By accessing this website, you acknowledge that Edmunds and its third party business partners may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect information about you and your interactions with the website as described in our
Privacy Statement, and you agree that your use of the website is subject to our
Visitor Agreement.
Comments
The thing that annoys me is that I can notice the lean on my car but not others Pacificas I've seen. For interests sake, I started measuring similar cars today in the parking lot -- they were all within 1/8 inch.
An an Electrical Engineer, I completely disagree. First of all the heater doesn't need electricity, and then the alternator is designed to handle the whole load without killing the battery.
Also I disagree about the interior lights draining the battery. My kids routinely leave the doors open, but the battery never discharged because of the automatic shutdown. Leave a door open and see if the lights go off after some time. They should.
I know that this is probably a dumb idea so I thought I'd post it here to see who might give a reply. I just purchased a 2006 Pacifica FWD with heated leather and the 6 disc CD/DVD player as the only options. We couldn't find one in town with the few options we wanted (side air bags, auto hatchback, rear park sensor) that was not fully loaded and priced out of our range. So its been bugging me ever since I did all this research but couldn't find the car we wanted and had to settle on this one.
So now I find a used 2005 AWD that has all the above desired options with just under 30K miles on e-bay thats 500 miles away. My dumb idea is to offer a trade for the used pacifica for my brand new 2006!?! I know I am probably an idiot for thinking about this but I am not very happy with the base model we purchased. Plus I know I'll probably take a bath by losing out the on the warranty and the residual value, but I really want those options.
Can someone please talk some logic to me? :confuse:
" Also I disagree about the interior lights draining the battery. My kids routinely leave the doors open, but the battery never discharged because of the automatic shutdown. Leave a door open and see if the lights go off after some time. They should. "
Rodut, It's great. Can you please tell me how you set this feature (automatic shutdown)? If you know? My car sure does not have this! The battery died at the cottage... AND I had to call road side. I asked the service people the day after and no one knows. My GM truck has the discharged protection. This feature comes with the truck. I don't have to set anything. I don't think the Pacifica has the discharged protection. I will not leave the door open and see if the lights go off by themself. I know for sure it won't AND I don't want my battery dies one more time.
About the discharged in winter driving condition with stop & go or low RPM, I agree with axr6. Good idea, raise your RPM up when sitting idle. MAKE SURE IT IN NEUTRAL!!!
I agree this is an unsafe situation and it is unacceptable. Previously had a 2000 300M that got me to 160,000 with minor annoyances - NO ENGINE TROUBLES. :mad:
si88, your idea is truly dumb. You will loose lots of money and get somebody else's problems. Do you think that guy on Ebay sells a car at 30K because it's too good and trouble free ?!?! You can have installed the rear park assist aftermarket at the dealer. Don't know about the side airbags. That's why I special ordered my 2005 FWD Pacifica Touring 26S with only what I wanted (rear park assist, side airbags, and full size spare tire). I had to wait 3 months to have it built (November 2004 ordered, January 13 2005 built, February 15 2005 delivered). There is no extra price, and I negotiated the price like the car was in the dealer's lot.
Someone turned me on to this website. Maybe you've heard of it. It's called truedelta.com. It gives you stats on how many days they calculate your car may spend in a shop over a given period of time. For example. I plugged in my info. for my 05 Pac. (ie year, predicted annual mileage, etc). Here is what they compared to a comparable 05 Honda Pilot:
I summarized the stats and compared it to a Honda Pilot for example:
Times in the shop:
Pac: 5.5
Pilot 8.7
Days in the shop:
Pac: 10.7
Pilot: 16.1
Cherry Odds %:
Pac: 2.7
Pilot: 0.3
Lemon Odds %:
Pac: 29.0
Pilot: 39.7
Interesting. Not too bad numbers for a new design. However. Consumer Reports just took the Pac off of it's recommended list because the reliability dropped to below average and yet the Pilot is still way above average. JD Power puts the Pac in an "above average" category in terms of initial quality (ie 1st 90 days of ownership). Who do you believe? It seems to be a new site so I'm curious to know how big is their survey panel.
Nonetheless, it's still good to see another source of automotive reliability information. I've always had a "small gut feeling" that CR had some anti-American car bias and deep love for the Japanese. But that's my opinion. I still subscribe to it however. Enjoy you cars.
What I just posted before from truedelta is a sample report, I just read. It is not be true data from what I have read. Perhaps I should have read it more carefully. Sorry about that. However, what I mentioned from Consumer Reports and JD Power are accurate. You should still check out this site and join the panel, it would be interesting to see what the REAL reliability data is on the PAC.
