Engine And Engine Cooling Problems of Chrysler Pacifica - part 1

The engine failed at 104,000 miles despite proper maintenance. The vehicle is used by my wife and three children, and the engine unexpectedly experienced a head gasket failure while on the highway, with no prior warning except for a known issue acknowledged by Chrysler. I am now faced with the costly repair of replacing the engine. As a family relying on this vehicle for daily needs, including school and work commitments, I am disappointed that such issues persist in this model despite widespread reports of similar problems.

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The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at a slow speed, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal, and the vehicle stalled. Additionally, the steering wheel seized. The message “no letter d” or “p for park”, was displayed and flashing on the instrument panel. The contact was able to coast to the side of the road. After several minutes, the contact was able to restart the vehicle to continue driving. The contact stated that the failure persisted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to the nhsta hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 128,000.

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I have written about repeated issues with auto start/stop on this vehicle. Prior dealers have not been able to isolate the problem. Some of the problems seem to mimic a much earlier issue that went to court but did not happen during the timeframe of the class action suit. The prior submission to NHTSA was with this tracking number: 11681967 . I am now submitting repair information that aligns with my complaint of the auto/start stop on this vehicle. I am submitting this because it helps to support my earlier submission. Thank you.

I do all routine maintenance on my car and do my standard oil changes on time. I only have 80k miles on my car and may now have a head gasket issue. I have seen many online posts that there are many users that have experienced this issue and some looking to possibly do a class action law suit. Has this issue been looked into as a potential recall? when speaking with the dealership I advised that my check engine light had come on and I took it to my local repair shop and the code indicated it was either a coil or spark plug that needed to be replaced. My repair shop checked and it was the spark plug that needed replacing. The car was fine for 2 weeks then the engine light came on again. When speaking with the dealership they said that yes the code will usually first present as a coil or spark plug and the engine light stops blinking since it assigned a code. So that is why my engine light went off but now came back on. I am not sure why this should not be addressed by the manufacturer if so many people are having this issue with a head gasket issue with such low mileage. This repair is going to cost 1k-4k to fix which is ridiculous in an engine that is maintained and has only 80k miles.

Blown head gasket (cylinder 3 misfire) after having 2018 Chrysler Pacifica touring l serviced at Chrysler dealership, technicians found small leak coming from oil/coolant filter housing unit. Part was replaced and few days later vehicle had a misfire and had flashing check engine light (cel). Car was towed to dealership, technicians said code seen was p0303 (cylinder 3 misfire). Tech, replaced ignition coil for cylinder 3 and cleared codes. Two days later on start up, p0303 (cylinder 3 misfire) came back with cel. Tech cleared codes and could not re-create cel again. Two days later p0303 came back. Technicians performed more diagnostics and confirmed blown head gasket. This seems to be a very prominent issue with 2017-2018 Pacificas, more notably cylinders 1, 3, & 5. The catalytic converter sits above the firewall cylinder bank and possibly is causing this possible engine failure due to excessive heat and poor heat dissipation capability over time. If not caught quickly, coolant can leak into cylinder affected and then overheat engine causing irreversible damage. This situation can also create a very hazardous situation if driving into speeding traffic from a turn and engine misfires, my vehicle could be rear ended if acceleration does not happen quickly enough.

While driving in the carpool lane on the freeway, the vehicle displayed “stop safely. Vehicle will shut off soon” and lost all power. I am pregnant and had four children (ages [xxx] , [xxx] , [xxx] , and [xxx] ) in the vehicle. The outside temperature was over 100°f, and we were two hours from home. The car was completely disabled in heavy traffic, creating an extreme safety risk for my family. After waiting about 15–20 minutes, the vehicle restarted and we were able to continue. A code scan showed p0a78 – drive motor “a” inverter performance. This is a serious safety concern, and I am requesting immediate inspection and repair under warranty. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

