Over the years I've been a great beneficiary of the miraculous power of Google and Forums. I almost feel guilty for having taken so much information and provided so little. I now own two similar Chrysler/Dodge products. (A 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan and also a 2002 Chrysler Town and Country Limited AWD.) I have spent many hours troubleshooting and repairing these vehicles. I thought it may be of some use to someone to see what I've found to be challenging problems and also read what I did to resolve them. I will focus on the 96 Caravan which I've owned the longest and done by far the most work on.

Many of the problems I've had are common and there are answers posted through forums that give descriptive details of what happens, why and how to fix them. I'll not spend too much time with those. Other problems have far fewer published details. Here we go:


Summary of facts about my 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan LE:

• 242,000 miles on it and still running well, (after all the repairs)
• The first 120,000 miles were driven by my mother-in-law and there were a lot of highway miles on the front end of the van's life.
• 3.8L V-6 Engine
• It has had two transmissions rebuilds in it's life: One at about 120,000 miles and the other just now at 242,000 miles. (The second one was an exchange via a major transmission rebuilder located in the mid-west.)
• The engine has been strong throughout. It has good power handling and “zip”.
• The computer or ECM has failed once in its life – At about 180-190K
• It had the notorious “intermittent ghost windshield wiper problem” for several years. My wife finally put enough pressure on me that I fixed it. In my case it was the multi-function wiper switch itself that was bad. Changing that fixed the problem.
• I had an ignition coil that was bad. (Solid state secondary coil pack with 6 stud towers) It was causing the van to stall randomly. That one put the most pressure and stress on me as it could happen at any time. (In traffic etc.) This failure was one of the most dangerous failures in the history of my van. It finally failed outright, as I recall. When I changed it, the intermittent failures never returned.
• At somewhere around 190,000 miles or so I had a mysterious shudder at speeds of around 45 mph. That ended up being, interestingly, the passenger side half shaft. Apparently there was some kind of wear in the inboard CV joint causing the shudder. I opted to change both half shafts at that point. That fixed that problem.
• I have replaced the radiator once. The plastic tank cracked somewhere around the radiator cap area as I recall. Since the van's cooling system would not pressurize correctly, it would boil out and leak only when it was hot. In hind site I was dumb about putting off the replacement. It overheated more easily with the crack in the tank because the cooling system was never pressurized. I should have done it sooner. I never let it run out of coolant but it was dangerous to run that way.
• I replaced the fuel pump once. It wouldn't start. A fuel pressure gauge connected to the fuel rail showed no pressure when the ignition key was on. I jacked up the van and slapped the bottom of the fuel tank with a mallet and I immediately heard the “whirl” of the fuel pump starting up. I figured the brushes on the motor must be worn out or dirty so I opted to change the pump. When you do this, be certain the large o-ring is properly positioned and make yourself a good spanner wrench to get the locking ring tight. I had to pull my tank and re-tighten the locking ring because I didn't get it sealed tight enough the first time. I recommend using a spray bottle of soapy water to spray on the fuel pump module lock ring area to test for leaks. Pressurize the fuel tank slightly with some compressed air. **Be very careful doing this**-remember that at that point the only thing left that would be necessary for an explosion is an ignition source. ** Be very careful and patient doing any of the fuel pump change-out procedure. If you drop a wrench and create a spark you're TOAST! Ground yourself and the tank. Do not allow any spilled gasoline to be present while you are working. Work in a well ventilated area free of any source of ignition. Do your testing outside of the garage. Have a fire extinguisher next to you at all times too. I never had any “event” when I did mine- but recognized the potential for it to happen!!
• I've had to change the motor mounts once. They cracked and allowed the engine too much movement during acceleration.
• It had a bad sway bar link that failed along with worn out sway bar bushings.
• I've changed both inner and outer tie rod ends.
• At the 200K+ time frame one of the radiator fan motors became very noisy- Rough Bearings. I found a good quality aftermarket unit for about $60 and opted to change the whole radiator fan assembly.
• I had the turn signal relay/control fail with cracked, cold solder joints. Re-soldering where the spades connect to the PCB fixed that problem. That didn't happen until about 240K, (just now).
  