But....
The heater does need electricity, in the form of the blower which uses quite a bit of power. I know you knew that! So does many other things on the car that would provide a drain under stop and go conditions. Let me think of a few: (Unfortunately there are no Wattage ratings in the owner's manual for the various loads)
Headlights - Last time I saw specs on low beams they were 55 W each. High beams, probably similar.
Tail lights, brake lights, - probably estimate it to be 50 watts.
Radiator Fan - Fused 40 Amps.
Antilock brake system - 40 Amps fuse.
Body control module - 40 amps fuse
Fuel Pump - 20 amps fuse
Amplifier - 25 amps fuse
Front blower - 40 amps fuse
Defroster ???
So, there is the potential for a very high current flow. I do not know the Alternator specs, as to the charging currents at various RPMs, but it is safe to assume that at idle it will not be able to charge as much as at higher RPMs.
As to the 10 interior lights, I just put a Digital Ammeter in series with the load and they draw 7.99 Amps and they DO NOT shut off as long as my door or liftgate is open. So, you can quickly figure out how long they would go before running the battery down, depending on the AH ratings of the battery. Not very long to the point where the car won't start.
Also the fuses are rated way over the real current consumption.
Without getting into heavy calculations (because we don't have accurate data), if at idle the headlights are dimmer than at higher RPM, then I agree that the alternator has trouble supplying the needed current. But if you play with the RPM (idle to 2000RPM) and the headlights intensity stays the same (try that during the night in the garage, to have no other light sources), then you can say that the alternator has no trouble supplying the 13 Volts it needs to charge the 12 Volts battery. I think the defroster needs the most current so I would keep it on during the test. Again, if the headlights intensity changes when accelerating to higher RPM, it means that the alternator regulator cannot supply enough current at idle for all those consumers, so it needs higher RPM. Well ... I didn't try it yet (perhaps tonight I will).
Older cars had this problem. I know my 1988 Volvo wagon use to change the light intensity a little bit, but that's not a problem now because most loads (defroster etc) are dead since ages ago anyway ... so the alternator is happy !!!
Yet my 5* dealer won't acknowledge a problem. So what do I do now?
If it still doesn't work, start getting things on paper. If you get the 1" specification and the dealer response ON PAPER, then it's a no brainer. Your self esteem could raise a lot too !
My assumption is that you are right and the dealer is wrong. Perhaps it would be better to get a 2nd opinion before anything.
2) CD's play fine no static.
3) Thats an alignment issue. its normal.
4) There is a chrysler bulletin about installing axle spacers / bushings, also a known issue with the power transfer system (transfer case) on the AWD cars.
I like the car, its rather under powered for its weight and the front end suspension is rather soft. It does ride nicely on the highway, but lacks country back road agility. Very comfortable, and quiet. I also find that there isn't any trunk space when you use the 3rd row seats.
other than that, I like the car, I would debate on getting another.
right now my 05 Pacific is back in the shop for a clunk from the front end ( :lemon: ) for a 3rd time. while its there they are installing new drain tubes that failed due to some design flaw flooded the drivers side with a good amount of water. :sick:
I was driving, on cruise control at 70 MPH on the 75, at first it looked like the lights died, but after being unable to get the lights to work, I notice that the engine had died wile I was driving.....had this occurred ten minutes sooner when I was driving through Tampa, the chance of a major accident would have been greater..... Was able to slow the car down (no power to brake our steering) and stop the car on the side.....
The weirdness part of the problem was that after I put the care in Park and shut the ignition, I tried starting the car again and it did....
My car is a 2004 Pacifica, AWD with about 12,000 miles on it....
The car was taken to the Garage and the only thing they mentioned was that all the parameters were set to normal and that nothing is wrong with the car......
I am leaving the car at the garage and have told Chrysler that I am unsatisfied with there answer...
This car is :lemon:
Have other people experience this problem???
Has anyone else experienced this?
Have a vacation in Canada !
The DRL feature activation is not included in the US prices, because the cars delivered there don't have it. The US law doesn't require it.
I want to know did you fix the wet carpet passenger side? I just find out I got the same problem......it sxxx
You can also check out this site for TSB infos:
http://www.edmunds.com/maintenance/MaintenanceServlet?tid=edmunds.a.landing.feature..4.*
I had just made a left turn and came to a somewhat abrupt stop at a light. When the light turned green I pressed on the gas pedal and nothing. I was very puzzled because I had the cd player on and there was no pause in the music. There was no warning light of any kind on the dash. So I don't believe the car ever shut off. However, I did lose my power steering. That's why I suspect it stalled. I don't know. Whatever the case was, I turned the key to the "off" position and restarted and everything was fine again.
