14th Jan 2003, 03:36
There has to be a remedy for the intermittent belt slippage in wet weather. It is faulty design and should be addressed by the manufacturer. My 1998 Dodge Caravan has had it happen 4 times. The new Caravans supposedly have been improved upon concerning this problem. Living in Seattle, I cannot afford to drive my car in dry weather only. What is the answer? I have a new belt and a new tensioner.
13th Apr 2003, 06:30
I purchased a used 1997 Dodge Caravan, February 12, 2003 with 57,000 miles. I'm having problems with the belt, which have been placed twice. I like my van, it's roomy, fits my budget.
4th Jul 2003, 13:10
My 1997 Dodge Caravan is a lemon. I had 3 serpentine belts replaced in one year. It shreds while driving and the mechanics don't see a problem. I bought my lemon when it had around 28000 miles on it and a 1000 miles later the transmission was rebuilt, luckily paid by Chrysler.36000 miles later my transmission was totally out and according to the mechanic the torque converter broke and they had to put a new transmission in. I had to pay for this. Please let me know if there is any way I can get money back on this somehow. I will never buy a Dodge Caravan again even though my whole family drives Chrysler and we always drove Dodge. There is something wrong with Dodge Caravan and something needs to be done about it. Please e-mail me.Bengesjwj@wideopenwest.com.
10th Dec 2003, 12:26
I have a 1996 Dodge Caravan and everytime it rains or I drive in wet weather it comes off and I loose my power steering!...I called Dodge Dealer and they say there is no recall on this problem??...
3rd Feb 2007, 17:31
My 97 Chrysler Town and Country with the 3.8 engine throws off the belt when driving through snow. The belt tensoner looks misaligned. I bought a new belt and tensoner, but can’t figure out how to get the old tensoner off. Any ideas?
18th Mar 2007, 18:24
As a mechanic one thing I see a lot of are problematic Dodge Caravan/Voyager/Town&County transmissions. There is a simple remedy to this problem. Have the transmission flushed and the trans filter changed every 30,000 miles. It's called maintenance people, and it won't kill you. If I had a nickel for every person who told me their transmission just started having problems at around 60,000 miles, and, when asked, responded that NO they hadn't maintained it or serviced it at 30,000 miles, I'd have a lot of nickels. You wouldn't expect your tires to last 50,000 miles if you never checked the air in them, and you wouldn't expect your engine to last 60,000 miles if you NEVER CHANGED YOU OIL. How can you expect your transmission to be any different? Take some personal responsibility, and read your owners manual and service manual. It tells you what to service and when, then do it early.
25th Jul 2007, 12:35
Tensioner belt problems are very common with this van. Look for other links on this issue at this site. The fix is a gates belt kit to keep the belt on track.
7th Sep 2010, 12:44
If you are thinking about buying one. Don't!
I bought one and must say I loved driving it! But it was SO expensive to keep it running. The transmission went almost every year, leaving the 4 kids and I stranded wherever we were.
The timing belt... Urgh! That went out twice.
The computer also went. When that went out, it also fried a bunch of wires. So I had to replace all that.
It leaked oil like crazy. The fuel pump went started spraying gas. It was horrible!
If you like spending money and being stranded and being without your vehicle for days on end, this is the vehicle for you!
2nd Jan 2003, 15:55
We have had the belt of our 1997 Dodge Caravan come off in wet weather six times,with the last three times being December 12th and 25th of 2002 and Jan.1 of 2003. manufacturer said there is no approved fix for this ongoing problem.