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Comments
Regards,
John H.
Best wishes,
appie
Best Regards,
Shipo
The only thing that I can suggest is to keep the well clean from debris. Vacuum the well and plastic chain whenever you vacuum the inside of your van. This way the plastic chain can move freely when the doors are opened and closed. Also, I had noticed with our kids, they would use the well as a step by putting the front part of their foot inside the well, which could mess up the chain by stepping on it or putting dirt and stuff in there. Not to mention, they would kick the snow off their boots in the well. (I had a talk about this with them and they no longer do it.)
#2 The lighting on my instrument panel is fading from about 0-40. The dealer said I needed a new Instrument Cluster and quoted me $552.00! Any advice?
We had the same problem last year, but between 40-60. I did not have the dealer look at it, but was told it could be a few hundred dollars just to pull the dash out to see what the problem was. Well, I prayed about it and the problem is fix. Just cost me a little of my time and faith.
I've put Xtravisions in several cars. They are brighter but don't last as long as standard bulbs.
They cost half as much as SilverStars, which are designed with that HID look - wallet vacuums for young males.
While going through this problem I noticed a few other things happening. Whenever the cluster goes dead, the check engine light comes on. After the cluster starts working again, the check engine light would clear itself after driving 50 miles or so. Also, it seems as though the engine loses performance when the cluster is dead. Performance loss is not very noticeable unless I'm doing something like passing uphill at highway speeds. Also, on a separate yet possibly related issue, the little indicator lights on the center console pushbuttons for a/c, rear wipers, air recirc., and rear defroster all blink in unison in a steady on off pattern. This happens whether the cluster is operating or not. The blinking lights stop blinking after 10-20 minutes of driving whether the cluster is operating or not. When the cluster is not operating the automatic door locking when you reach 17mph no longer functions. As soon as the cluster starts working again the automatic door locking works again.
The instrument cluster has been an ongoing problem on this van for more than 3 years now. I've read every post I can find about it during that time. People have replaced body computers for hundreds of dollars and still have the problem return. I'm very wary of taking this to the dealer. Every post I've read people have spent hundreds with the dealer only to have the problem re-occur.
So what I finally did was buy a used instrument cluster of ebay. I ended up with a '99 cluster for my '98 grand voyager. It was only $29. I was kind of bummed when the cluster arrived and the modular connector was slightly different than the one on the original cluster. Lucky for me the cluster I bought included the female side of the modular connector with pigtails. The wire colors were exactly the same on both the original and replacement cluster. It was a simple matter to cut off the original female side of the connector and solder the wires together to the pigtailed harness that came with the ebay cluster.
Before I cut my old connector off, I did try the new cluster by temporarily sticking the pigtails into the original connector. I was a happy guy when I saw the replacement cluster working. As just disconnecting and reconnecting my old cluster used to be able to bring it back to life I then tried reconnecting the old cluster and it was still dead. This leads me to the conclusion that the problem is in the cluster itself, and not in the body computer as many have suggested on this and other forums.
So, now I have a working cluster. But, my wife called to tell me that now the radio and automatic door locks were not working when she started the van this morning. When I first drove off with the new cluster yesterday I did not try the radio, but I did hear the automatic door locks go when I hit 17mph. When I tried the door locks a second time yesterday they did not lock at 17mph. Today the wife says not even her key fob or the all lock switch on the door is working to lock the doors. I'll check fuses when I get home today. If they are good I'll try disconnecting the battery for 30 minutes and see if that doesn't reset something.
A few other notes:
The '99 cluster I put in my '98 Grand Voyager has the same circuit board number as the original. But the harness connector was slightly different.
The cluster I bought from ebay was $29.96 and that was all shipping and handling. I won the bid for $.01. It was listed by automotive_innovation@yahoo.com. He had tons of instrument clusters listed. It came fine to me but he shipped it about 5 days later than promised. If you buy one of these make sure your getting one with the right connector or are getting the female side of the connector also and are comfortable with attaching this to the wire in your dash. I'm kind of anal so I soldered the wiring from the new connector to the bare leads left after I cut my original connector off. Also used shrink tubing on each soldered connection for insulation and strength.
Prior to all this I have tried: disconnecting the battery, reseating all under dash connectors, talking to the dealer – It was an intermittent problem and working when I took it in. I’ve spoken to them a few time over the years and they say they no of no easy cause or fix i.e this is gonna cost some bucks to have them fix it.
good luck
http://www.allpar.com/forums/index.php?
http://forum.chryslerminivan.net/index.php
Here's the link.
Hope it helps.