I suspect that this is going to be a tough fix for I doubt the dealer will find any error codes when they plug into the car. I filed a complaint w. the NHTSA.
I truly hope this doesn't happen while driving on the highway. Hopefully DC will figure this out before someone get's into an accident. I took a chance w. this purchase, after getting rid of my 99 Intrepid which had some annoying problems. Annoying or not, my Trep never turned off or left me stranded and I've driven to Missouri, Florida, and Wisconsin from NY w. kids, wife, Xbox and luggage. I hope I don't end up missing that car.
Anyway I hope you guys don't experience this.
To answer your question, no I do not pump the gas when I drive. This happened when I simply coasted to a stop light. The only thing I did was stop abruptly but not hard. I also noticed, only happened once on the day after the stall, an rpm stumble at idle.. Meaning that the engine idled at a certain rpm then suddenly dipped further down. At that point the motor stumbled and struggled, for a second, then quickly settled back to normal.
Actually, there are a few complaints on the NHTSA regarding either a stall or a complete shut down of the vehicle at highway speed. I even met someone at the Chrysler dealership when I took my wife's Jeep Liberty for service who lost power on his Pac while driving on the highway. He was very concerned to say the least and I don't blame him. So there is a problem there and it's not an isolated one.
Like I said before, I'm not going to panic over a stall. At least not yet. I'm confident Chrysler will eventually find the problem. DC's 3.5L V6 is a really good engine w. a good history. Who knows, It's probably a simple software upgrade that can correct it. It's diagnosing the problem that may be tricky.
Was thinking to trade my Honda Accord for a 2nd Pacifica, but with all this stalling discussion ... I don't know. Also there is not enough space for two Pacificas in a regular two car garage. So I should keep one of them outside, which is not too nice during the winter (tough to clean frozen windows). Hmmm ... There are impressive discounts for 2005 leftovers now ...
Speaking of width, I scratched the side last week pulling into the driveway. I have to get used to this cars turning radius. I scratched the rear passenger door on my driveway gate. I almost didn't want to look. When I looked, it only scratched the door molding. I felt better after I buffed it out. Most of the scratch is pretty much gone. Someone in this forum once mentioned that it was a relief to get that first scratch or dent out of the way. You feel less stressed after that. That person was right.
If I were you, I'd keep the Accord, unless it's giving you problems, and enjoy the gas savings.
About the last one, new Honda brakes have an awful feature. The front rotors warp LONG before they wear. For instance now both my front discs and pads are still thick, but when I brake at high speed the steering wheel definitely shakes. I never had a car with this feature. The warranty doesn't cover this, and the rotors cannot be fixed. So either you drive with the shake, or every 30,000 miles you waste your money by replacing perfectly thick front brakes (both rotors and pads). My previous 1994 Accord brakes lasted 80,000 miles.
On the other side, the cost of new brakes is by two orders of magnitude lower than the cost of getting a new Pacifica, so nelson33 I will probably follow your advice and keep the Accord. It's just that I am not a proud owner, when I feel all those imperfections. Honda doesn't give a damn about me being a proud owner, even if it's my 3rd Accord (and the last one for sure).
m3rdrx, my wife loved your message. She pointed out that she didn't damage the frame of the garage door !!!
Just as I was making a left turn into a community, the power steering shut off and I couldn't turn to the left and ended up going wrong way into a street where I finally got the car to stop.... Shut engine off and restarted and everything was OK.
Seeing that other people are having the same problem scares me. What if it dies on the highway????
I'm bringing the car to service first thing Monday, but knowing them, they won't find anything...
I've had really bad experience with Chrysler service. I've brought the Pacifica in for A/C issues - the A/C is not "freezing" cold.
The air is cold but not freezing cold and I live in Florida where it gets pretty hot outside and you just got to have a good A/C.
I have the A/C blasting, set to the lowest level and it's nowhere close to as cold as it was in my previous car, 01 Mazda Millenia.
But of course service can't fix the issue, they say that the A/C is working fine...
And now this stalling....
But overall, I really love this car!!!!!!
I noticed the same thing w. my AC. I mean it works well but it seems a little weak trying to keep this large cabin cool. My old Trep was really good at keeping a cool cabin.
rodut
I recall a time when Honda and Toyota ran in the same circles, but not anymore. Toyota seems to be lonely at the top of the quality control chain. If auto industry quality were like baseball, Toyota would play in the majors. Honda plays in the majors as well but in last place. The americans, at least some, play in the minors but are almost ready for the big leagues, and the Europeans play stick ball but w really nice clothes. Hey, that's my opinion.
