1999 Chrysler Town and Country: loss of power steering

Filed May 27, 2014 · Engine, Steering · 170,000 miles · FL

Driving van in the rain, noticed the steering became extremely difficult. I also noticed that the lights ad power started to dim. In that case, I pulled over to see what the issue was. I noticed that the serpentine belt had come off the pulleys. I have had other mini-vans especially dodges and have noticed they all seem to do the same thing when it comes to rain, snow, ice. You would think they would resolve this issue as it is a safety issue. I've learned from my previous dodge caravans how to put the serpentine belt back on, but it really is a safety issue as this could leave you stranded and very costly (money and time wise) if you don't know how to put it back on. As a consumer, I will not be purchasing another dodge or chrysler minivan again due to this issue!

Filed Jul 30, 2012 · Electrical, Engine · 113,737 miles · LA

This is the 2nd incident for the same problem. First complaint #10468365. I was stopped at an intersection. I crossed the street and my tires splashed water that was running down the street gutter. The water was 2-4" deep. I once again immediately lost steering and the engine began to overheat. I was able to muscle the steering wheel enough to pull it off to the side of the road. I looked under the hood and found the belt had slipped off again. I had to have it towed to the garage. The mechanic checked out the belt and the tensioner and said they were ok, and they reinstalled the belt. The first time this happened I was turning a corner, and the van went into the opposite lane. I guess I can be thankful for the draught these past few months. This is a serious problem. It makes me afraid of driving when it is raining or with any water on the road. I can't imagine what would happen on the interstate at 70mph, passing someone, or taking a curve in the road. I contacted the chrysler dealership. A bulletin #07-0299 was issued in 7.14.99. The dealership said I would have to purchase any fixes as it wasn't a recalled problem. The dealership told my mechanic they offered a $400 kit to fix the problem, or I could purchase a "snow" shield and have it installed. Why would I need a "snow" shield in louisiana?

Filed Jan 20, 2012 · Engine, Steering · CA

I own a 1999 chrysler town & country van. Major problem is serpentine belt coming off and causing a loss of steering. Every time it rains my serpentine belt comes off which causes extremely hard steering. I have replaced tensioners twice in the and belt 4 times. Thank god I was not on the free way or a street with alot of traffic or this could kill me or an other person. I have looked on the internet and this has happened to 100s of people. On the internet it state that the factory recommended repair ( the replacement of the idler pulley and the pulleys retaining bracket.) in the tsb I read, chrysler's engineers have decided that on some models the idler pulley is misaligned by .08 inches. Chrysler should recall this and fix there problem before someone gets killed. Get involved and make chrysler fix this problem.

Filed Dec 11, 2010 · Engine · 145,000 miles · HI

I own a 1999 chrysler town and country minivan. While driving in the rain with 3 passengers ( 1 youth, 1 toddler in car seat and 1 elderly person) I noticed the steering became very hard to control, immediately after I looked at my indicators and noticed the temperature was on the max hot setting. I was able to pull over and ark it and upon having it towed I noticed a belt hanging from under the vehicle. After asking around and doing research I found it was the serpentine belt, which I cannot afford to fix at this time and I also found out it was a common problem with this particular vehicle. Wont chrysler do anything to fix this most dangerous defect??!!

Filed Nov 1, 2010 · Engine · 121,000 miles · WA

The serpentine belt falls off in wet weather on my 1999 chrysler town & country minivan. This has happened 4 times this past year alone and has cost me in terms of towing and service. This can also be a very dangerous situation depending on when and where the belt falls off. When the belt comes off, there is no power steering, the radiator overheats, and the alternator isn't charging. This can ruin the engine. After searching the web, I found that this is a very common experience for both dodge caravan and chrysler town and country vans. There should be a recall to fix the problem.

Filed Dec 17, 2009 · Engine · WI · crash

The serpentine belt fell off last night and due to the loss of steering assist I ended up in an accident. Luckily no one was hurt. It has been an on-going problem with the serpentine belt falling off. I replaced all the parts associated with the belt and it still happened. It is dangerous and why does chrysler not have a recall on this?

Filed Apr 28, 2008 · Engine · 112,000 miles · VA

I bought my town and country used about a year ago. I have not had any significant problems until around three months ago when the serpentine belt started coming off. It has come off approximately 9 times in the last three months and only in wet weather while driving through small puddles in the road. I thought the tensioner was bad and changed it, but the next day the belt came off in the rain. I called the service department and asked the service tech why the belt kept coming off and he asked me if it was raining at the time. Imagine that! They know it is a problem but will not recall the vehicle for a fix. I will never buy another chrysler product again. Again like almost all the other complaints, loss of power steering, engine cooling, alternator etc. Lucky for me I am mechanical otherwise it would have cost me a ton of money on towing charges.