-Mike
My symptoms were the door would start to open then immediately close before it started moving backwards. It also wouldn't close if it was already open. Replacing the latching mechanism did the trick. It's good as new.
See the repair
-Mike
Best Regards,
Shipo
Nice work.
FWIW, I'm most likely going to try a set of NAPA Ceramic pads next time around, I've used their semi-metallic pads for a number of years on both of our Caravans, and while they've served us well, they are a bit dirty. I'm hoping the ceramics will not generate as much dust.
Best Regards,
Shipo
P.S. Sorry to hear about your tranny. It kind of scares me in thinking that even with proper maintenance your tranny failed.
As a point of reference, my BMWs came from the factory with a lug bolt spec of 72 lb-ft, which was then retroactively upgraded to 87 by BMW. I think that I heard somewhere (maybe here) that the DC spec was something like 85 to 92, as such, 90 should do quite nicely.
As for ceramic pads, I believe that they will last longer than the semi-metallic pads simply because of how much more worn a set of rotors are when subjected to ceramic pads. Given that I simply replace my rotors at every brake job anyway, I really don't care that the rotors will be toast after doing 40,000 miles of battle with new pads.
Regarding the tranny, well, thems is the breaks. ;-) As for being properly serviced, I'm still wondering about that. True, it had been serviced by a dealer as recently as last October, however, those here at Edmunds who are "in the know" have been saying for quite some time that ATF+3 is effectively extinct, and while ATF+4 is supposed to be "backward compatible" with ATF+3, there are two Chrysler TSBs that specifically prohibit using ATF+4 in 1999 and older minivans. Mine is a 1998. Coincidence? I have no idea.
Best Regards,
Shipo
I am experiencing on a intermitten basis that my 2005 Dodge Caravan won't start.
I already took it to my local dealer and they weren't able to identify the problem.
To date, this problem still exists and I was wondering if any of you have had the same problem and if you found out the cause of it.
Please share.
I have a 94 Plymouth Dodge Caravan and today it was called to my attention that the car was smoking. Problem is that car had been sitting since night before and I hadn't taken it out. Now car won't start and something smells like it was burning from around the terminals near the battery. Everything lights up such as lights,radio etc. Acts like no gas but has 3/4 tank of gas. Any suggestions? I know electrical work is expensive and atleast if I had an idea where to start maybe I could cut cost and I don't want to just fix the car to run but find original problem. I don't want to be driving and in the near furture find the car on fire and myself or kids in it . Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :confuse:
For future reference, on my '98 Plymouth Grand Voyager the IOD fuse is located in the engine compartment power distibution center. It's a 10 amp fuse - the one nearest the firewall. Symptoms of a blown IOD fuse are: No radio, remote keyless entry will not work, no interior lights with ignition off and poor engine performance. Engine started very rough, smelled as though it was running very rich and had sputtered a bit with acceleration at highway speeds. Guessing that Engine control computer needs constant battery voltage with ignition off to retain it's memory.
The wiring diagrams in the Haynes manual was helpful in tracing the problem but not quite enough. It was easy to determine that battery power with ignition off was fed through fuse #28 rated at 10 amps. Bummer is there is no indication on the vehicle of where fuse #28 is. I wish the Haynes manual just labeled the fuses the way they are on vehicle. Instead of calling it "fuse#28" why not call it "IOD".
Had the computer flashed and it "fixed" the transmission for a little over a month. It started acting up again and now we are going to need a rebuilt transmission put in. The first one was just patched but the guy felt it should have lasted a bit longer then 23,000 miles. Oh well. We are still driving it as it is our family vechile and the damage has been done so it isn't hurting anything. We need to save up a bit and get new tires since a broken belt in one isn't helping matters.
Just waiting on the estimate right now. I'm hoping that it is under $2000 and with this guy who knows?
1) Did this problem start before or after you switched to Mobil 1?
1a) If before, then the problem is probably unrelated.
1b) If after, it could be that the extra cleaning power of the Mobil 1 has striped so much crud from inside your engine that it has clogged your pickup screen (again). What did the pickup screen look like when you replaced it? Clogged or wide open?
2) Following along on the thought that your pickup screen is becoming clogged by sludge, and debris freed up by the Mobil 1, you might find that you have to pull the oil pan and pickup screen yet again and clean them out. After that, if you are committed to staying with Mobil 1, I'd suggest that you perform several oil changes separated by only a thousand miles or two. Why? Because the detergent properties of synthetic oils in general and Mobil 1 in particular are such that it WILL clean your engine up, regardless of whether that is a good thing or not (hence the fact that you noticed your oil was "very dark" when you changed the sensor). My other suggestion is to switch back to the Havoline, drive for a thousand miles or so (to allow the situation inside your engine to stabilize), and change it again staying with the Havoline for as long as you keep your T&C.
