I plan on taking over my wife's 01 caravan se when i grace her with a new car. It has 137k but I find the motor to be undesirable. At the light it jumps and shakes as if it is ready to cut off. It sometimes choke on take off but once it gets going, highway especially, it runnnnnnnnnsssssss. I want to find a more recent and less miles motor to replace this one, but my question is is there a lot of work to upgrade it to a 3.8? I know 3.8 or 3.3 may be easier to find since the 2.5 ended in 04. most 2.5 can be high mileage. Any info on this matter will be greatly appreciated. Or if there any member here in south florida, please tip me off to a great mechanic that can help me. Thank you.

 

137k is nothing for that motor,,,, Has it been tuned, (plugs, etc).. if it jumps and shakes something is wrong with it,, just fix it or have it fixed...

 

Sounds like you might have a vacuum leak somewhere causing it to jump around.

 

I have to agree, sounds like most likely a vacuum leak, bad intake or plenum gasket, or maybe EGR valve stuck open. If it was plugs or Mechanically worn out, it probably wouldn't run right at highway rpms. Is the check engine light on?