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Number of days your vehicle is down: indefinitely as of now there is no fix according to the dealership parts are at least 10 weeks out with them not knowing how to do the install once parts arrive number of repair attempts: there is no fix as of now but the vehicle has broken down 4 times parts for the transmission are on back order (at least ten weeks) and they do not know how to install the parts once they arrive first repair attempt date and problem: June 10, 2025 the van showed a message saying pull over as the vehicle will stop while we were on the highway heading to my daughters graduation. Initially. We were able to pull over that time and stop driving before the car turned off. We took the vehicle in and they inspected it for the recall. Most recently, the vehicle did it again on the highway. I was not being able to pull all the way over prior to the vehicle, losing power and stopping in the middle of the highway with my children inside. Voice of the customer / complaint: as of now there is no timetable for us to be able to return driving the vehicle which is extremely unsafe. We purposely got a seven passenger van to transport our entire family, and at this point we have no way to do. So. The dealership says they are unable to give us a loaner for that, and we are getting no assistance with this with no timetable. As far as when the vehicle will be fixed. Therefore, I’m requesting a buyback of the vehicle so that we can get something to transport our family as the vehicle is down. I am still having to pay for the car note without having anything to show for it. I cannot drive it as I don’t know when it will shut off. It is currently sitting at the dealer.

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After the latest 73b recall, the engine light sporadically turn on. In one occasion, while cruising at low speed ~25mph in the electric mode, the vehicle switched to gas engine mode even there was 16 electric miles on the battery. This issue was not there prior to the recall. Need investigation on the software reliability and the underlying battery issue.

While driving my vehicle soon after purchase I notice an engine light on along with a huge fan noise from under the hood. Addressed the issue with dealer they diagnosed the car and so called fixed the issue. About a month ago I’m driving the car on a residential street and noticed the car jerking loud fan noise and the whole dashboard light up saying service hybrid service engine and transmission. . Suddenly the engine stops in moving traffic. The vehicle windshield wipers cut on by themselves and the car stayed in park. . Tow the vehicle to the dealer using only a dolly tow truck due to vehicle unable to be placed in neutral. Dealer calls to give update and noted no codes were stored and there is currently no issue with vehicle. . He suggested to keep the vehicle longer to see if the problem returns. I’m afraid the electrical issue that is going on with this hybrid will cost me and my children life one day. This vehicle is not safe to drive and I am stuck in a purchase contract.

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When driving on local road or freeways, car stops in middle of running state with check engine light on and with a message displayed on cluster as ‘ stop safely, vehicle will shut off soon’.

I was driving and all of a sudden I got a warning to stop that the engine was going to shut off. I got off to the side of the road and it shut down. I had it towed to the garage. The next day they ran tests. The batteries were both new and they tested fine. Alternator tested fine. Since then it’s happened two more times and the dealer is telling me that all the tests are fine. That Chrysler won’t help me because they can’t prove anything is wrong. Even with the pictures of all the codes and alerts. I don’t feel safe driving my kids in this van at all now. But nobody will help me.

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I would like to bring up a serious safety issue with this vehicle (2024 Chrysler Pacifica select phev) with 6997 miles on the odometer. As I was driving, at approximately 11:15am, I received a message on the dashboard that read, “stop safely!! vehicle will shut off in < 2 minutes”. For my own safety as well as other drivers on the road, I tried maneuvering the vehicle to the side of the road, however the vehicle shut off within 15-30 seconds. The vehicle did not move at all. The serious safety concern I have is “what if the vehicle had stopped running on the major highways full of traffic”? please note, this is also a well-known issue starting from the 2021 Chrysler Pacifica models. Additionally, a similar incident occurred to another similar make model in sept. 2024 with VIN # [xxx] . It seemed like, when I received the message, the vehicle's computer system interlocks fuel supply and chokes up the brakes to the wheels so the vehicle is completed locked up in one position and it does not do rolling stop to safely pull over to the side of the road. This is very dangerous because if a semi-truck with 80,000 lbs. Load is coming behind you, you will not be able to move your vehicle to the side. This can potentially kill all the occupants in the vehicle. This vehicle has been towed to the dealer to troubleshoot/resolve the issue. Thank you so much in advance for looking into this issue urgently. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

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Blown head gasket.

On 8/12/2025, he vehicle displayed a warning that said "stop safely, vehicle will shut off soon" shortly after it was parked. It also displayed a red turtle and the check engine light. There was no warning or check engine light prior to the message that the vehicle was going to shut off. Fortunately, we had already parked safely, but were on the freeway traveling and about an hour away from home. It was 100 degrees outside, and we were stranded with no help from Chrysler customer care other than to tow the vehicle, leaving our kids and dog in a parking lot with no car. We declined this option and had it checked by a diagnostic computer at jiffy lube, which returned no diagnostic code. Eventually, all of the warnings and check engine lights went off, and we were able to take it home. We took it to the dealership at the earliest opportunity on 08/14, and they confirmed that this is a known issue and would require a transmission replacement. There is no timeline on the repair or replacement, only that it will take "a while". They do not advise that we take the van back because the issue could come nback at any moment and the vehicle could shut off without warning.

