2008 Dodge Grand Caravan: What the (squeak)?

When I bought my first and last domestic car, a 2003 Dodge Intrepid, I defended my decision to try a domestic car to my import-biased friends and coworkers. I was happy and never had a major issue with the car for 96,000 miles, not even a squeak or rattle. I changed the oil every 3,000 miles with Mobil 1 synthetic only. Then, out of nowhere, the engine blew up. No more domestics for me!

Maybe you guys should just take it to the dealer, get it detailed, and then file a warranty claim? This is just embarrassing, considering it's not even a year old.

I curious to drive one now. I was driving a 2001 Caravan this morning and not a squeak.

Could a new one really be worse then a 7 year old one?

mbtech208

just curious but what went on the engine and which engine was it?

It was the 3.5-liter High Output V6, and it spun a connecting rod bearing. I had heard all the horror stories about the 2.7-liter engine, so I avoided it and went with the 3.5, which I heard nothing bad about. Guess I couldn't win either way.

It's funny (sad) how mbtech208 has an isolated problem with a Dodge and then uses that to discredit Ford and GM. Let's take a closer look...

Daimler owned Dodge five years before your car was made. Maybe you should write off European cars rather than domestics.

I had a friend with the same experience with a Nissan. Does that mean all Japanese cars suck?

Yes.

Scott must have been dating his g/f for quite sometime if he took her to dinner in the minivan.
It's either that or his roommate was home for the evening...

What's sad is my generation of Intrepid was introduced in the 1998 model year, the same year as the Daimler-Chrysler merger, meaning my car was designed when Chrysler was a standalone company.

Even sadder is that I bought the car for $24,000 brand-new, maintained it meticulously, and less than 5 years later, it was a $1500 lump with a knocking engine that the dealer wanted $7000 to replace.

It's a little depressing that your Caravan is falling apart. Our '01 Town & Country was really good to us, and certainly didn't suffer from more than 1 annoying rattle from the tailgate.

It's disappointing to me to see how far the Caravan has fallen. My dad has a 2001 Grand Caravan that he uses to haul around his giant-scale RC model airplanes, and over the past eight years (It was purchased in 2000), it's been our family's most dependable car. It's not glamourous, but it's done over 100k miles without a hitch.

"Even sadder is that I bought the car for $24,000 brand-new, maintained it meticulously, and less than 5 years later, it was a $1500 lump with a knocking engine that the dealer wanted $7000 to replace. "

Hard to say why a bearing would go but sometimes stuff happens no matter what the make. Since I've never heard of problems with the 3.5 (or 3.2) I would have found a used engine for about $1000 and dropped that in. $7000 is absurd for that job.

I honestly think that you guys got a lemon. In the 6 months that we owned a 2008 GC it didn't develope a rattle or mechanical issue and the back bumper never warped (although I do see Chrysler vans all over with the warped back bumper). There is no getting around the cheap interior, but the shear number of other issues just strikes me as suspect.

Is it just me, or does this Caravan already look old and outdated? I think the Caravan reached its high-water mark with the '96-'00 models. In my opinion, the '99-'00 Grand Caravan Sport or ES with the rear spoiler and 5-spoke wheels was the best-looking minivan, ever. It still looks good to this day. The new Caravan looks like yesterday's news. Makes you wonder what VW is thinking by using this as its new minivan. The Routan will probably rank right up there with the Phaeton as one of their biggest mistakes.

"Makes you wonder what VW is thinking by using this as its new minivan. The Routan will probably rank right up there with the Phaeton as one of their biggest mistakes."

I actually looked at the "new" VW van this weekend at my local Honda/BMW/VW dealer and I was NOT at all impressed. VW simply implemented their signature front/rear styling and upgraded the instrument cluster and a few other small details. Its actually extremely easy to spot the VW materials vs the Chrysler materials as they clash so much, its almost embarrassing.

VW didn't mask the cheapness of this van (inside or out) as its evident upon the initial walk around. It doesn't have that VW level of perceived quality, substance or execution. VW should have developed their own van as this van is as German as I am. VW is actually marketing this van as "the only minivan with German engineering". I guess thats slightly true due to Chrysler's former partnership with MB but it doesn't have that Germanic substance/execution that makes a German vehicle feel Germanic.