  There was other minor stuff that happened of course. The list above is just what I thought might be useful information for other users of the forum. It sound like a lot of stuff and I guess it is. Owning one of these things beyond a hundred thousand some odd miles is not for everyone. Other richer people just would have junked the van. I am of the “very much middle class” category... and have done a lot of mechanical and electronic repairs in my life. Although I'm not a car mechanic by trade, what I do for a living as a service engineer is very similar. (So I opted to keep fixing it.) Even with all the stuff that has happened, I think it has been less expensive than car payments for something new, (Since I do all the work). It does, after all, have many, many miles on it. It's the equivalent of about 10 revolutions around the earth's equator but with many many stops, starts, braking cycles, engine stops and starts, cold weather starts etc., etc. I'm sure it must be nicer to own a Honda or a Toyota van. Maybe someday when I'm more “affluent” that can happen!

 

Thanks shjone27 I have my 1996 dodge caravan and my transmission fails, I have no reverse because it burnt out so my last option is the transmission of 2002 model is it fit on it?

 

Welcome to DF
Don't feel guilty,That what this forum is all about.If the information you read helps you, by all means use it. If you want to share information, by all means go ahead and share it.

 

Thanks Shjones27 I too own a caravan with over 200 thousand miles on it and I am having some similar problems especially the shudder as I get on the frewway at about 45-50 so I come off the gas some but now I know what might be the problem I just recently started having a problem with it surging forward at stops and then as it was being driven, my friend put his diagnotics machine on it and got back a random misfire and a MAP sensor code so he checked all of the hoses and sure enough the random misfire went away and it is driving smoother according to my brother, I had what midas said was a cracked exhaust manifold so it is a litte loud but my brother said that even quieted down, what I am noticing when I back up is a clanking noise coming from the front passenger area I don't have money for a car note either living on a fixed income and this being my only means of transportantion to and from the doctors I have to keep it running as best I can are there any other things I should look out for?

 

Topkat690: Well, the one thing I would caution you about is that forums are great for giving you a clue where to look but they certainly aren't a substitute for "boots on the ground" troubleshooting. Many times you will see and read in these forums that what was a "solution" for one person was not for another for the "same" problem or symptoms. As far as when you back up and hear the clanking noise, I think I would do the following: Go to a big empty parking lot. Drive your van in tight circles slowly in both directions, (right and left), also forwards and backwards. Go slowly and have a person follow you on foot with their ear close to each wheel. It sounds like you have an outboard CV joint that has wear or a mechanical failure otherwise. The source of the failure might be more obvious to someone that is near your wheels while you creep along. As far as your random mis-fires, if they come back, don't discount spark plugs if you haven't changed them in the last 80K miles or so. On my 2002 Chrysler T&C, I pulled them at 90K, (first time they had been changed), and it was amazing how worn out they were. The gap on them was more than double the original .050" specification and the electrodes were "way" worn. Some worn down level with the insulator and the edges weren't sharp. They were really rounded. In addition to that, I had a large carbon track on one of them that would have perhaps caused some mis-fires. It was a bizarre pile or mount of carbon coming off the curved ground hook that extended down nearly to the electrode.

 

CorbitExt: Honestly, I wouldn't know if the transmissions would be interchangeable. I doubt it. They might be very similar but I bet the electrical connectors to the valve body etc. might be different. Do a visual inspection of the two. You might be able to immediately see they aren't the same. Also, I would definitely find a "friend of a friend" that works at a transmission shop and find out that way. That is a pretty good seperation of years. I'm sure that the TCU code would be different too. I would think the odds are it would not "plug and play". But, check it out. You never know until you know.