While slowing to a stop at a traffic light, the engine stalled unexpectedly. The start/stop system did not restart the engine when I released the brake pedal. Accessories (radio, lights, etc. ) remained powered, but I could not shift the vehicle into neutral. After approximately 20 minutes, I was able to restart the engine; however, the transmission remained unresponsive and the engine could not be shut off using the ignition button. I was unable to shift to neutral or turn the steering wheel. Message on dash indicated shifter module required service, and indicated that the vehicle was not in park when attempting to turn off vehicle. The vehicle was only turned off by disconnecting the 12-volt battery. The vehicle was towed to a Chrysler dealership and diagnostics completed, showing error codes with the shift module. They were unable to recreate the problem and advised replacing the shift module. When inquiring about recall v53, the dealership service department indicated that this recall had been repaired on the vehicle in 2020. These symptoms match those described in Chrysler recall v53 (NHTSA campaign 19v-348) for 2017–2019 Chrysler Pacifica vehicles equipped with start/stop systems, which involves a loose battery ground connection. My VIN is not currently listed in the recall as it was reportedly corrected in 2020, but the issue created a hazardous situation by stalling in traffic, disabling shifting, and preventing engine shutdown. This could have resulted in a crash if traffic conditions were different. Please investigate whether additional 2018 Chrysler Pacifica vehicles not currently included in recall v53 should be covered or if this is a recurring safety issue with the engine start-stop (ess) on 2017-2019 Chrysler Pacifica vehicles.

After not driving the car for a full day or so, when I drive down my street about 1/4 of a mile to a stop sign and stop the vehicle will not accelerate from the stop. I press on the gas but the car goes around 5 mph for the next 50-100 feet or so and will not accelerate before finally kicking in and accelerating normally. This has happened over 20 times since purchasing the vehicle as new in late March of 2025.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while his wife was attempting to park the vehicle with the brake pedal depressed, the engine unexpectedly began to rev. The vehicle then accelerated inadvertently, resulting in a collision with a pole in front of the parking space. There was no damage to the pole. The air bags did not deploy. The vehicle was towed to a collision center, and the insurance company declared it a total loss. No police report was filed. No injuries were sustained. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 76,000. The VIN was not available.

The contact owns a 2006 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle turned off independently but was able to be restarted. Additionally, the vehicle was difficult to start. The vehicle was taken to an independent shop, where the pcm was reprogrammed and an unknown fuel injector repair was performed; however, the failure recurred. The contact stated that while at a complete stop, the vehicle shut off independently but was able to be restarted. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that upon taking the vehicle to the dealer for the recall repair of NHTSA campaign number: 06v432000 (power train), the dealer informed the contact that the equipment and parts to do the recall repair were not available after the vehicle had remained at the dealer for two days. The contact stated that several other dealers were contacted and provided the same information. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 94,791.

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My 2022 Chrysler Pacifica hybrid periodically has a sudden shutdown warning identical to vehicles in recall 23v-010 (157), where the engine simply shuts down and a message shows to park safely (it happened to me a bunch of times on a highway and I was lucky enough to have room on the road shoulder. My VIN isn’t listed in the recall 157 that seems to take care of this issue, but the symptoms match exactly. I need this investigated for safety and repaired under warranty or recall.

Check engine light came on the day after the automatic start/stop light came on. Engine code read cylinder 4 misfire. We switched all the spark plugs and changed the cylinder 4. A couple days later check engine light came back on brought the vechile into bergstrum. They put in a name brand cylinder 4 plug and spark plug, 2 weeks later the light came back on, same exact issue. They are now claiming it’s an engine issue potentially. Sounds like this is a big problem for 2018 Chrysler Pacificas.

This vehicle experience is intermittent installing or fails to restart after the engine shut down I verified there are currently no open recalls and I believe this may be related to a known pcm or emissions related issue.

The car shut down and a turtle appeared on the screen on the middle of the highway.

