Hi Everyone:
It was the torque converter. It just locked real bad. Only 119,000 miles on it. What is wrong with counrty that they cannot make cars that last as long as a Japanese or German cars? I've had much better luck with these. My last car was a Jeep Grand Cherokee and it had a lot of issues too. I hate Chrysler. Sorry DF (not really). Sorry Detroit (yes I truely am).

 

How were these vehicles you owned with problems get maintained their entire service life? Did you own both from new? You need to include FAR more information to go on a rant.

I've seen Hondas, BMWs, Mercedes and many other "reliable" foreign vehicles have major failures before the 100K mile mark. If you had a torque converter fail on a BMW 3 series it would costs thousands to repair. How about VW and their "lifetime fluid" automatics? THey almost always fail before 100K miles.

Sure Chrysler has quirks, I'm not saying they don't. But you are a minority so far in this thread.

 

I love my Dodge Caravan! It is a 1997, with a 4 cylinder engine and I've only had one major repair. At about 200,000 miles the transmission had to be replaced. It is still running fine and has 300,500 miles on it! donared

 

No offense, but if I was dumping this much cash in to a personal caravan it'd be 4th or 5th gen where there are way less engineering flaws.. All mine are 01-07 currently and I bought all for less than $2,000...

My fondest memories of 3rd gen are soldering cluster boards and constant transmission failures.. Although I did like the body a little more than 4th gen.

The 2003 I have currently as a daily driver is fully loaded with a clean body and the 3.8 and I paid $1,200 for it after some negotiating..

 

No offense taken! My daughter gave me the van 10 years ago, and she had the transmission replaced! In the years that I have owned it, I have only bought new tires, and one battery! I'm getting ready to take a 1,600 mile trip. donared

 

I do trips like that all the time.. NC to FL, FL to TX, NC to UT and AZ etc..

I usually pull a <2000 pound camper too. A few years ago I did 5,000 miles in a 98 GC with the 3.3 Mitsubishi engine and 41TE trans that had 2nd that slipped without Lucas. Electrical and trans are the only problems I ever had with 3rd gen, but they were nasty problems that took a lot of labor.

My suggestion would be radiator flush with new thermostat(I'd even do a new water pump it's a $38 part), new air filter, napa gold filter oil filter with pennzoil high mileage(5qt gold container with cleaner agents) 5w-30(Mobil1 isn't as good with these in my experience and it's the only other off-the-shelf oil I use and is based off bobtheoilguy stats), certified ATF+4 with filter kit for trans, and a aftermarket heavy duty trans cooler. This covers a lot of fail points that are most probable with long drives.

The oil and trans coolers are pretty much vital even if not towing, on long drives. Most people underestimate their effectiveness and cost savings..

 

My Dodge 1997 Caravan has a bit over 340,000 miles on it. Still going strong! Hold onto yours'! Make sure to get oil changes every 3,000 miles! Donared

 

I'm at 185k on our 95 Voyager Sport, still going strong, all original driveline.
Friend of mine has a Turbo Caravan that has 640+ on it, it's had 5th gear replaced once, otherwise original driveline.

Big thing is take care of it.
Look at it this way, you can keep it, stick money into it, and know what you have. Or you can buy another used car, then have a whole new list of issues come up, now you've not only bought something different, but you also have to stick money into your "new" car.

 

My first was a '89 with the 3.3. I sold it at 280k. I would of liked to have the turbo it had the same power as the 3.3 but probably had better economy and less wear.

I have a '98 VW eurovan diesel going on 1mil with no rebuild. I've seen articles saying Chrysler was working on a diesel minivan.

 

They were rated the same, dyno actually proved them to be far under-rated by chrysler. They were much closer to 180hp then the 150hp they were rated.

His was slightly modded, there is nothing better then smoking the muscle car next to you in an old caravan. I have plans to throw a supercharger on mine just for some extra fun, run it til the trans lets go, then drop a stick in it. It's nearly perfect outside (especially considering the year/miles) and nice inside, I've already done full 2.5" exhaust, 58mm TB, TB spacer, CAI, it's quite impressive the difference just those couple things make. Better mileage, far better performance.