2005 Chrysler Town and Country: sudden loss of power

Filed Feb 25, 2015 · Transmission · 54,500 miles · FL

When braking rather hard to slow/stop quickly, transmission hesitates to downshift so when starting to accelerate again, engine revs up but transmission does not engage. Then it will engage suddenly with a hard jerk which can be dangerous. Also, when braking hard to slow quickly and because the transmission does not disengage as it should, the engine sometime kills when I have slowed. In an instance when that happened, I was making a turn and, of course, lost power steering so barely avoided hitting a vehicle waiting on the street into which I was turning since steering was very heavy to accomplish. Brought this up to a technician who said, "yes those vehicles are known for their transmissions failure to disengage and occasional slippage on starting and then suddenly engaging with a very hard jerk". *tr updated 5/10/2015

Filed Jun 30, 2014 · Electrical · NJ

On multiple occasions when I owned this vehicle, when driving highway speeds over 65 MPH the car suddenly lost all power when I hit a bump in the road complete with loss of power steering. Although I was not in an accident, there were many close calls including almost being hit from behind by a tractor trailer. Shaken, I called the car agency every time I had an experience and brought the vehicle in after each incident both in nj and in south carolina. On every occasion, I was told there was nothing wrong with the car and no error codes were produced from the computer. I questioned whether there were any recalls or bulletins, and demanded that a chrysler rep. Review the complaints, to no avail. I have since traded in the vehicle for a kia but feel compelled to report this after reading reports about this for cars 2007-2009. This problem extends further back than being reported.

Filed Apr 16, 2014 · Brakes, Engine · 157,000 miles · PA

The vehicle experiences sudden power failures. The engine shuts off while mobile with a sudden loss of power steering and brakes. It is very dangerous as I could have lost control or been rear ended. Internet research has noted that dealers have diagnosed that the evaporator valve in the fuel tank was defective and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but did not offer any assistance.

Filed Jul 23, 2013 · Electrical, Engine · 170,000 miles · WV

Instrument cluster lights all go on, then the gauges stop working, the trip computer stops fails, the lights flicker high to low or low to high beam and can't be changed sometimesthe engine stops running while traveling down the road at 25-75 MPH! The first indicator seems that the air bag light comes on as being "off". Sometimes the lights & gauges go back to normal. A guaranteed short-term fix is to remove the battery to reset the battery button under the battery, or take the positive terminal off & ground it against an exposed bolt. Many seem to have been fooled into buying a new battery, only to have the same problem re-arise, inadvertently "fixed" when the a new battery, but just lifting the old battery a little would have done the same short-term trick. The sequence of failure seems to be (rain influenced?): air bag light comes on, lights flicker, all gauges & gear position indicators light up, speedo & tach pulse then fail, then you can just drive with all warning lights lit -no tach or speedo...then every thing resets in 10 seconds to 10 minutes, or, dash lights go out then the engine quits, leaving you driving a powerless rolling brick in traffic, fighting the steering wheel without power steering, having only inertia (if you are smart enough to have thrown the van into neutral) to coast off the road, through an intersection, etc. Our dealership's diagnosis was a "bad instrument cluster" - hardly, as I don't see how disconnecting the battery will instantly "fix" the instrument cluster for a while, or how the cluster will affect switching between high & low beams, or kill the engine after a sequence of events. This is a well know progressively dangerous problem, of failure leading to sudden loss of power. There are many, many electrical complaints relating to electrical failures regarding loss of functionality and engine power.

Filed Mar 11, 2012 · Electrical, Engine · 62,000 miles · MI

Vehicle was traveling at freeway speed when engine sputtered, all warning lights lit up on the dash and the vehicle immediately lost all power/function. *tr

Filed May 12, 2011 · Engine, Fuel system · 61,000 miles · TN

My wife was driving to work when the van stalled out. She said she lost all power and almost got rear ended. I read where the 2008 and 2009 were recalled for the same thing. I took the van to a mechanic they could not get any codes. I fear for my family's safety. The mechanic said it was most likely the check valve that is built into the gas tank but not for sure. I read were two people died in the 08 and 09 and I don't wont this to happen to our family. Thank you

Filed Dec 27, 2010 · Fuel system · 51,050 miles · VA

2005 chrysler town & country. Vehicle stalls after filling gas tank. Was happening intermittently, now more regularly. Most troubling, vehicle often stalls once out in traffic--causing loss of power steering, power brakes, and obviously creating a hazard for other vehicles. Dealer said problem was battery and replaced battery. (did not fix problem.) dealer claims to never have heard of the problem with the fuel system/tank. Am starting to find others with same complaint.

Filed Mar 18, 2010 · Fuel system · 85,104 miles · IL

Filled my 2005 town and country with gas and when I started it acted funny, then as I was driving off it almost lost power on the road. It "bogged down", stuttered and eventually seemed as though it would die out. I continued driving slowly and it slowly seemed to start running right. However, it has not been the same and has periods of "bogging down" and like it has an issue trying to get power (or gas)when I try accelerating ever since I filled the tank. It almost seems to lose the power. No lights come on and the van has only has 85,000 miles on it. Glad no one was coming fast, I could've been hit just trying to come out the gas station!!! Not sure if its the fuel injectors or gas tank issues! A very scary situation with my kids in the car with me!! Now im afraid to fill it all the way and try to keep it lower then 3/4 filled which is difficult to do!

Filed Feb 16, 2010 · Fuel system · 53,665 miles · MD

2005 chrysler--town & country mini-van / (3.8l) every time this vehicle is refueled the engine stumbles or stalls out 2 minutes after restarting. This is extremely problematic when attempting to exit gas stations adjacent to busy roads. The "stumbling" or stalling occurs quite abruptly and always causes temporary loss of power steering and brakes as the engine shuts down. Based on numerous car blog sites this seems to be a fairly common problem on 04 and 05 chrysler and dodge mini-vans. Some chrysler mechanics have commented chrysler is aware of the problem. However, the issue seems to involve the gas tank emissions purge valve system, which is an integral part of the fuel tank. The only way to correct the problem is to replace the fuel tank. Given the nature of this problem I believe government emissions regulations and other safety regulations should be used to force a manufacturers recall of these vehicles to replace fault fuel tanks.

Filed Nov 17, 2009 · Steering · 60,666 miles · VT

Power steering whine developed. Steering never subjected to rough service. Mechanic discovered low fluid and leak in steering rack. Rack had to be replaced at a cost of $820.00 for parts and labor. Loss of power steering definitely safety hazard. Obviously a design flaw. Steering rack should outlast the vehicle.

Filed Feb 11, 2009 · Steering · 61,000 miles · AL

Rack and pinion causing severe intermittent shudder and loss of power assist when turning at low speeds.

Filed Apr 14, 2008 · Steering · 45,000 miles · NE

Rack & pinion on 2005 chrysler town & country. A noise when turning steering. Was told by dealer it was a problem with the 2005 vans and was not being covered. Was told it would be around $750.00 plus tax to fix. If there are this many problems with the vans, chrysler should fix them as a recall. Was told by another mechanic to put an additive in the power steering and it has slowed down the loss of power steering fluid but keep wondering how safe I am driving it on the highway at high speeds.