2008 Chrysler Town and Country: stuck in gear or won't shift

Filed Aug 1, 2019 · Electrical, Engine · 164,000 miles · FL

When driving down the road, all of the lights on the dashboard start to flash on and off, the car goes into a limp mode, the headlights go off, and eventually the car goes dead while driving down the road. It happened multiple times recently while on the interstate during heavy traffic.

Filed Oct 15, 2015 · Electrical · 166,000 miles · NJ

Vehicle shuts off when driving, gauges start going crazy, horn beeps, flashers blink, car won't shift out of first gear. Sometimes car doesn't start at all, ticking noise under hood (from black box on driver side). Date of most recent occurrence listed below, has been going on intermittently for a couple years.

Filed Sep 4, 2014 · Electrical, Transmission · 32,000 miles · CO

Chrysler town and country 2008 van has been an issue for some time now. The van has been at the dealership(s) well over 10+ times regarding the same exact problems. I have video of the problem also. Chrysler's tech engineers at chrysler corporate have been involved to also having a chrysler corporate engineer look at the van at one of the dealerships in person. The van has been at dealership for over 2 months trying to fix the problem and another dealership now has had it for over a month (still at dealership now) with similar and same problems we have had with the van for years. The dealership now cannot figure out what's going on, chrysler tech engineers corporate are involved again and they still have not figured out what is going on. Issues with t&c van; (1) at times the van won't turn over at all. (2) van will turn over but won't go into gear. (3) van makes clicking noise when trying to start, won't turn over. (4) van was stuck in 2nd gear, drove 12 miles home would not change out of gear (video of this) (5) dealership states that they can't see any prompts or error codes when hooked up to tester at dealership. (6) gear stuck if you giggle the gear shift at times the van will go into gear. (7) if you can force the gear shift manually to "n" roll forward or back the car might start. (8) sliding doors have been in multiple times with not opening or close electrically.

Filed Jun 6, 2014 · Electrical, Fuel system · 67,000 miles · CT

Having problems with the electrical system as described by many others here. Car can be sitting still in driveway or driving when the horn will go off, dashboard lights go on, wipers starting going up and down, windshield fluid starts shooting out, electrical components in vehicle don't work, A/C doesn't work, and if driving, car will not shift into gear at higher speeds. Cannot turn off or stop any of this. I tried turning car on and off, hit buttons on remote, and this will continue for a few minutes until finally stopping on its on. Very scary when you are driving! Almost got in multiple accidents so far and with my kids in the car!

Filed May 22, 2014 · Electrical, Seats · 104,000 miles · OH

Was driving down the road when the alarm started beeping, lights on dashboard flickered, and wipers go on and off on their own. Has happened several times. Now the passenger back door automatic buttons do not work and the driver's seat will move forward and back when driving. This is a huge safety issue and the chrysler dealerships are not helpful in finding a solution. Said it will take several weeks to try and diagnose what's wrong. I am alarmed that more people are having similar issues and a recall has not been made. It's hard to drive when your seat is moving. In addition, sometimes my transmission will not shift. Seems to be an electrical problem. Once I turn the vehicle off and restart it, seems to run fine.

Filed Jan 19, 2014 · Electrical, Engine · 92,000 miles · NY

As I was driving 65 MPH, the minivan just completely shut off (engine and dashboard). The speedometer dropped to zero, the car began to shake and I had to cut through high speed traffic (with my kids in the car) to safely get over to the side of the road. I put the car in park and then the gear shift became stuck in park. I had to shut off the car for 5 minutes, restart and the car was fine. I am terrified to drive this car with my two small children. I am the original owner and never had this happen before. From what I have read online this is common with chrysler. When I called chrysler in mi the customer rep replied "oh wow, I've never heard that before". If you do a search online this has affected many car owners. There needs to be a recall before someone gets into a serious accident. If this happens again I will contact legal representation.

