2013 Dodge Grand Caravan: sudden loss of power

Filed Sep 19, 2023 · Electrical, Engine · IL

While driving on expressways vehicle will suddenly lose all power. making it difficult to get to vehicle off the road. this has occurred 5 times in the past year, most recently 09/192023, all times with adults and children in car. One of the incidents, I was unable to get off road as was in a construction zone with no shoulder, so had to sit in lane with oncoming traffic and was very fortunate not to have been rear ended and hit. This is a major safety issue. No warning lights, no symptoms prior to each occurrence, vehicle just dies. Once completely stopped, try to start vehicle and it just rumbles and then dies. Wait 30 minutes, then vehicle will start up and run normally until next incident. Have taken vehicle to 2 different mechanics with no solution and no diagnosis as there are no engine error codes reported.

Filed Oct 1, 2022 · Brakes, Engine · IN

While driving at any speed there is a loss of power, and steering and brakes lock up.

Filed Jul 27, 2022 · Body, Electrical · OK

Over the time we have owned this vehicle the sliding side doors have stopped working & then started. Recently both doors lost power completely . I have read that this is a very common problem with these Vans but the doors when power is lost can not be opened at all from the inside making the passengers crawl out the windows, front doors, or back hatch. If this were a fire, wreck, or emergency this would be a death trap. When calling dealerships to attempt to find a fix or help we have been told time and time again that this is a common problem in these vans.

Filed Jul 25, 2022 · Electrical · MT

2013 Dodge Grand Caravan, without warning vehicle shuts off. Has been happening since new in 2014. Driving straight down highway, turning street corners, crossing railroad tracks, it has happened in a number of scenarios. Power loss effects steering and braking and has caused dangerous situations on multiple occasions. There are no MIL codes or faults to be found. The vehicle acts as if it was simply turned off and restarted without issue and can carry on as if nothing ever happened. I have found nothing, (I'm a DOT fleet mechanic) and the dealer has found nothing either. Details provided below are for recent event.

Filed Apr 24, 2022 · Brakes, Engine · CA

Van will shut off without warning while driving on the freeway. Loss of power steering and brakes is a major safety issue! My wife had this happen twice now, both times in a near-miss accident on the freeway. There are no codes.

Filed Mar 30, 2022 · Electrical, Engine · PA

When driving the vehicle at random times the vehicle will shut off without warning. This becomes very unsafe as you lose all power to everything. Steering, breaks, etc. Took the vehicle to a dealership to have this issue fixed. Parts and labor cost 1500 dollars and did not solve the problem.

Filed Jul 3, 2020 · Brakes, Electrical · 127,000 miles · WI

I was driving on city street at approximately 40 MPH. The engine unexpectedly shut down and I lost power steering and power brakes, nearly losing control of the vehicle. The road was flat and straight, clear weather conditions. I am concerned that this is related to the recall r03 (formerly l25): ignition switch may turn off safety problem on other chrysler/dodge models. This is extremely dangerous and needs to be addressed immediately.

Filed Jun 30, 2018 · Electrical, Engine · 126,000 miles · NM

The vehicle intermittently experiences interruption to fuel delivery (?) on the street, highway, and freeway at various speeds. This typically happens when accelerating. The van will be accelerating smoothly and then, suddenly, lose power and act like it is going to stall completely. It will cough and lurch and then resume accelerating. On three occasions it has stopped accelerating entirely, forcing my son and I to coast to the side of the road, during rush hour traffic, without power steering or brakes, and wait until it is ready to resume acceleration. The fuel pump was tested and is fully functional, and the transmission was replaced a year ago. Additionally, during the time periods when it is exhibiting this behavior, it also fails to start on the first attempt. The ignition will crank continuously, the battery has power, but the engine will not engage. This has been a temporary/intermittent issue that would 'vanish' on repeated attempts. Today it will not start at all, leaving us stranded once again. The last time it refused to start entirely we were at a rest area in northern arizona in 124 degree heat for hours. This is incredibly dangerous and mechanics have told me that it is known to be the tipm, which is faulty. If this part is known to be faulty, why is it not recalled?

