About 2 months ago my van was making this kind of roaring sound. My Tom, used a stethescope to check where the sound was coming from. He had already changed the alternator, belt, tensioner and pulley. Though I was not losing any water or over heating he decided it was the water pump. The pump that was in the car was plastic. The replacement was steel. The noise stopped and all went well.

Then I got a water leak at the lower hose connector. He replaced it. When the water came out of the radiator it was like muddy water. He filled it up with water and I drove it for a couple of days to make sure the leak was stopped. It was and he totally flushed the radiator. Put coolant in it and all was well.

About 2 weeks ago that same noise started up and now a sqeaky sound. We just changed the O2 sensor as my gas mileage was so bad. At NO time other than the belt breaking has my temp guage gone over half way. I noticed last week that when I shut off the engine I could hear water bubbling on my side of the van. The next day I put water in it. Every day I hear this bubbling sound, but the gauge doesn't show it being hot.

TODAY...I left the house for a short trip and when I cam back and got out, I saw a water trail coming up the drive way. Tom came out and opened the radiator (carefully) and that muddy looking water came spewing out. He has checked and checked but the only place the water is coming out is the overflow tank. I remembered from many many years ago that I had a similar problem and it was the radiator cap. It did not have enough pressure. So I replaced it. Went on a short trip. No leaking from the overflow tank, no bubbling, but after an hour the car is still hot to touch. Tom told me to put more water in it. I was going out to check the water level, but the hose is still hard and Tom told me not to open the cap until the hose was soft. He had to go to work, so I am waiting.

Sorry this is so long, but we are BOTH stumped. I run my van as a taxi so I really need to find out the problem. Are there any sensors that might be a problem? My check engine light came on today, but our friend with the computer is not working today, and no money to pay for a diagnosis. If it doesn't quit this I guess the next step would be the radiator?

My van has a little over 227,000 miles on it. It gets an oil change once a month regardless of the mileage. It looks like new. And until the overflow tank spewed that nasty water out, my engine looked like new. I take very good care of my van. I bought it in 2007 with 85,000 miles on it.

So to sum up this saga...Any idea of what is causing that noise and what or how can I find out why my van is running hot but only showing normal on the gauge.

 

Even though it's not overheating I would try a compression test and a chem test for oil/exhaust in the coolant. That would at least eliminate the worst case scenario - leaking head gasket. That "mud" is coming from somewhere. The "bubbling" could be trapped air (or exhaust). Let it run 10 minutes with the cap removed. You can sign out a compression tester from AutoZone or the like. They may have a contaminate test kit too.

You can read the codes without a scanner. Cycle the key from off to on (not start) three times within 5 seconds and leave it on. The codes will pop up on your odometer. AutoZone or the like will read your codes for free.

 

well, on those Caravan, it has Rear heating system, right? did you look at the lines under the car on the passenger side? they tend to rot out over time.
regarding the muddy water, does it look like oil mixing with water? does your car have Oil cooler on top of the oil filter? sometimes it cross leak.
here is a question, does your Heat works properly?