Filed Oct 4, 2013 · Electrical · 109,000 miles · MI

Wife took son to doctors office and van ran fine. Came out of office and car would not shift out of park nor would it start. Like a dead battery. Have a brand new battery in the car so that is not the issue. After trying to start the car with a jump several times we gave up. I then tried one more time and the car started. After car was started I touched the key fob in the ignition and the car shut off. Was able to get the car to start by wiggling the fob as I turned the car over. Now on 10/04/13 car is doing the same thing except this time it did it while going down the road. Car shut off after hitting a bump in the road and I was able to coast to a stop. Luckily there were no stop signs or cars ahead of me since there is no power to the brakes. Got the car started again and it is the same way every time now. Have to giggle the fob in the ignition cylinder to get it to start. Seems to be a major safety issue here. And to find out that this is under recall for the exact same part for the 2009 models is troubling since some of the later 2008 models also have the same faulty ignition switch. Seems to me that chrysler needs to man up to this and do the right thing.

Filed Sep 20, 2013 · Electrical, Lights · 50,000 miles · CO

This is the same issue that a lot of other people are having with the windshield wipers and fluid spraying and going off, horn honking and locks going all crazy. About a year ago this happened and I took my car in and was told it was the clock spring, then a week later same thing happened- happened first while I was driving and it went crazy, then also when I use the key faub to unlock the car it acted up. The second time I took it in they told me my battery was bad, but if I had it in a week before that why is that bad now when they should have noticed then? So put in around $700 to fix this issue. Now yesterday, exactly a year later, same thing happened. Driving on my way to work, it did it for about 5 minutes, I pulled over and shut my car off and restarted it. Then when I left work I pushed my unlock on my key faub and did it for a minute or so, then when I got home and went down to my car to leave last night, used key faub and it started going again, but this time would not stop so the battery is disconnected. I try to hook the battery up and it continues on still. This is dangerous for someone to drive and should be recalled immediately, also, my car would not shift and my ABS light and traction control light turned on this time, and last year it did not. My car is possessed!! I commute to work and this is a very dangerous issue and these cars need to be recalled asap!

Filed Nov 18, 2012 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 52,000 miles · VA

During the past three months all of a sudden the horn starts blowing erratically, the windshield washers and wipers activate, lights start flashing, the doors lock automatically and the transmission will not shift into high. This has happened five or six times since aug., having occurred four times in the past three weeks. It happens while the car is running and while it is not. With each incident the symptoms become worse and the duration is longer. Last week, I had to pull off the road and wait five or ten minutes for it to stop as I could not see where I was going. Yesterday, it occurred while sitting in the garage and I had to disconnect the battery to stop it. The chrysler dealer says it is the total integrated power module that needs to be replaced @$524.12. Additionally now at 54,000 miles the front rotors are warped and need to be replaced @ $409. They had to be replaced @ 25,834 and 35,272. When the brakes are applied the front end and steering vibrate uncontrollably. Both conditions are safety issues, have been well document by hundreds of people, and are obvious inherent defects in the vehicle, and should be issues that result in a recall of these vehicles and repairs or replacements made at chrysler's expense, yet they continue to deny there is an inherent problem. Both issues could result in a serious accident.

Filed Sep 5, 2012 · Electrical, Transmission · 69,000 miles · MN

While camping with the van off and the keys out of the vehicle. Horn started honking. Windshield wipers started going. Washer fluid started to spray. Hazards started to flash. Started and shut off the van to no avail of stopping all the commotion. Finally unhooked the battery to make it stop. Took it to the dealer 2 days later and they found nothing wrong. One week later while my wife was driving the van. All of the devices again turned on for no reason. She pulled over and shut off the vehicle. After 5 minutes it finally stopped. When she started driving it again and when she started to drive it would not shift out of 3 gear. She pulled over and shut it off. Started it up again and it worked fine. 3 days later my wife and kids took it and all the devices turned on again out in the parking lot with the van off and keys out of it. When she started the van it would only run for like 20 seconds and then quit running. Tried it numerous time to no avail. She wait 30 minutes while I was driving to pick them up. She started it again and it work fine. It still acts up about ever 2 to 3 days. Dealership says it cant fix the problem cause it cant find anything wrong and cant reproduce the problem.