general problems of the 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan

Car suddenly lost power while driving on the freeway at 60mph; engine remained on. I pulled over, turned off the car, and it started back up again and drove fine for about 2 miles. �service engine soon� light came on. When it lost power again, I slowed and then tried to reaccelerate, and it drove fine for about 5 miles, enough to get me off the freeway and to a safe location. I checked the oil and transmission levels, which were ok, and there was nothing leaking under the car. Went to an appointment, and came back to the car, which started up and drove ok for about a half mile, then it shut down completely at a traffic light. This time it wouldn't start back up again, so I pushed it onto a side street, where it started up fine and drove to the nearest gas/repair station. Now, the van won't start again. Van was proceeding straight in all situations.

Part 1 1/2 the gas line decaying and the suspension strut mounts rusting away, both of these are deadly, a rusty/corroded break line will just leak a drop at the time, most people just refill the fluid reservoir and never think about again, eventually the break line fails all at once, this is because you actually put more pressure on the lines than usual and the weak spot ruptures like a weak spot in a balloon would. That means that you were in a bad situation already and now you don't have any breaking power at all. What do you think happens next??? all break lines are stainless steal so as to resist rust and corrosion, the only reason a break line fails in this little amount of time is because the manufacture is producing an inferior product and should have already been made to correct the problem. Now,, the strut mounts, as soon as the company found out that they had a problem with the mounts rusting they should have recalled the vehicles and sprayed $10 worth of undercoating over the parts after removing the rust to stop any more rust from forming. If the strut mount is rusted enough, it can fail at any time "usually when at higher speeds and you hit a bump in the road,, that sends an extra amount of force to the suspension. The strut comes up through the hood and the wheel may go any way and hit any part of the wheel well and suspension the axle may come out of the wheel or transmission , all of that means you may have total lose of breaks and or steering. All 3 of these problems could have easily and should have been corrected when first realized many years ago, instead they kept right on manufacturing vehicles the same way with the same imperfections and if you go to a dealer today with either of these problems they will say it is the first time they have herd of it, it out of warranty, etc. And will not even think about fixing it unless we pay.

Part 1. . . . I used to be a mechanic and tow truck operator. My Mini van "like most others" is usually driven by a female & with a load of children. If driving in rain or through a water puddle the belt jumps off causing loss of power steering overheating battery drain etc, is a dangerous even deadly problem, if a turn is needed at the time this belt jumps off, even a strong healthy man can leave the line of intended travel and hit what ever is in the way, a curb, a pedestrian or even cause a head on collision. This mostly happens during rainy/nasty days & because of the complexity of replacing the belt, and the damage that is caused when it comes off, the vehicle usually requires a tow 4 repair. It is stated that, when a consumer makes a complaint & if the same complaint is repeated an investigation will be started. This is an old problem with many, many, many complaints yet, I see "no action, not even an investigation into this problem", why?? consumers are depending on you "safecar. Gov, NHTSA" etc. What will it take, "a death" to start an investigation? or, should I say, how many??? I know there has been accidents because of this, and a lot of damage just from the belt as it jumps off and goes flopping around, not to mention the people that burned up their motor even started a fire trying to get home, to a shop etc. This problem has been a plague since day one and should have been at least fixed on the next years model but Chrysler just ignored it. Their have been many vehicles with these serpentine belts,, Chrysler vans is the only ones that I know of with this particular problem. This is a deadly problem that should be repaired by the Chrysler corporation since they knew about the problem from the start and just flat out ignored it. The gas line decaying and suspension strut mounts rusting away on these same models will be my next post.

Car has faulty gas gauge and despite how much gas I put in, will toggle between having gas to empty and sits on empty, has run out of gas as a result, hard to start and now will not start. Also has many electrical quirks, turn headlights on inboard dash light goes off and vice versa. Had someone fix fan to go on when plugged into battery since cannot get into computer dashboard and internal heat fan stopped working, also indicators work sporatically (so evidently an electrical communications issue). I've read that this year has had recalls due to faulty fuel hoses/lines and when using after market fuel filters even from napa which will cause fuel lines to become faulty. My van falls within this year, but I was told my specific VIN # didn't apply. Van is 3. 3 liter engine, v6.

On March 3rd, of 2005, while returning home from an outing with my four children, I noticed that the power steering went out in our 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan as I was pulling into my driveway. Within moments after getting the kids out of the vehicle, the front of our minivan was fully engulfed in flames. Before the fire was extinguished by the local fire department, the entire engine compartment, along with the windshield and hood was destroyed and the vehicle is now a complete loss. Since we did not carry comprehensive insurance on this vehicle due to its age, I contacted daimler-Chrysler to make a claim for damages, which came to just around $5,300. Daimler-Chrysler sent an independent inspector to our residence to investigate the incident. The results were turned over to their claim board and we were advised on 3-18-05 that their company refused to accept responsibility for the fire that not only destroyed our vehicle but could have easily caused injury or death to myself or our four children. It is my understanding from the national highway traffic safety administration website that there has been numerous fire-related recalls on the 1997 Dodge minivans. Specifically, an article showed that a recall existed on this type of vehicle after several deaths were reported as a result of fuel rail and o-ring defects (daimler Chrysler recall #895). At no time since our purchase of this vehicle, was there any notification concerning safety recalls and after specifically asking a Dodge dealership, I was told that there was not. After receiving the denial letter from daimler-Chrysler, I spoke with a representative from their claims resolution group, who would not give me a reason why the claim was denied and refused to send me a copy of their investigator's report.