 

the shudder at 45mph or so may very well be your transmission fluid. what you are feeling is the torque converter slipping (locking and unlocking). release the gas and the torque converter unlocks and you get no shudder, but at that range of speed when the torque converter is supposed to lock up, there is some slip. pass this range in speed and the lock is ok. you need to change your transmission fluid or if you're cheap, get an additive that eliminates torque converter shudder. these additives don't work 100 percent though. speaking from experience. had my transmission rebuilt and immediately had that shudder around that speed. I complained to the transmission guy and he admitted that he forgot to use the chrysler additive in the fluid. kinda shady fellow for not using original chrysler tranny fluid. the chrysler brand of transmission fluid already has the additive in it.

 

Hi:
I own a 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan with 119K miles on it. When I was idiling (this was about 2 weeks ago) I would lose power when the van was in drive. I would then put it park, start it then shift to drive and it barely ran. This happened off and on and my mechanic couldn't find anything wrong. This has been going on for a month and I took it in twice and they couldn't figure it out.
Yesterday after driving about 50 miles I returned home, it started acting up again as soon as I got off the freeway (50 miles of freeway driving). I barely made it home. It was running fine in park, and it starts right up no problem. Now, when I shift it into drive or reverse, it automatically shuts off. I let it cool off overnight and tried it again this morning, still no luck.
Would anybody know what the problem sounds like?
Thanks in advance.

 

Hi well I have had allot of the similar problems you have posted above. However I had my transmission repaired in 2006 and it has been fine thus far. However I have had the shudder issue since 2004 before the transmission had issues. I took it in to four mechanic's and none of them could figure out the problem. I changed an axle, bushings, on and on and spent a bunch of money and still have the problem. Hummm might check into what you are saying above. I even had one mechanic that told me it was that Dodge does not balance their engines properly and this could be the problem. Could this also be
true?

Oh the famous windshield wipers that have a mind of their own still live in my van. lol

 

hisbeauty, when do you have the shudder? A bad shudder at idle could be multiple things. what engine do you have? a 2.4 liter major shudder at idle may well be a broken balance shaft chain. It is a PITA to fix as it is behind the timing belt. I know from experience. While you feel it, a broken balance shaft mechanism will not do any major damage except maybe your motor mounts over time. if it was broken and fixed in the past, the balance shafts and chain might not be timed right and thus ineffective. in fact it will give you more power if broken and people actually remove it on purpose along with the balance shaft assembly for just these reasons (on the 2.4 liter anyway)! A shudder at the 40-50 mph range points directly to the torque converter lockup problem, which most likely means you have the wrong and/or worn transmission fluid. Perhaps your transmission guy reused the old tranny fluid or still put in the wrong kind. A complete fluid exchange (NOT FLUSH) with a chrysler approved ATF+4 will fix that. Check your manual for the right kind of fluid as I don't know what transmission you have. A fluid exchange involves 2 people. you need to know how much tranny fluid your transmission will hold in total, then drain your trans fluid from the pan in a container. you will measure how much came out. change your filter, put the pan back on, then you put in 4 quarts. pull the return cooler line from the radiator at the transmission end and stick it in something that will hold it in place, like an empty gallon. Have the friend start it up and you start pouring more transmission fluid in, counting how many you are putting in of course. keep an eye on the fluid going into the container, it will take a few seconds to start flowing and is not super fast, but fast enough. will probably fill that gallon in about 20-30 seconds from what I remember. get your friend to shift through the gears holding the brake. when the gallon is almost full, shut it off. count the quarts you took out. you should take out as much as you put in, until the fluid runs cherry red. drive lightly for a few miles to get rid of any air bubbles and you're done. there are threads with different/similar ways of doing this. think it through before you try it so you don't get mixed up while doing it. A FLUSH at the dealer or service station is not safe if you've never done it for multiple reasons, but a FLUID EXCHANGE in this manner is very safe and effective since you are replacing very close to 100% of the fluid in there. good luck. there are youtube videos you can watch, very informative and you'll come up with ideas on your own as well.