1999 Dodge Grand Caravan SE from North America - Comments

I fell lucky to have not had any of these problems, not saying that I will. I bought my 99 Dodge Caravan in 2000, and the only thing that I had to have replaced so far was the speed sensor in it. I am now at 126,000 miles on the van and it has done more than I ever have expected it to do.

N.C.

Wow! I can't believe the amount of people with this problem (or maybe I can). Today the tensioner on my 2000 Grand Caravan went out. The bolt holding the tensioner in place (there is only 1!!! bolt) was sheared right in half. This sent the tensioner flying into the power steering mechanism and bent the pulley wheel for the power steering. Now the tensioner and pulley need to be replaced (to the tune of $325 dollars). Thank God this happened in my driveway instead of driving 75 MPH down the freeway or the van would have been impossible to control, seeing that my power steering went out immediately, not to mention that I would have overheated pretty quickly. My van only has 47,000 miles on it and the belt was just replaced about 1 1/2 months ago because it was making a horrid squealing noise. Dodge has a potentially serious problem on their hands with a defect of this nature.

J.W. Houston, TX.

I own a 1999 Dodge Caravan and the belt has slipped off 4 times in the last year. An easy part to replace. However, my husband did notice when placing it in that it did not align correctly. I will be submitting a complaint to Dodge Chrysler. I will keep this site updated with any information I receive as result of the complaint. As I have 6 children and this is a huge safety concern. These vehicles need to be recalled and this needs to be corrected.

I own a 1999 Chrysler Town and Country Limited minivan which I purchased new. It has been an excellent vehicle except for the problems related to the serpentine belt and tensioner. In January, 2004, after driving on rain soaked streets, the belt came off, leaving me without power steering. I had the vehicle towed to a mechanic, who replaced the serpentine belt with a new one. Yesterday, while turning into my driveway, and on perfectly dry streets, the belt shredded, again causing the engine to die and causing loss of steering. I paid for towing and replacement of both the belt and the tensioner. The vehicle only has 59,000 miles on it, but after reading all of these comments and after my own personal experiences, I am very concerned about driving this vehicle 70 mph on a wet highway.

Fellow sufferers.

As per my previous posts, I really would urge you to try fitting a Goodyear Gatorback belt. It has worked wonders for my Dodge. I no longer worry about my wife driving in the rain. I am yet to hear of anyone having one of these belts come off. Please give it a try.

Well, thank you for sharing your experiences with the serpentine belts! My 1997 grand caravan belt just slipped off, luckily only about a mile from home. The power steering went immediately, then the alternator light and high temp lights came on just as I pulled in the driveway! I tried to put it back on myself, but couldn't get enough torque on the tensioner. After much aggravation, I broke down and took it to the local fast lube shop and they put it back on. Only cost $35 - YIKES!!! The guy at the shop showed me an $80 "fits all" type of tool that was about 2ft. long that provided enough leverage to move the tensioner. Do you all have any other ideas on tools that can be used effectively for roadside repairs when not close to a shop?

Same here! I have a 98 caravan. the belt shreds about every 20,000 miles. have replaced each time and it doesn't seem to make a difference what type of belt I use. I have not tried the goodyear belt. dodge/chrysler should recall soon. I never noticed if rain makes the situation worse or not, I experience this problem in all weather.

I have a 98 grand caravan with 95,000. It blows my mind to see so many people have the same problem, but it validates that this is a major problem that the Chrysler Corp. should take the lead on. I have replaced my belt 4 times in the last 2 months due to belts shredding/slipping off. My experiences have been during dry and wet weather. The last one was put on 2 days ago and after driving the van for approximately 25 miles (dry conditions), it started shredding. I have also replaced the tensioner pulley 3 times in the last 2 years. It doesn't seem to make a difference what type of belt I use, but I did get a year out of a Day-co belt. I tried 2 top of the line AC/Delco belts and a Goodyear belt for the most recent repairs. You know this is really ironic for me, because my mother recently retired from the Chrysler corporation and we have been a devoted Chrysler family (everybody, but my sister has a Chrysler minivan) ; but my military income and the concern for the safety of my family (this is my wife's van) may result in me moving to a more reliable vehicle outside of the Chrysler family. My wife is afraid to drive the van because of this problem, and she loves her van. Chrysler if you are reading the comments from your customers; please take ownership of this problem and help the market that has supported you. You can't keep calling it a Peach if everybody else sees the lemon. Thank you.

I tried the Gatorback belt... It did seem to work, for a while, at least.

Most belts were lasting anywhere from 500-5000 miles, and the Gatorback lasted a WHOPPING 10,000 MILES!!!

I have replaced the tensioner and idler numerous times, and I did notice the tensioner is out of alignment (not the idler).

I think it is a dual fatigue problem... The Idler/motor mount, and especially the tensioner's mounting on the P/S bracket. This has a full 1/3" offset, no matter what brand tensioner is on there!

I am surprised that the NHTSA has not even started an investigation on this to see if a recall would be warranted.

I have a 1997 Voyager. We used to like running through puddles. About 1 year ago the belt slipped off while running through a big puddle. It has been downhill since. We have had the belt slip off once in a big puddle and twice when the weather was wet, but we did not drive through any puddles. Once we also shredded a belt once a rough, but dry highway at high speed. The low speed turns are the arm killers.

I have to check again, but on my engine (small v6) I think the water pump and alternator use a separate belt so I don't overheat.

I'm very happy Google found this site. My wife's 96 3.3L Caravan started squealing around 80,000 miles. Foolishly I sprayed some "Belt-eaze" on it and sure enough the squeal stopped - because the serpentine belt was instantly thrown off. I got it back on, and later replaced with a dealer belt. It now has 104K miles and it's on its second new tensioner and fourth belt (one shredded, several tossed off hitting puddles). After finally installing a Dodge belt & tensioner, the local shop now won't touch it. The squeal is back, now with an added power steering "moan" - I wonder if the tensioner being on the PS bracket is a factor? The wife says get it fixed or else, so I'll have to take it to the dealer and see what they can do. There was a recall for bad steering clocksprings (which I also experienced) so maybe there's hope for a s-belt safety recall. I think a splashguard and Goodyear belt would be a good recall solution. The wife loves her van, but I doubt we'll get another one from Chrysler. Jeff in Hawaii.

I bought a 1999 Grand Caravan SE, 2 years ago with 52,000 miles on it. At 65000, also on a rainy day, the serpentine belt came off and resulted in killing the battery. I think Chrysler should look into this.

I have an 98 caravan and have the the same problem. Luckily it happens in the driveway. I just replaced the belt and tensioner and that did not fix the problem. I also have a problem with it suddenly shutting of when traveling at highway speeds. Sounds like a recall is in order.

To all: Try the gator back belt. It is awesome. It is a little shorter than the mopar and gates belts, there by keeping it tighter. I had a squeak that would not go away. With the gator it is fixed! Another trick, when working with the tensioner, use the old mopar belt, slip it around the open end of a 15mm wrench and then let it hang down the front of the van. Then put your foot through it and use your leg as leverage. This works and is very nice to have the free hand.

My background is in auto repair and my relative has a '98 Plymouth Voyager with a 3.3 and they've replaced the belt and tensioner several times.

I checked into Mitchell Manual's service bulletins and found one dealing with the engine mounts.

Have any of you had a water pump replaced?

The engine mount in question bolts to the water pump and the idler pulley bolts to the mount.

The bulletin says to replace the mount, about a $45 part, but I have to wonder about the fit of a replacement water pump...???

Dennis in Ft Worth

finleyphoto@aol.com.