Rocker arm within the engine broke, causing vehicle to become inoperable. Consumer has contacted dealer. Please provide any further details.
1996 Dodge Grand Caravan engine complaints
Page 5 of 7: complaints 101 to 130 of 175, newest first, as owners wrote them.
While driving engine check light will come on unexpectedly. Engine rocker arm broke off, and dealer had it repaired.
Pedestal holding the rocker arm broke causing rocker arm shaft to break, also the transmission has broken this is still a new vehicle and these two items should not have broken the rocker arm and pedestal should not have broken I fill this is a design defect because of the way it broke and could have caused serious problems are damages. I also would like for this to be looked into. The local dealer told me that.
Please look into this problem. We have had this van only 7 months!!! We have a 1996 dodge grand caravan se that has 97,000 miles on the odometer. We took a trip in the last week to california to see our daughter when the engine check light came on. Even though we could not see or hear any problems, we took it to a dealer in reno, nevada - (3223 mill st, reno, nv 89502 -- #(775)-323-3106). They said that the spark plugs needed replacing. At a cost of 300 dollars, we agreed in hopes that the light problem would be cured even though nothing seemed wrong. After picking up the vehicle the next morning, we noticed that the van was running terribly and would die when stopped. Frustrated that "no" problem with our van progressed to worse we returned to the dealer and asked them to check it again. After testing it again, they said the camshaft had to be replaced. Since we had to return home for work, we could not wait to get it fix. On returning home we took it into our trusted mechanic immediately. He checked the vehicle and said that we will need a new engine. Our complaint is that our engine should not of failed only after only 97,000 miles - it is ludicrous.
Right left inner/outer cv joint failure caused the front end to swerve. Yh
Previous recall on this vehicle for radiator fan relay failure. If such was a safety defect, would not failed water pump present same safety risk?
Belts became badly frayed and tattered prematurely; 3 days after replacement of the belts, the engine died on the freeway at 65 MPH. The engine would not restart and we needed to be towed from the freeway to the dealer. The dealer claimed that they could not locate any problem and that the vehicle started right away.
Serpentine belt snapped while driving after belt assembly nut split and broke, dislodging the entire assembly. Vehicle has been repaired. *ak
While driving transmission broke. Transmission differential pin had separated & caused a hole in the housing. The pin then flew out & cracked the engine block. The vehicle shut down without warning. Vehicle was towed to dealer. Consumer was informed by mechanic that transmission & engine block needed to be replaced.
Vehicle was parked on the side of the road when it caught on fire in the engine compartment, claim 04-1215-889.
All of these break downs have come with in the 9 month period there are other break downs that have not been said like the main comp (emc comp),3 sensors and about 5 recalls in this time period we contacted dealership to see if there was any major problems with this van prior to purchasing this van and to see if there was anything they could do and nothing was done.we feel this van was a lemon and will cont to have problems we ask that dodge stand by there name and do something about this.
Transmission failed prematurely. Yh
Have had to add 1 quart of oil every 1000 miles since 1996; dealer would not do anything about it until 8/99; they said it was normal oil usage; have used mobil 1 5w30 oil since new per owner's manual and had oil changed at mt. Ephraim dodge regularly since new; they monitored oil usage and I brought in car to get oil added and recorded from 8/99 to present; I think the engine piston rings are defective.
Since 1996, the serpentine belt tensioner device has broken three times. Two of the three times the bolt holding the device sheared off as well as the device breaking. Both the local chrysler dealership and the repair shop that have performed the repairs stated that this is a recurrent problem with the caravans. The dealership keeps this item in stock because of the frequency of repairs. This component failure causes great risk to the driver as it controls the power steering, radiator fan, water pump and alternator. It has broken so many times while I've been driving, that I'm getting to be an expert at navigating the vehicle off the road without killing someone. The three repairs have occured on 7/11/1997, 5/22/1998 and 9/3/1999. I can provide the documentation if requested. Please look into this apparent manufacturer's defect! Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
The cylinder head replaced because of rocker arm shaft failure. Yh
Front rotors warped or flawed. Heavy steering wheel and front end vibration during downgrade slow braking. Fuel tank is collapsed which will hold only about 13 gallons. Wipers coming on intermittently and gets worse when climate gets hot. Belt tensioner failed which can hit and break the main crankshaft pulley.