Filed Dec 10, 2007 · Engine · 120,000 miles · AR

Tl*the contact owns a 1999 chrysler town and country. While driving 35 MPH through a puddle of water, the power steering failed. The contact pulled off the road. The vehicle was towed to the repair shop and it was discovered that the serpentine belt was loose. The belt was replaced; however, the failure continued only in wet conditions. The VIN was unknown. The failure mileage was 120,000 and current mileage was 150,000.

Filed Nov 25, 2007 · Engine · 11 miles · MS

On several occasions my 1999 town and country has had belt and pulley problems where while riding in busy traffic rainy days, the belt will slip completely of the pulley its attached to,causing my vehicle to completely lose all power steering abilities right in the middle of the heavy traffic,prior to the belt coming off the vehicles makes this loud chirping noise for several days prior to the belt coming off. I have had so many incidents with this same problem,but cannot afford to purchase a new vehicle as this one is still nice and paid off. Every mechanic I've used is telling me that this is a know factory issue because of the number of vehicles they've seen with the same problems. And have suggested that I change my vehicle for something with less aging problems. This is such a problem. We cannot travel in this vehicle when it rains as we know the belt or pulley will definitely leave us walking again. If water puddles are in the street it is suggested that the vehicle not be driven through them in order to keep the belt attached and not lose power steering that will for sure cause a major accident on busy streets. Is there anything my family and I can do to avoid being killed by this problem? Or is there something that can be done mechanically to fix this problem? We still favor the town & country but not in favor of the known mechanical problem with the belt and pully situations.

Filed Jul 13, 2005 · Engine · 48,000 miles · PA

Dt: about 2 years ago the consumer noticed while driving, the power steering went out. The oil light came on at the time. The consumer drove to a garage. The mechanic replaced the serpentine belt and tensioner. Everything worked for about 2 months and then it had to be replaced again. Then today while driving the consumer lost steering again, due to the failure of the serpentine belt and tensioner.

Filed Jul 13, 2005 · Suspension · 50,000 miles · NY

We own a 1999 chrysler town and country minivan. We purchased the vehicle used in 2001. We haven't had any problems with it until 2005 and then we had to replace the water pump. The mechanic noticed that the strut towers were severely rusted. He mentioned that this is a known defect with the chrysler product. We would never have known otherwise--we didn't even know what a strut tower was until he pointed it out. If one or both of the the strut towers were to give way after hitting a pothole (or just from continued rusting) this could cause a sudden change in steering geometry, and or complete loss of steering, and or the tire well dropping onto the tire and acting like a brake, and or blowing out completely. Any of these scenarios could easily contribute to a serious, even tragic accident involving one or more vehicles. Imagine if we were driving on the highway at speeds of 55-65 miles per hour and the the strut were to give way. The chrysler dealer, district manager and chrysler customer service rep all refused to help us in any way because we just happened to notice it outside of the warranty period. I feel that this is a huge safety issue and chrysler is being very uncooperative not to mention irresponsible by putting many peoples lives in jeopardy.

Filed Feb 25, 2005 · Engine · 42,400 miles · TX

While driving a 1999 town and country chrysler van the pulley for the water pump separated from the water pump. This caused the drive belt for all engine accessories to come loose. The lack of the belt caused the loss of all power assist, I.e., brakes,steering elect. Etc. A subsequent review of the water pump pulley showed that it was bolted to a three bolt hub. The hub was a pressed fit on the water pump shaft. The hub appeared to be designed to be permanently attached to the water pump shaft. There was no obvious damage to the water pump shaft nor to the hub bearing that would indicate that an induce torque caused the separation of the hub and the water pump shaft. The vehicle only has 42,000 miles on it. It appears that this premature failure is either a poor design or a manufacturing defect. In either case the failure at highway speed would induce a high risk accident. The loss of steering power assist alone would make the driver feel that the steering had locked up. When I discussed this failure with the chrysler customer service that stated that they had no record of this type of failure. When I discussed the failure with the local repair garage ( pep boys ) they recalled several pulley failures on chrysler/dodge vehicles. The question is do we have a potential safety problem with the water pump shaft and the hub connection that can fail with any prior warning. I have the water pump and the hub.