1998 Dodge Grand Caravan: engine failure

Filed May 11, 2004 · Airbags, Engine · 64,000 miles · TX

While driving cruise control light began to illuminate along with the air bag light. Consumer took vehicle to the dealership, and they informed consumer that clock spring cracked. *ak the tensioner seized.

Filed Mar 15, 2004 · Engine · 53,000 miles · VA

Engine failure of second engine in vehicle within 55,000 miles. I previously reported the replacement of engine in my dodge grand caravan at 37,000 miles due to a lifter failure occasioned by what was described by the regional service manager as "soft metal." a long block replacement was installed and now at 55000 miles I am told that the engine has a "bad lift" and needs replacement. Thus, I now have had two engines in the same car each of which has failed in about the same way. I have a warranty claim pending but feel strongly that this is a systemic problem that needs to be investigated. I assure you that the car was well cared for and that all required service was met or exceeded. I have had many cars not one of which had engine failure even after a hundred and twenty thousand miles and considerably less meticulous care.

Filed Jan 29, 2004 · Engine · 126,500 miles · TN

I have a 1998 dodge grand caravan se that hade engine failure. The van has been running good and has been well taken care of. My van at that time hade 126,000 miles on it, so it is pass warranty period. I still believe that this engine shouldn,t have failed at 126,000 miles. This is my second mini-van, and up until this point have been satisfied with them. I think chysler should take responsibility for this failure. My voyager has 208,000 miles on the engine and still running. Something went wrong with this 3.3 l v6 engine. I am not satisfied with the failure or with me having to spend $2,500.00 to repair it. This shouldn,t have happen.

Filed Jan 12, 2004 · Engine · 10,000 miles · FL

My 1998 dodge grand caravan (which I purchased new) had "thrown" its' serpentine-belt 4 times (approximately every 10,000 miles- it now has approximately 50,000 miles on the odometer). The danger/hazard in this circumstance is that power-steering, water-pump, alternator, & possibly oil-pump are driven by this belt! Dodge has replaced the belt, tensioner, tensioner-mount bracket successively: I.e.- belt at 1st incident, tensioner at 2nd, bracket at 3rd. Now it has occurred again & they wish to charge for all the aforementioned. The vehicle had camshaft failure at 41,000 miles & now has a rebuilt engine- the belt/ tensioner/ bracket are said by dodge not to be affected by the replaced engine. So, does this mean the vehicle needs a new tensioner/ belt/ bracket every 10,000 miles?

Filed Dec 11, 2003 · Engine · 78,000 miles · NY

Serpentine belt fell off the tension pulley, causing a loss of power steering. Tsb 6088784 was issued on the problem, which indicated that cause was rain/stagnant water, and snow.*ak 1998 dodge grand caravan experienced problem where serpentine belt fell off the tension pulley causing a loss of power steering, power brakes and engine failure. Chrysler corporation sent a memo to their dealerships addressing how to correct the problem. The memo also stated that this problem was not a safety issue.

Filed Apr 12, 2003 · Engine · 67,000 miles · CT

On january 24, 2003 at about 10 p.m. My 1998 dodge grand caravan just stopped dead while I was driving on route 7 in ridgefield ct. The engine with 67,000 miles just seized up. I was able to use the cars momentum to pull to the side of the road, but if this had happened on a highway, we might have had a serious problem.

Filed Jul 31, 2002 · Engine · VA

Starting at about 15,000 miles, this car produced clicking noise from the head/valve train. Upon initial inspection, a dealer (not the one where it was bought) told me there was nothing wrong, at 35k, during a highway trip, the noise became pronounced. Soon thereafter, I took the car to my local garage and explained the noise and that I noticed the head was running dry without the type of oil splash I have seen in all other cars I have owned. He said that it seems that chysler mini-vans have a lot of problems with the valves and that it was, in his opinion, an oil delivery problem. He said that he had 2 in during the prior few weeks for the same type of problem. He suggested that I should take it to the dealer as this was a serious problem, one that shouldn't exist in a car with 35k miles. When I took the car into the dealer, to my shock, I was told that they would have to do major repairs due to "camshaft failure". Although I asked for more detail on the cause of the failure many times, both in writing and on the phone, "camshaft failure" is all they would say about the problem. Fortunately for me, they agreed to provide a full "long block" engine replacement (under "courtesy" warranty with $300 "deductible.") because of what my non-dealer mechanic said (that this is a common problem in chrysler mini-vans of my car's vintage and because he opined that there may be a systemic problem with oil delivery, plus the fact that when I checked this site, I found that other people had reported like sounding problems, I feel I should report this. Fyi, this car always seemed to run dry (no oil splash when engine run with filler cap off). I think the federal safety agency might wish to consider investigating to see if this is a common defect due to a manufacturing error. Thanks for the help keep up the good work!.

Filed Jan 16, 2001 · Engine · FL

Engine failure premature wear of head gasket which started leaking.