Belt tensioner failed and hit the main pulley which was damaged and replaced. Brakes pulsated at around 30k miles. They were maintained by turning the rotors, but the problem came back after a month. All of these problems where paid out of my pocket after I was told it is not covered under the extended warranty.
This vehicle has been the worst vehicle I have ever owned because of continuous ongoing problems ,the biggest of which was the engine head failure which cost me about a $1,000.00 thats with dodge paying an additonal $800.00 for the parts. Now a year later, my transmission is failing and does not change gears. Please help I promise not to buy a chrysler product again, I swear. All the other problems have been nagging, but tolerable. But this is too much.
Went to start vehicle & the starter failed to connect. Managed to get vehicle to shop. Informed by mechanic started burned out. Also, shocks/struts were leaking fluid & needed to be changed. In addition, water pump was leaking due to corrosion.
Engine cylinder head broke, causing the engine to knock. A recall has been issued on these vehicles, however this vehicle was not included due to VIN. Manufacturer has been notified.
While traveling 55 MPH without indication vehicle stall.
Bolt that secures the rocker arm to the engine head were not drilled deep enough to allow even tension to secure the rocker arm shaft properly causing it to break and resulting in violent vibration. Nlm
There was a loss of power steering and power brakes due to the idler pulley breaking off. Also, vehicle overheated quickly. Dealer has the vehicle. Needs new idler pulley.
This component failure in heavy traffic could cause loss of all power assist equipment due to consequential damage to surrounding components. The manufacturer classifies it as a "wear part". The shaft connecting the part to the engine showed quite clear evidence of a fracture line. The dealer seemed unfazed by our complaint of part defect and appeared to consider this a common failure. The component failure could easily have caused my wife to lose control of the vehicle if she had been driving at high speed in traffic.
When the tensioner pulley failed and snapped off of the engine at the block mount I was proceeding in a left hand turn onto a busy street. Loss of the pulley caused loss of power steering which caused a hazardous condition that nearly caused a bad crash.
Replacement of AC compressor & evaporator cost $1450; engine head was replaced free even though warranty had expired(spent $870 on maint and repairs of which $300 was to replace spark plug wires and resistor pack that was said to cause check engine light. Head was actually casuing problem); fan relay repaired under warranty; firestone said water pump frozed and caused belt to break ($300 repair).
Vehicle would stall out for no reason & no warning. Speed would not be a factor. Has taken to dealer & no error would appear on diagnostic machine. So far, problem is intermittent & only happened twice since. It seems to occur when traveling at highway speeds then letting of the accelerator and gradually deceleraing. The vehicle will stall instead of idling.
Two letters dated 05/23/98 and 06/08/98 addressed to mr. Robert eaton, ceo of chrysler corp. Was sent with a repair history schedule containing 24 itemized occurences depicting the associated repair order number, nature of repair, mileage, date-in and date-out, remarks as to results, warranted repair or not, location of repair and cost if applicable. Also depicted was the number of times we repeatedly returned the vehicle for brake repair which was six times within first six months and six times regarding electrical within the first six months of possession which all is evidenced by the given information on the repair history schedule I provided with the letters. I received a response back from customer service to no avail. I would be delighted to provide you at your request a copy of both letters which includes the repair history schedule I eluded to earlier.
Ie98054, while driving over a water puddle vehicle lost power steering for that moment which could hav e caused loss of control. After it was out of the water, a squeaky noise was heard and vehicle returned back to normal. Dealer replaced steering belt tensioner and serpetine belt. Problem is reoccurring. Please provide further information.
The engine shuts off intermittently at various speeds. Onboard computers give no indication of a problem. Dealer could not locate source of problem, installed electronic co-pilot to capture data if van stalled again. Dealer wanted co-pilot returned after.
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