Four problems related to front suspension strut have been reported for the 1997 Dodge Caravan. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
The strut tower on the 1997 Dodge Caravan, that has only 85,500 miles rusted and needed to be replaced. After researching this problem I discovered that this was a common problem. Dodge admitted to a design flaw for the premature rusting strut towers. A tech service bulletin from Chrysler dated October '02 explicitly stated that all '1996 to 19'99 Chrysler vans Plymouth, Dodge, and Chrysler, had the problem with the strut towers. All of them will eventually rust from the bottom up. As I stated, the strut towers were defective in there design. Chrysler has a warranty part number 05086513aa but refuses to fix a known dangerous defect, because the van is over the 7 year, 100,000 mile, which ever comes first warranty. This is outrageous, especially since this van has been taken to the Dodge dealer for almost all maintenance needs and yearly state of maine safety inspections, and this issue was never mentioned. Clearly, when the rusted strut tower gives, the strut will come up through the hood. At that point, lives will be in danger, as the probability of losing control of the vehicle is inevitable. Please consider this my formal complaint. Will Chrysler live up to the responsibility and repair this know defect for those of us out of the warranty timeline.
: the contact stated during a state inspection the dealership noticed corrosion on the front driver side strut tower. The vehicle was taken to a different dealer, which determined the strut tower needs to be replaced. The dealer is awaiting the replacement part.
This is related to complaint 10090457. My 1997 Dodge Caravan has excessive rust at the top of the driver-side strut cap. Large chips of rusted metal can easily be removed with a screw driver. I would like to know if there is a risk in continuing to drive the vehicle. I bought the vehicle new in late 1996, and have kept it in minnesota since. The rest of the body has evidence of early rust that, in a couple years, will be ugly, but looks ok now and is typical for an 8-yr old car in minnesota. Chrysler has issued a service bulletin, which describes the problem as cosmetic, but they have also provided a repair kit. The kit uses epoxy to glue on a replacement cap, so that suggests the problem really is cosmetic. However, I have not been able to have it fixed because the body-shop manager at the dealership said the kit is out of stock. Is it safe?.
Strut towers rusted thru great looking van on out side I have seen more of these . The local weldig shop does these jobs vrey often for 1200 bucks!.