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/home.cfm
You can also contact Chrysler http://www.chrysler.com
My Pacifica has only 650 miles on the odo and it's already stalled one time.
Reading through the complaints on the NHTSA website, I have dicsovered 20 or more complaints about stalling, none of them are "fixable" because service can never find out what went wrong.
Let's get on chrysler's [non-permissible content removed] about his, before someone gets injured in a caraccident (or maybe that's what they are waiting for...)
Love the car, but the company SUCKS!!!!!!
NHTSA has so many complaints about cars stalling!!! It's amazing that Chrysler hasn't done anything about it yet - and these complaints are dating back to the 04 Pacificas so they are not just recent problems.
I posted another message asking everybody to file complaints - maybe this will get the ball rolling and they'll work on the prblem.....
As for the AC, I've had in service 2 times but they say that there's nothing wrong with it, that it's cooling fine. I explained to them that it might seem fine in the garage, in the shade, but when I'm driving in 95 degree weather and the engine is hot, then the AC isn't that great - I have it set to the max and on the highest fanspeed, but how long can you drive like that with the fan blowing in your face???
So the response was that I have to set it to Recycled Air...(that was supposed to be the problem with why it's not cold enough).
Duh???It's not the first car I have with AC.....I know how to work it.
So I "programmed" the AC to be automatically recycled as soon as the engine starts (since it comes with the recycled feature off as default).
But it's still not cold enough......
Well, as long as they can fix the problem with the stalling, I'll live with the AC!
1) Chrysler simply doesn't know how to solve some problems (like the front clunking or the engine stalling). When they know what to do, they are friendly and solve the problem (at least my dealer definitely wanted to make me happy - it was highly visible).
2) Honda knows how to solve the problems (like replacing the crappy brakes) but DECIDES TO DO NOTHING !!! So because of their reputation, it's like any crap they put on the market will be bought and loved. I read that they install reconditioned automatic transmissions on new cars during the warranty, because they have so many crappy transmissions, that they couldn't manufacture enough new ones, so they recondition them !!! Isn't that nice ? No nelson33, Honda is not at the bottom at the majors anymore. It dropped a lot lower than that. Soon they will need nice clothes !
Summary: Chrysler doesn't do it on purpose. Honda does it on purpose !
Honda can take the Euro approach. Give the customer the perception of quality, like really fine leather and soft touch, high quality materials w. two tone color. Ultra refinement and autobahn power and handling. Make you fall in love w. that perception and hope that you would forgive the malfunctioning bits and pieces. People still buy Mercedes and VW's. Why?
There is alot of chatter out there regarding Honda trannies. You can only go so far w. a reputation before people figure it out. Although I must say, Honda can still piece together exterior panels better than any automaker out there. Those are tight gaps, even Toyota can't match that. I still won't buy a Honda.
I tell you, I'm amazed any car works well these days w. all the electronics they put in them. My philosophy is I don't want to pay extra for any device on a car. That's just one more thing that will malfunction in 4 years.
You say you don't want to pay for any electronic devices on a car, because they will malfunction in a couple of years. That's smart. Actually for me, if Stability Control is installed on a car, I won't buy it at any price. No damn computer will ever apply the brakes for me.
The biggest joke of all times is the new BMW electronic "active steering". It's like a computer driven automatic gear box, between the steering wheel and the car wheels. By using different gears, the computer will steer the car more or less, for the SAME steering wheel movement, at different times. This is for a car who promotes the "driving pleasure".
High tech wise, I think they lost contact with the reality. It's like a high tech bubble who has to explode.
I have read other posts where people have tried different octanes and same problem occured.
Seems like it's happening while turning (left or right) and at slow speeds - even though it's happened to others while driving on the highway....
Who knows??!!!
Just hope that it can be fixed because now I'm kind of nervous driving this car.
But I still love it!!!!
But then again, I was the first one to complain about GPS and how much I didn't need one until I got one. I don't complain about that anymore. I'm also the one who would never ask anyone for directions either before GPS..."I know where I'm going damn it!". That power rear lift gate that I said was a waste of time until that one evening I was walking to my car with my hands were full and it was raining heavily outside. By the way, I doubt that motor will last 4 years. Of course it will die after the warranty expires.
I would still be nervous about that many devices in a vehicle simply because of the reliability issue. Ask Mercedss why they are at the bottom of the reliability surveys.
PS Seat belts, disk brakes, Preston Tucker was such an idiot! LOL