The vehicle was driven approximately 5 miles to where my wife and I were to drop off our daughter at a friends house. Upon arriving at my friends house, my son and 3 other passengers remained in the vehicle and due to the weather, the car remained running with the AC on. When we entered our friends house, we observed smoke and flames coming from the vehicle. We immediate ran to the vehicle to get our son and the other passengers out. We attempted to extinguish the flames and placed a 911 call to the local fire department.
2003 Dodge Caravan engine complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 19 of 19, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Heading off to the mall one evening, I dropped off my wife and my son, keeping my other son and his friend with me. As I pulled away, I heard a loud pop and smelled and saw smoke. When I got out of the car, I could see melting plastic and what appeared to be small fire balls dropping to the ground under the hood. I turned the engine off and got the kids out of the car . Called 911 and by the time they got there flames were 10-15 feet in the air. There was a re-call on this car about a steering hose I believe that I had done. Other than that I have never had any other problems with this car. It was only 2 years old and had only 17,000 miles on it. The car has been totaled.
The consumer had several problems with his 2003 dodge caravan; such problems were a knock in the transmission and 2 brake jobs. *jb the two brakes jobs occurred within one year. The steering wheel knocked (recall campaign #04v386000), the vehicle had broken down at 8k miles, the wheel alignment was off, the gear panel illuminated, and the window had become loose. 80% of the vehicles problems was under 10k miles. The rotation noise continued and the rubber lining around the sliding door was coming off. Other problems: when the vehicle would be taken out of park to drive, all of the lights would illuminate, the front rims/hub caps were dirty due to excessive leakage around the brakes, even during normal washing, there was a mild ringing noise in the vehicle, the front door rattled, the rear tail lamp was damaged, the brake light and back-up lights had gone out, the brakes were going bad again, the engine would sputter due to no fuel pressure, the vehicle would pull to the left, when the driver door was shut it made a loud rattle sound, there would be a delay in the transmission when going uphill, when sitting at idle, the engine would sound as if it were revving but the gauge did not display this. *sc
I manage a fleet that contains 13, 2003 dodge caravans. So far 5 of the 13 vans has had problems with the engine oil sensor. All the problems have occurred between 16,000 and 18,000 miles. The dealer doesn't seem to want to do anything proactive about changing out the other sensors on the other 8 vehicles. I called corporate and they took the same stance, and suggested I contact the federal safety agency. The problem happens when the car is being driven, all of a sudden the engine oil light will come on. The driver doesn't know if the engine is getting oil or not. Sometimes shutting off the engine and turning it back on turns off the light, and sometimes it doesn't. Since this has happened to a high percentage of my fleet, I believe it should be looked into.
My 2003 dodge caravan had a faulty bearing in the alternator which required complete replacement with only 47,000 miles on the vehicle. I am a long-time dodge owner, having owned and driven two dodge omnis, two dodge dakota pick-ups and this is my second caravan, the first went 110,000 miles. I have never needed to replace an alternator, and I drive most of my vehicles until they have 150,000 to 200,000 miles.
While driving, the vehicle stalled. The dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem. The cause was not determined.
2003 dodge caravan stalling problem. *mr while the vehicle was in motion it died in the middle of the road. The steering wheel and the brake pedal became stuck. Incident date: july 29, 2004. *sc
Vehicle leaked carbon monoxide. Took vehicle to the dealership. 4 days later consumer picked up vehicle from the dealership, and was told that the carbon monoxide leakage would not duplicate itself.
While driving the vehicle on wednesday june/1//03 vehicle stalled and towed the vehicle to the dealer. Dealer replaced a sensor. But on saturday june/21/03, vehicle stalled, and towed again to the dealer.
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