Afternoon all. I've got a 96 Grand Caravan 3.8 ltr front wheel drive. The van shakes in all gear ranges when accelerating. It gets worse the faster you go. If you release the gas pedal and let the vehicle coast on a level staightaway, the shaking stops. It only shakes when accelerating. The transmission does appear to shift through the gears OK.

I replaced all 4 motor\trans mounts. The top mounts were compressed down somewhat and they were all dry rotted some but none were broken. It seemed to help on the test drive after the mounts were replaced, but it still shook a little. After the 30 mile ride to work, it was back to shaking pretty good.

Can anyone give me another avenue to check next and maybe a solid way to check it? I hear axle issues my be a cause. Is there a way to check it to know for sure?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

I would do the Sparkplugs wires while you do that you may want to see if your coilpacks are good. also may look into fuel pressure with a guage.If you can pull up codes it may tell you there also.

 

Maybe the drive axle cv joints are worn. That vibration you feel is pretty typical of worn cv's

 

Thanks for the response. I did a test I found suggested on another Chrysler FW Drive Minivan which was to raise up the van until both tires are off the ground. They then said to hold one tire in place with your hands and have someone put the van in drive and give it gas and get it up to a pretty good speed and feel for vibration from the opposite rotating wheel. I did this on both wheels and there was vibration with each free wheel rotating.

Something else I found interesting, when I was looking for replacement axles at Auto Zone(didn't buy them here though), they said "Engine alignment is critical for this application. Strongly suggest replacement of motor mounts." The upper mounts were pretty collapsed from age. Maybe that is what wore the axles out, if that ends up being the problem. I'm tending to agree with what you posted. I'll report back in a few days when I get them replaced.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

 

If you have any small transmission fluid drips near where the axles go into the tranny, now is the time to replace those axle seals too!

 

Replacing the axles fixed the shaking problem. I think a combination of the mounts and the axles did the trick. Thanks for the help.

As far as the seals go, I was careful to keep from dropping the axle on the seal during removal. I ran my finger around the seal after removal and they felt smooth and not hardened. I put clean fluid on the seal surface of the axle prior to installation of the axle and made sure not to contact the seal with the shaft except for the seal surface. I checked it for leaks and there doesn't appear to be any.

I'm just trying to keep this van running as safely as possible for my sister for a minimal amount of my time and my money because she has none to buy another vehicle. This thing is rusting and all the power gadgets in this high end Caravan are broke. This thing has been a money pit since the day she bought it new in 96. Dodge never wanted to fix anything that went wrong with it during the warranty period and Dobbs has made a ton of money off her over the last several years. I've done some work on it but just looking at it ticks me off. That is a whole other family\sister issue.

Somebody ran into the front driver quarter and wheel at a church she was at, with a golf cart. The quarter wasn't too bad so she wasn't worried about having the church fix the dent in the panel since the body isn't the best shape. Dobbs Tire and Auto quoted about $100 to realign the wheel, which the church was going to pay for as they are self insured. She goes to pick it up and they tell her the bill is $500. They said they had to replace the easy strut on the drivers side. When she told me, I asked what the heck an easy strut was. I looked it up and found out it is a Monroe strut with a new coil over spring already installed. Dobbs never called her about the strut before they added it on so she never had a chance to tell the church so they could choose to go look at the vehicle first. So now she has one new coil over strut on the drivers side and the original stut with original spring on the passenger side. These guys are crooks. They should never have replaced only one strut AND SPRING when the other stut and spring is 15 years old. I told her to tell them they should have to put a new Monroe Easy Strut on the passenger side for free since they performed an unauthorized service by replacing the strut on the drivers side. It sure looks like they took advantage of the church since the church didn't send someone to look at the damage when Dobbs claimed it was only going to be $100. The church just figured it would be at least that much and didn't figure they needed to look at it. If they had been told $500, they probably would have sent someone to look at it.

Anyway, thanks for the help guys. It's much appreciated.

 

Thanks for the update!

 

Yes updates are the best.........................