On August 2, while traveling about 75 mph, the check engine light came on along with the warning "stop safely – vehicle will shut off soon". The vehicle started immediately losing power. We were driving in the fast lane in traffic so pulling over was difficult and dangerous. After we were to the side of the road, we turned the van off. After 10 minutes or so, we continued on and pulled over at a rest stop. We have an obd2 and checked the codes. At first, there were no codes even though the check engine light was on. After checking a few times, there were 2 codes. They were p1c65 pd and p0a43. I took the van into the dealership on August 4. They saw one of the codes saved. On August 7 the dealership preformed a software update. They were not able to reproduce the issue. Today, September 19, while driving, the check engine light came on with the warning "stop safely – vehicle will shut off soon". The vehicle again started immediately losing power. This time it happened when traveling about 45 mph.

Auto start/stop alarm displays in dash. Have taken it to two different dealerships and they say they can find no problem. They car hesitates when stepping on the gas. There have been incidences when the car stalls all together. We have now noticed that the issue is more prominent when the weather temperature is hot like over 90 degrees but especially if the temperature is over 100 degrees. Also just recently within past few weeks the car will stall but keeps going though you cannot accelerate, however, you do not lose steering ability. You have to pull off the road and shut the car down and restart it and then all components work properly. Again this is happening when weather temperatures run high. This has been an issue last year as well. I called Chrysler and got a star case # 91330213 but then we stopped having the problem. Most likely because it got cooler but we are having issues again this year now. What is interesting is that the dealerships say they cannot find any code being set off because at times the auto start/stop alarm will reset and then they say they do not see an issue. Yet we know there has been an issue & continues to be an issue.

My wife was driving our 2022 chrylser Pacifica when it died in the middle of an intersection in downtown austin. She was in the turning lane waiting for the light to change when the auto stop/start feature activated. As the light turned green and she went to proceed, the car started up and then cut back off while simultaneously placing itself in park and all of the lights on the dash began blinking and messages stating "service shifter", "service parking brake", "service brakes" etc started popping up on the dash. She tried to restart the car and nothing happened and the emergency flashers would only work intermittently before shutting off and randomly coming back on for a few seconds minutes later. Eventually a police officer pulled up behind her to block traffic while she and they tried to get the car started. When I arrived, I was able to jump the car and get it out of the road and to a nearby parts store to check the batteries. Oreillys and advanced auto confirmed that the alternator, batteries and starter were good based on their diagnostic scanners. She was able to drive it to san antonio and back the next day with no issues, but that night, when we went to dinner and stopped for gas, it did it again while in the fuel line although I was able to restart the car this time but now displays "stop/start unavailable, service stop/start". After the second event, went back to oreillys and had it scanned, there were no primary diagnostic trouble codes, but 8 stored additional abs trouble codes relating to low voltage, and electronic failures across multiple systems. This all came after having the oil changed and a safety inspection performed on 23 July in which everything passed, but they recommended a coolant and brake fluid flush. Concerned about this happening in congestion on a highway or somewhere with limited options for recovery.

When driving our van from nashville to memphis, we were 2 hours from home when we received an on screen alert stating “stop safely - vehicle will shut off soon”. This was in a construction area with little to no shoulders to pull the vehicle over as power loss began to occur. We contacted Chrysler for help but the nearest dealership told us the earliest they could see the vehicle was 3 weeks from Tuesday. I had 3 children in the car ages [xxx}. A web search for this shows how prevalent this issue is with several blogs and reddit forums indicating a problem. The NHTSA even has an open investigation into this specific issue. Apparently the only fix is a full transmission replacement, but we have no assurance from Chrysler that will happen and now our van is left 3 hours away in memphis as we had no choice but to leave there. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. . Read more...

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at slow speeds, the vehicle stalled with the message "service now” flashing on the instrument panel. After waiting for approximately 15-30 minutes, the vehicle was restarted and resumed normal operation. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, and it was discovered that the oil filter adapter was cracked, contributing to the failure. Upon investigation, the contact linked the failure to NHTSA campaign number: 18v049000 (electrical system, engine and engine cooling). The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 90,000.

Driving on the highway, all of a sudden, my car dashboard shows a message that " vehicle will shut off soon" and the accelerator does not work. It was horrifying; there is no median to pull the vehicle out.

