straight over to Auto Zone and had both battery and alternator tested. They both tested fine. Shut the van off and turned it back on and the light was off. Halfway home, battery light came on again. I pulled and cleaned the cables when I got home, and had no further problems. Until tonight. Coming home after soccer practice, the belt started chirping like the nighttime crickets, the battery light comes on and then off, and the brakes started squealing (that I can fix lol). So am I dealing with 2 seperate issues, or are they connected? Will it all go away once I get the tensioner changed out?The belt looks like it is not seated properly on the tensioner. I loosened it up and properly seated it, then started the van and let it run, and watched the belt move about 1/8 inch off center, to where the edge of the belt is almost at the edge of the tensioner. It doesn't chirp at idle though. It's all driving me bonkers, especially considering that I've been stuck at home for 2 days with my daughters, one with a stomach virus and one with chicken pox. I'm 'bout to use the van for target practice.

 

sounds like your tensioner is the issue.. but also make sure all your other pullies arent loose, broken, bent or damaged.. with the belt off.. try to move the water pump pully.. water pump might be going.. witht he battery light on.. that sounds like it could be the altenator starting to go.. need to check amperage.. but IMO .. one of your pullies is loose or bent..

 

Dodge forum member RickNM addresses your problem on his blog http://free-auto-repair-advice.blogspot.com/search/label/Caravan The article is about 2/3 down the page.

 

TY dish. I had the water pump replaced about a year ago when the timing belt was replaced. As for the alternator, it's only about 6 months old, and Auto Zone tested it yesterday and says it's fine. But, I got my tensioner in today, so I'll tackle that job tomorrow afternoon.

 

This has turned into a total nightmare. Had to pull the alternator to get to the nut holding the tensioner on. Wire harness came out fine, but the assembly going to the post fell apart! The whole hard plastic covering came apart, and when I tried to get the first nut off, it was fused to the post and broke the post in half! The wire connector that goes between the two nuts on the post was corroded too. It just all fell apart. Called O'Reilley's, where I got the alternator not 6 months ago, (which replaced the exact same lifetime warranty alternator I'd bought 2 years before)paid more for the lifetime warranty one. They said that since I broke the post, the warranty was invalid!!!! They offered to sell me another one, which I (not so) politely refused. My brother said "I can handle this, I'll fix it." Famous last words. My how quickly I'd forgotten how he and his weed-eater just cost me a $170 air conditioning repair bill. I set to work on the brakes. A little later he said all we needed to do was put the belt back on and reconnect the battery. We got the belt on (dang, I didn't realize how little tension the old tensioner had) and I connected the battery cables. All hell broke loose. Soon as I got the negative post on, sparks started flying, and smoke and sparks started spewing from the green wire going to the fuse box. Both of us took off running. When the light show was over, he pulled the batery cables off. Took everything back apart and found the problem. He twisted the wire around the alternator post and secured it with a nut! He said he thought it was the ground wire. A quick call to Auto Zone confirmed that it is the power wire, the same green one that exploded at the fuse box. So, we cut the green wire off where it broke, and stripped the insulation down a way and put the fresh end into the connector that goes to the fuse box. Connected the battery, and the lights radio and warning bells all work, so I'm hoping not too much damage was done. So, we jumped in his car and headed for O'Reilley. I made them test the alternator, and it tested good. I asked the manager to honor the warranty and he said no. So, I took my toys and went to Auto Zone. The post is no longer long enough for the two nut assembly to fit. One of the guys there troubleshooted with us and came up with a rubber washer and wire connector combo that he thought would work. Paid him the 11 bucks and went on my way. On the way back to my house, we got to thinking about the voltage and heat those rubber washers would be subjected to. Got to my house, put one of those washers on a screwdriver and set a lighter flame to it and it burned instantly. So screw that idea. We decided to call it a night, and start fresh tomorrow. Anyone got any suggestions short of buying another $150 alternator? I just don't have that money right now unless I want to do without electricity in the house. Oh, there is no alternator rebuilding shop here either.

 

You may want to look for fiber washers--they are a hard and don't conduct electricity. I'm not sure were you would find them, but a hardware store or Radio Shack may have them.

 

Well, we ended up with a hard rubber washer made for engine use, then a nut down almost to, but not touching, the washer, then the wire connector, then another nut to tighten the whole thing, then siliconed the whole thing, then followed that with elictrical tape. Got everything put back together, belt on, connected the battery and no sparks lol. Starter 'er up and she runs fine! I know this is not a permanent solution, only a temporary fix to buy me some time until I have enough money to fix it properly.