3) Another possibility (although I think this is a low probability due to your comment that said, "I immediately shut down and waited 5 minutes. I then cranked up again without any problems." which leads me to think that the screen had gotten clogged, and when you shut it down, the crud fell to the bottom of the pan --temporarily--): As engines age, the main and rod bearings start showing their miles by allowing too much oil to leak through. The typical symptom of this is that at idle, the oil pump isn't able to keep the flow high enough to keep the pressure above the minimums to keep the light off.
FWIW, I have a 1998 DGC with 110,000 (as of this morning) with the 3.8 liter mill (you probably have the same engine in either 3.3 or 3.8 guise), and it is also running on Mobil 1. The difference is that I've been using the Mobil 1 for the last 90,000 miles. If you would like to see just how clean that stuff makes the innards of your engine, take a look at a shot I posted in my "Caravan Stuff" photo album on Yahoo!
http://photos.yahoo.com/shipo
Hint: use the "Download" button to bring the full resolution picture down to your computer. The two valve cover/oil filler shots are really the same shot, with the oil filler detail simply cut from the larger view, so if you are bandwidth challenged, the detail shot is the one to use.
As a point of reference, that shot was taken 6,000 miles ago, at a point when the oil (pooled in the rocker arm and clearly still quite clean) had 4,000 miles on it. Even with my ~10,000 OCI schedule, you can see that the rocker arm and rocker shaft are still as clean as the day the engine was built.
Best Regards,
Shipo
The symptoms have been a groaning or grinding emanating from the steering at low speeds (such as maneuvering around a parking lot) along with a noticeable steering wheel shudder. The most recent service was performed in Feb. 2006. In late March, the issue occurred again this time in spectacular fashion culminating in stranding my family on the roadside for several hours and being without the van for 5 days now.
These vans have obvious transmission, steering and general quality control problems. I am thoroughly disgusted with Chrysler and will never again purchase a Daimler-Chrysler product.
If anyone else is having similar issues besides fish8 and me, please let me know, I'd like to hear from you
Incidentally, the P/S pump and all the lines had been replaced previously under warranty due to grinding, shuddering, etc. The P/S pump failed at around 28K. All I can say is I have a :lemon:
I took the van on Wednesday for them to drive it and give me an estimate. It needs a transmission and the guy said we can't just do patchwork again because the same thing will happen all over again (transmission started acting up only 23,000 miles after the first work was done). This isn't the same shop the original work was done at and this guy has been completely straightforward about everything.
So today he calls and says he has the estimate and it is only $1442.46. Now I'm wondering if this is too cheap for a rebuilt transmission. I have the list he gave me and here is everything. Please tell me what exactly they are doing if you know. I want this transmission to last longer then 23,00 miles. Thanks.
604 Master Overhaul Kit
604 Up date kit
Torque Converter
Fluid
Overhaul 604 trans axle and
replace torque converter. One year
or 12,000 mile warranty
I am so clueless about all this transmission stuff. I also got an estimate from the dealership for $2613.18.
1) Are the new kits and components that are being bought from the factory (i.e. MOPAR) or are they sourced through a third party? I ask because I've heard that non-MOPAR units are quite inferior.
2) I've heard that fairly specialized equipment is required to properly set one of these units up. What equipment does your shop have?
3) Does this rebuild bring the transmission up to the latest engineering build (i.e. model year 2000)? That coincidentally is the first and only year/build level that exists which allows our transmissions to safely run on ATF+4 (as opposed to the now apparently extinct ATF+3).
4) What price warranty? 12 month/12,000 mile for $1,442 (i.e. $0.12 per mile) or 36 month/36,000 mile for $2,613 (i.e. $0.0726 per mile). Said another way, is the extra $1,171 worth it to you for three times the warranty?
Best Regards,
Shipo
To put it another way, "overhaul" restores function, "rebuild" restores newness and function.
It depends on the wheels (steel or alloy)
On my 97 T&C the required torque is 100lb-ft on the alloy wheels (I read that once somewhere, and it is an easy figure to remember).It is important to gradually torque them down. The pattern on 5 bolt wheels is 1,3,5,2,4and then #1 etc. again. For steel wheels the torque is lower, but I don't know by how much.
It is convenient to have a Johnson bar in the vehicle in case of emergency, because the nuts can be very tight, and should be!
Willem
They do their job nicely but have no idea how long they will last. Price being the same (?) I think my preference would be Wagner.
Willem
It makes the sound go away for a few weeks or a few months.
Available at automotive parts supply stores
Willem