Filed Feb 11, 2018 · Electrical, Engine · 87,180 miles · UT

Car stalls unexpectedly while driving. The engine stops and there is a complete loss of power. Power steering fails and it is difficult to manouver vehicle. I can successfully restart the vehicle by either stopping the car, shifting into park, and restarting by turning the key, or shifting into neutral while the car is still in motion, then turning the key to restart, and then shifting back into drive. This has happened at least 10 times on the freeway going at freeway speeds over the past year, and dmore than 50 times on surface streets. Often this happens when hitting a bump in the road, but sometimes there isn't an obvious cause. Once while driving on a bumpy dirt road it repeatedly stalled, but when I held the key in place, it stopped stalling. We had the dealer look at it and they couldn't find any problems. We replaced the key thinking that might help, and it seemed to for a few months, but now the problem is worse than ever, stalling at least several times a week. In the past several months the car almost always won't start on the initial key turn. I have to hold it in start position for several seconds longer than normal, and I have to give it some gas and rev the engine for it to start. Having the car stall at any point while driving is frightening, but when this has happened on the highway, it is terrifying and horribly dangerous for me, my family, and other vehicles around me.

Filed Nov 3, 2016 · Electrical · 50,000 miles · NH

While driving on the highway vehicle starting losing power. It started shutting down all systems and finally stopped working. Vehicle is 3 years old with 50k mileage. The alternator failed. There is a recall for other dodge vehicles with similar engines that have faulty alternators. This should be included in that recall. Luckily my kids were not in the vehicle and we could get off to the side safely. Dodge charged me $1000 for a new alternator and a battery in a 3 year old vehicle.

Filed Sep 29, 2015 · Electrical, Engine · 50,282 miles · MA

On september 25, 2015, the battery light came on while travelling from canada to USA at night time with my wife and two young children. Because I carry a vehicle scanner with me, I pulled over at a rest stop and checked the voltage sense pid. It showed 12.5v. Thought that was acceptable and continued driving. Aproximately 400 miles later, vehicle exhibited sudden loss of momentum while in cruise control at 72mph, as I pressed on the accelarator, vehicle downshifted and rpms rose to 4500, however vehicle slowed even more and I had to take evasive action to get to right shoulder. Vehicle went from approx 72mph in cruise control to 40mph in a matter of few seconds while I was trying to accelarate to safely get vehicle from left lane on I-495 s to right shoulder. I again plugged in my scanner and had code p0622 show up. At this time, control module voltage sense was reading 11v. After erasing the code and multiple ignition key cycling attempts, the vehicle started up, and everything seemed fine, battery light went out and voltage was again at 12.5 v, and climbing. We made it to our destination (taunton, ma) and everything seemed normal over the course of the weekend. On september 28, while we were travelling back to canada, within 40 miles of leaving taunton, the battery light came on again, but very shortly after the vehicle lost power again, and had to scramble to get vehicle pulled over to the shoulder of the highway (I-495 n). And is unable to restart. I called fca road side assistance, and they sent a tow truck. The vehicle is currently at dan's dodge chrysler jeep in westboro, ma, USA awaiting diagnostic.

Filed Jul 12, 2014 · Electrical · 42,500 miles · RI

My wife was traveling with our daughter on the highway when all of a sudden the instrument lights started flashing, radio went off, and the car began powering down. Thankfully she was able to safely pull off the highway into a parking lot just as it shut down. The vehicle wouldn't restart. I had to leave work early and meet her with jumper cables. In the meantime I called the dealership where we purchased this car new in october of 2012. The service representative kindly told me that because we had 42k miles on it that it was outside of the 3/36000 warranty. I expressed complete disgust with this because we consider this a new (and our dependable) vehicle that is only 20 months old. I managed to charge the battery and limp the car home. I removed the alternator and found one of the slip rings along with one brushes completely worn down to nothing. It's clearly a defective alternator that resulted in a very dangerous driving situation due to loss of power at 60mph on the highway. Chrysler customer care and the dealership had no sympathy and even after bringing the alternator into the dealership the service manager said they would need to have the vehicle towed to the dealership so they could "diagnose" it and still couldn't guarantee a warrantied replacement. The dealership wanted me to re-install the failed alternator and then get the car to them some 30 miles away in some chance of them covering the cost to replace it......so I bought a brand new alternator from another dealership at the tune of $400 and installed it myself. I also have submitted a claim to chrysler for a full refund.......