Brief history: Bought my new to me 2017 Grand Caravan SXT about 6 weeks ago with 54,103 miles. Four weeks (and 1,200 miles) later van had a oil filter housing leak and replaced the oil cooler.....thankfully, under warranty and no charge. Had also been noticing a rumbling noise,at times, in the rear of the van but didn't give it much thought. Decided to take it in before hitting the 60K mileage and see if it was something to be concerned about.

I am in NC now and bought the van in Florida. So off to the Dodge dealership I go (in case it was covered under the warranty). They also heard the rumble and said it is not something that is attributed to owning a van. Two hours later, was advised the rear struts were leaking and needed repaired (quoting $470 for parts & labor). Also advised that fixing the struts may not be the rumbling problem but, they needed to fix the struts first before going any futher.

I'm not feeling good about my purchase 6 weeks ago. My questions are: does this sound like normals things that can be attributed to van wear and tear with less than 60K miles? If you were in my situation, would you fix the struts and PRAY nothing else will pop up wrong needing repairs or cut the losses and trade in for something else.

The van was a rental vehicle before me. Any thoughts and/or suggestions is most appreciated as I'm feeling pretty bummed about this.


Patsy

 

The Grand Caravan rear suspension has shocks not struts which are cheaper. Shocks and Struts are oil filled with a rod and piston the purpose of the oil is to create resistance oppose to any type of travel upward or downward and if they're leaking means that the oil charge is less and there for less resistance in travel in either direction compromising the integrity of your suspension. If your rear shocks are bad it could cause some clunking and rattles which seem to coming from elsewhere as sound travel through steel and metal especially if the rubber bushings are bad. You can get good aftermarket shocks with lifetime warranty quite cheap on line KYB 349225 is a good choice depending where you get them they're usually priced around 40 to 55 dollars each. Any mechanic can easily replace both shocks within 45 min so they'll propably charge you an hour labor again depending where you go the rates could differ but it will be way cheaper than the dealer for sure.

I think it's premature to trade your van over a 200 dollar repair unfortunately you had a situation of right off after getting the vehicle but luckily it was covered under warranty remember shock and struts are a wear components just like tires and brakes.

 

Thank you so much for your reply.... Dodge Dealership quoted $470 to replace what they referred to as rear structs leaking (told me it would take at least 2 hours). Am gonna put a query on facebook for a local mechanic and go from there. Am new to this area and need to find a mechanic I feel comfortable with for all future service.

Again....thanks,

Patsy

 

UPDATE: Took van to local shop to find the noise. They treated me very good -- first, advised they could hear the noise when test driving then took the rear shocks off and did not hear the noise. The 2 rear shocks replaced cost a total of $250 and out the door a happy camper.

Had I let the Dodge dealership do the job (and they weren't sure the noise would go away with new shocks) it would have totaled $588.00 ($118 for diagnosis and $470 to replace the 2 shocks -- which they called struts).

I love this board!!!