1999 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.8L - 131,000 miles - Bought the car used with 60K already on it.

The vehicle has been what I expected. The 3.8L has been a reliable engine. The big thing I learned is I bought this car out of Buffalo New York (I live in Ohio), which means lots of salt on the road in the winter. The vehicle has had a lot of under body rust because of this. The original owner didn't do any protection painting when vehicle was new and I doubt ever sprayed/cleaned down the underside after driving on salty roads. My next vehicle will come from a southern state or a state where the weather is mostly dry. The rust has allowed a few items to fail prematurely.


Replaced/fixed -
Serpentine belt - numerous times, would constantly squeal, finally discovered a cross cut belt was the cure.

Power steering metal line - rusted out at 80K

Air Bag light - recall under warranty

front struts - around 100k

new muffler - around 100K

Radiator cooling fan relay - 130K

Water pump and steel heater hoses - right now at 131K

new tensioner - 110K

right side complete mirror - wife backing out of garage, enough said.

new shocks (monroes) - 110K

New rear door latch mechanism - rusted out at 110K

Right power window - will be fixed by myself next month. The main gear is stripped and window will not go up or down. temporarily taped in the up position.

 

Just had to post this.
585k and runs like a champ. Work horse 1992 Caravan with the 3.3 and the 4spd. Carries a ton of my tools and ladders every day and gets little to no maintenance.
Oil gets changed when the black sludge no longer shows on the dipstick, no tranny fluid since 185k.
Needs cv's for the last 25k, ball joints have been banging for 5 years, replaced 1 tierod the other day when I jacked it up and it seperated as soon as the wieght came off it. Windshield has been craked for about 5 yrs, right across and top to bottom.
On top of all the work abuse and heavy towing, this ol' girl has been on many fishing trips where no Caravan has ever been or should be. 18 miles through the bush with a GPS as our only guide on one trip. No road. Fun once, but never again. Longest 8 hours of driving I ever did. lol
If it had rained that week, the van would still be in there. Figured after we got out of the bush, how far would a guy have to go to get another $500 van to drive home.

Guess what I'm saying, is when you think she's ready for the bone yard, she's just getting warmed up.

 

Only 120k so far.
50k- tranny solenoid pack
80k- steering rack leak
95k- AWD viscous coupling
115- noisy alternator clutch

Not much really.

 

2008 SE fully loaded.

49k miles. oil changes every 3k. doing every scheduled maintenance. nothing has been replaced yet.

 

Hi, I have 167,000 on my 1988 Caravan V-6 and 135,000 on my 1996 Dakota SLT ! Still no oil consumpion or loss of power.

 

I've owned this baby since day one in January 1997. I'm still riding with over 301,000 miles with the original spark plugs, wires and obviously never had a tuneup performed on it. The secret like they said in driver's ed back in 1968 is to religiously change the oil. Just recently replaced the original tie rods and serpentine belt. I have put a couple of starters (all free after I bought the Auto Zone's lifetime guaranteed after market replacement), a water pump or possibly 2 (free replacement with the lifetime after market Auto Zone ones), one tensioner a year ago Christmas, several sets of brakes (free lifetime shoes and pads @ Auto Zone). Air conditioner doesn't work since it needs an evaporater but I didn't want to put the money into it at the time (around175,000 miles) because I didn't think it made sense because I never expected to get anywhere near this mileage. My first transmission went at 46,000 after about a year but I got Chrysler to replace it after a short court fight in small claims. That one went at about 225,000 and I've been running ever since on a rebuilt. Right now one of the lines is leaking but still running well. Burns little oil. It's like the energizer bunny. It just keeps going!

 

2004 Grand Caravan, 3.8L, 120,000 and still going

 

Just wanted to claim my seat as my 97 Dodge Grand Caravan with its 3.3L rolled over 301,000+ miles the other day. Original engine, original spark plugs & wires. Secret to a long life is regular oil & filter changes.

 

we have a 99 grand caravan with 265,000 miles. Have replaced the tranny 2 years ago at 170,000 miles. changed the water pump once. And breaks on reg basis. no major problems. the window motor on passenger side is broke and heater on passenger side wont work blows cold. other than that..That baby runs like a sewing machine. Our problem is the tranny. again.. we have leaks comming from on top this time.. pouring out.. local shop says its prob the solenoid assembly pack needs replacing.you pour it in it pours right back out this little button on top of the tranny . we have no idea what that part is. all the seals on bottom of tranny are in tact. we cannot find a schematic of the tranny to figure out what part this is. prob going to end up taking it into the dealership. hubby wanted to do it himself. anyone got any ideas? this is my baby. awsome van

 

our 2008 grand caravan blew up at just under 100k miles. regular oil changes every 3k miles, and it spun the number 4 bearing at 83k miles. traded it for a 2011 ram 1500.