While traveling on an interstate highway at highway speed (65-70 mph), a red turtle warning light came on with the message "pull over safely; vehicle will shut off soon. " almost immediately, we lost all power and glided into the right-hand shoulder. We narrowly missed being rear-ended. We got it to a local dealer, where the service department informed us we need a new transmission. The car has less than 13,000 miles on it.

Head gasket failure at a 107,000 miles.

While stopped in traffic, the car started shifting from drive to neutral and parking, the lights of the shifting wheel started blinking, and it was not possible to turn off the engine. After ~20 minutes, it stopped doing that and I was able to turn it off. 10 minutes later I started the engine and I was able to drive home but the steering wheel was very hard to move and the check engine light and there was a message in the cluster to take the power steering assist and the electronic stability control system to service, but while stopped in the driveway with the engine on, it did exactly the same and I wasn't able to power off the engine. I wasn't able to start the engine again after that, the lights of the shifting whell kept blinking. I took the car to an independent mechanic and he was able to start the engine, but power steering is so hard to move.

The check engine would blink and the engine would shutter for a few minutes when the van would start. It would drive around normal. A few days later the van would not start at all. We checked both batteries and they were not the issue. We then towed the van to a Chrysler dealer who checked the starter and alternator, those were both good. They stated the engine was seized and quoted $15,000 for a new motor. . The van has 120,000 miles on it. The van is worth less than the quote we received.

On 04/26/25 while traveling on the interstate the car issued a warning engine light and turtle image to pull off the road as the car would shut off, immediately it had no power, maybe could only go 30 mph. Took the car in on 5/10 which was the earliest appt. Said they did a software update, gave the car back. Took the car again on 6/4 when the same warning appeared again on the interstate, same situation disabled vehicle at high speeds on the interstate and no power. Said they changed a module related to the error and gave me the car back. Yesterday as I was driving on I-95 70 mph the car gave the same warning and shut off again, immediately I had no power, 30 mph. The dealer acknowledged my car is not the only one in his shop with this issue. They had my vehicle for nearly a month the time before. This vehicle is not safe to drive on the highways as it can shut off at any time. It's a known problem by Chrysler and their idea of fixing it, is issuing a warning which gives you almost no time to get off the highway before your speed is greatly reduced and even then you're stuck on the side of the highway with cars speeding by in an area with no shoulder or construction zone you'd be stuck in the middle of the road. Someone will wind up dead on the highway, I am lucky that in the 3 times this has happened I have not been hit and have been able to safely get to the shoulder, but I don't see Chrysler being able to fix this issue, the dealership did reach out to the manufacturer each time. I know my car is not the only one that has this issue and I'm concerned for the safety of anyone who owns one of these. A simple google search of this vehicle will show the problem is wide spread.

While driving light came on that car was hot. Immediately pulled over and had the van towed. Was told the head gasket was blown which damaged the engine. Engine now needs to be replaced. Cheapest estimate has been $9,000 at a dealership, van isn’t even paid off yet. My 5 children were in the car when this happened I was afraid the vehicle was going to stop in the middle of the rd. No other warnings or anything. Also when we first purchased van was idle and then go silent like it’s supposed to we have noticed it doesn’t even get quiet anymore. Very disappointed family of 7 with no way to have our van repaired.

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On [xxx], I was driving uphill on the interstate at around 70 mph on gas power (hybrid battery was discharged) and warning came up "stop safely vehicle will shut down soon" and lost power (limp mode). I was able to move safely to the shoulder, but with 5 passengers (3 young kids) and a dog and a full load of camping gear it was a bit nervewracking. Could not get the car started again (stayed in limp mode) and used an obdii scanner I had which popped up error code (p0a43 - "intermittent issue with the drive motor "a" position sensor"). The vehicle was towed to the dealer ( 4 hours from home) and after a few days they said the vehicle was fixed and I pushed for them to test drive it on the interstate. Was returned with this comment: " found codes for drive motor "a" position sensor circuit intermittent and hybrid battery pack state of charge low. Checked trans plug and wiring verified operating correctly. Found that resolver needs to have relearn preformed. Preformed relearn on resolver and charged hybrid battery. Test drove vehicle on interstate and verified that issue did not return. Vehicle operating as designed. " I received a notice of an unlimited mile/year warranty on the transmission for this car, and from what I read on the internet, this is a recurrent issue with a known cause. We were able to get off the road safely in this case, but it is nerve-wracking to drive, especially with my family, in the current state. This is related to an open NHTSA investigation: [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).