Ill keep my 05 Odyssey Touring and probably buy the all new version when it debuts in 2010.

I don't think the looks are dated. It's probably the best looking one they've had so far.

As for 3.5 V6 failures, etc. I'm sure everybody can find horror stories about cars from every continent falling apart. That same basic 3.5 V6 has been around since before Daimler bought Chrysler btw.

"mbtech208 on October 8, 2008 11:38 AM
I was happy and never had a major issue with the car for 96,000 miles, not even a squeak or rattle. I changed the oil every 3,000 miles with Mobil 1 synthetic only. Then, out of nowhere, the engine blew up. No more domestics for me!"

My old boss had a 2004 Lexus SC430 whose engine blew up at 23,000 miles out of nowhere. Yet he didn't say "no more Japanese cars for me!" Instead, he praises the reliability and quality of his Lexus'. I laugh.

"My old boss had a 2004 Lexus SC430 whose engine blew up at 23,000 miles out of nowhere. Yet he didn't say "no more Japanese cars for me!" Instead, he praises the reliability and quality of his Lexus'. I laugh."

I guess if you take examples like these super seriously (I'm certainly not suggesting it didn't happen) and use that one car as a representation of the entire brand there would be no such thing as a reliable nameplate. Every manufacturer regardless of country of origin has had engine, drive train, electrical or some sort of failure/defect/quality issues at some time.

In my eyes if the issues are consistent and the brand continues to give you the same crap over a long period of time and doesn't acknowledge it I'm pretty much going to spend my money elsewhere. If the brand has an issue, acknowledges it and takes care of the customer I'm more likely to be a repeat customer.

"Hard to say why a bearing would go but sometimes stuff happens no matter what the make. Since I've never heard of problems with the 3.5 (or 3.2) I would have found a used engine for about $1000 and dropped that in. $7000 is absurd for that job."

The same thing happened to my '98 ES with the 3.2, though it was closer to 135K and I didn't use synthetic oil, though I changed it about every 5K miles, mostly highway ones. I was also quoted $7K by the local dealer for a rebuilt engine. And forget about a $1K used one. It was more like $2K because of the demand for the 3.2/3.5 to replace blown 2.7's in other LH's. Looks like prices have come down somewhat now, though might be because fewer low mileage ones around. The problem was far from the only one I had and while this wasn't my first Chrysler product, it was my last, partly because the company refuses to offer any relief for 2.7 owners, blaming the problem on even the most vigilant of owners with neglect.

It doesn't matter to me if it's a Dodge, Lexus, or a Ferrari -- if I buy a car with my hard-earned money and it suffers a catastrophic engine failure due in no part to me, and the manufacturer refuses to help me out, I'm not buying another car from said manufacturer. I'm loyal to NO car brand. I've never even owned two cars from the same maker.

wow... it's a good thing there are so many automakers. Pretty soon you'll be out of an automaker to buy a car from. Either that or keep your car till it dies a horrible death and then resort to walking.

Back to the Caravan issues. I do wonder if you have a lemonish vehicle? This just seems odd to have SO many issues, even if it is a Chrysler product. Although a buddy of mine does have a new Grand Cherokee and it's been in the shop numerous times as well. It's flat monotone gray, hard plastic interior doesn't do it any favors either. He tells me if it weren't a company rig he would never consider it.

mbtech208: "the manufacturer refuses to help me out, I'm not buying another car from said manufacturer"

Understood, but why did you write off Ford and GM when your problem was with Dodge?

Because other than the Pontiac G8, neither GM nor Ford make any vehicles I would seriously consider owning. Oh, I've rented plenty of new GM and Ford cars. The Five Hundred was nice, the Cobalt really impressed me, but there are better overall cars in each of their segments. Plus I prefer to have a bit of resale value left over when I want to sell it, of which the Big Three are still lacking.

When I was a wee lad, my family had an '86 Dodge Caravan. When I was a not-so-wee lad 10 years later, we still had that '86 Dodge Caravan. The thing just refused to break down. It was still running happily 200K miles later when we sold it. Then dad bought his midlife crisis-mobile, a red hot '86 Alfa Romeo Veloce Spider. I don't remember much about the Caravan after that...

I hate these new VW commercials about women getting knocked up because of "german engineering". WTF??? How is GC wrapped in VW sheetmetal german engineering?