All,
Where to start...well this vehicle was a replacement vehicle we bought used about 20K miles back (a little over 6 months ago). It has now just 106K miles. The wife drives a lot and the last 2017 Caravan was totaled by a hit and run at 200K miles.

Recently the wife decided to take our daughter out driving (daughter just got her temps - 16) out around our neck of the woods which is very rural (miles between houses). Daughter had experience in parking lot etc prior...but drive time probably less than 10hrs total.

Anyways, the daughter tangled with a concrete culvert along the side of the road. Think sewer cover that was left open along a rural road. The wife did not see it either and they ended up partially in a corn field. This incident left two aluminum rims toasted and a control arm bent. Also a good amount of corn stalks, recently harvested stuck in the grill. The rims were cracked severely. No other damage to the car, including the underside of the car other than that I could find. I replaced the rims, the tires were fine (lucky as they were fairly new), and put on a new control arm. Roughly about $350 worth of damage in parts.

It took me about 4 hours, including me swapping the tires and rims. The wife drives the car to and from work and typical kid stuff for a solid week. Stop and go driving with 85% or more at speeds at about 60 mph. The trip to work is 32 miles one way. Well over a tank a gas and into the second. All seems fine and we move on from that experience. It was decided that day to switch the daughter and driver training over to her car going forward.

I decided yesterday to change the oil and filter as the Oil Change message just popped on to change. I had the oil and filter in the ready. Oil change went as planned. Double checked things. Took the vehicle out for small drive (<10miles) and parked for the night. Took the vehicle out early to the back of the barn this morning to unload animal feeds etc as the wife and daughter were heading to see family for the day.

They made it about 60 miles and is now being towed back. Evidently Oil lights came on and the wife pulled over and shut engine off. Mother-In-Law was closest and put 3-4 quarts of oil she had in vehicle. Plaza was less than 2 miles up the road...they could see it... based on situation (location/no noise)... Drove it there. Oil was gone they had just put in the engine (I was told) by the time they found a parking spot. No engine knocking noise etc (I was told). No Oil on the pan and filter is tight. From the pictures I can see there seems to be some new oil around the filter cap that was not there yesterday.

I am thinking cracked filter cap or oil cooler. I have never had either fail in the Caravans before the 2019. (2014, 2017).

Thoughts or other things to look for I am not thinking about?

Thanks,
Chris

 

All,
Preliminaries appear to be a oil leak coming from the Oil Cooler as previously diagnosed.

One can see a decent amount of oil puddled up below the plenum and the oil appears to have moved below the plenum and across the engine deck. The oil then preceded down the top of the transmission thru the back transmission area (puddling can be seen on top of transmission as well). The driver side of car (side doors) are covered in oil glaze.

When the tow company had it on their truck much of the puddling was below the drivers side of the caravan. I thought possibly the vehicle may have lost the rear main seal till I got the hood open and lights on things.

Looking over the engine/things the only alternative I can see leaking would be the valve covers leaking but personally never experienced any valve covers flushing all that much oil out....even the one when I was a kid and missed the gasket placement. When I checked the oil it was a full quart down...so I believe panic played a part with MIL and wife but its better to be safe than sorry.

So looking at parts out there I usually like to stick with name aftermarket parts and Dorman and Standard Products pop up. I work in the automotive parts administration side of things and figure a second set of eyes on a product (if outsourced) is way better than one. The reviews on the Dorman on some sites make me question them on this part, not to mention the 3 times the cost, the Standard products seem possible but I also see a large amount of others available including one in all aluminum.

Has anyone used a all aluminum housing?
What are the advantages vs disadvantages?

Looks like most come as kits with new gaskets, filter, bolts and other incidentals. I likely to purchase something like that as I live in the sticks and its a 25 mile drive to anywhere automotive as my local napa closed as the fellow retired after 40 years.

The wife has picked up a rental and is heading out in the morning...looks like I know my weekend project...

Thanks everyone,
Chris

 

All,
A Update...

It ended up being the Oil Cooler.

Purchased a nicely reviewed All Aluminum one from Amazon.

Took about a week to get the part and me to get to it.

Took a good portion of a afternoon...little into the evening to do...gotta love all those plastic/plastic electrical clips.
Plenty of guides on Youtube.

Wife has been driving on it ever since. Has made two long drives for family outings...over 800 miles each.

Thanks,
Chris