1999 Dodge Grand Caravan SE from North America - Comments

This happened to my father in a 94 Caravan while in a car wash (March 2004). He had a new tensioner pulley installed and I bought the van (April 2004). Since August, I've had the belt come off while I was driving in light misty rains at least 4 times. I can put the belt on in about 15 minutes now (but what a pain). I'm going to try a fresh belt (the Goodyear Gator)and if that doesn't work mayber another heavier constructed pulley (Gates pn#38113) and then take it to a shop/dealer to check the alignment, but I'm afraid it won't help. Any other ideas/suggestions are GREATLY appreciated...

I own a Town&Country 1996 3.8L

I was having my oil change done at oil express and the guy heard the noise on the belt and started spraying some thing on it. The belt came off right away. They could get it on so I am working with pep-boys to get it fixed. The master mechanic at pep-boys says that I need to replace tensionor and idler pulley along with the belt, all costing over 250.00. After reading all the comments I am praying with this money I could get away with my problem. I wish I hadn't bought a Chrysler.

On the last comment-

I think he sprayed the belt with a product called belt dressing. This works for conventional belts, but not serpentine. This caused it to slip off the tensioner.

You may need a new tensioner, but really, try the gator too, it will do you well.

Make sure they clean all of the pulleys and with a de-greaser before installing any new belt. But again, I used the Gator and it is awesome. Hope this helps.

I do not problem with the serpentine belt, idler and tensioner and would like to share my experience.

I have a '97 Town and Country LX bought brand new, now 78,000 mile and still have the original serpentine belt, idler and tensioner. I noticed the squeaking high pitch sound from the beginning, we thought it was normal, because it disappeared, and came back from time to time. Now I knew it might depend on if it rain or not. We started to notice the noise got louder because it is wetter in 2004 winter in CA, hence I finally concluded that it is time to get a new serpentine belt after reading all postings on Internet.

I believe that not every T&C, Caravan have the problem described here. There are million of Chrysler cars with similar belt/pulley design. It seems to me it is an alignment issue - A car would need front wheel alignment if the tires keep on worn out on one side of the wall. Similarly, if the serpentine belt keeps on slip off, putting it back without inspection is not a solution. Or if the belt is shredded repeatedly, putting a new one is not the solution either. Even a new idler or tensioner without realignment does not guarantee solution either.

May be the real problem is it is hard to align all the elements (i.e. pulley) correctly or the brackets to hold them are subject to bend.

Having a tensioner tool (homemade or not) and a spare serpentine belt in the car seems a good practice.

/Steve from S.F, CA.

1998 Grand Caravan Sport. I have just had serpentine belt replaced and a "snow guard" added in response to the belt coming off 3 times in the past six months. 50 000 km on the car.

Problem was preceded by the belt making a lot of squealing noise.

Hi, I have a 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan modified with a VMI (brand name) rear-mount wheelchair lift & left-foot gas pedal (which shouldn't affect the problem I'm experiencing with the van --just affects my mobility!). Van has appx. 86000 miles. Have replaced fuel pump at 82000 miles. Otherwise, only normal maintenance & no problems to speak of. Today, van started fine, pulled out of driveway & not only did speedometer/odometer not work, RPM were 3-4 times higher than normal & van wouldn't shift out of 2nd gear. "Service Engine Soon" light came on. Checked belts & from what I could see, all seem to be on & working properly. I noted a high pitched squeal a few days ago, but nothing yesterday or today. Since I need the wheelchair accessible van to get ANYwhere, does anyone have any suggestions as to the most direct approach to take & what the problem might be?

Thanks-

I have a 1996 grand caravan.am having the same problem with belt slipping off when it get wet. I replaced the tensioner and replaced the belt with a gator back style. worked well I thought, but have had the belt slip off in rain twice in the last month I don't mind repairing a problem, but where do I start.

Does anyone out there have a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT 3.8L V6 with a bad creaking noise in the front wheel area that occurs when you turn the steering wheel?

This is a brand new van that has experienced this noise since day 1 in the right wheel joint area. The service department replaced the strut mount, greased it, and called Chrysler to find out if there was a permanent fix for the problem at 7200 miles. At 9300 miles, the noise was back. They greased it again and said Chrysler said just keep greasing it-that's the only fix. At 11,400 miles, the left front wheel has started to creak every time I turn the steering wheel. This is my 6th Grand Caravan and I have never heard a noise like this before.

I think I got a lemon since Chrysler does not have a permanent fix for this problem and I think it is unreasonable for Chrysler to think I should bring this van into the shop every 2000 miles to have this problem greased. Does anyone out there have a similar problem and what has been your experience? Any comments or suggestions are appreciated!

We love our van and bought it with 105,000. It's a 98 Grand Caravan Sport that lightly squealed since the day we got it. The squealing would get worse occasionally and finally I was dumb enough to try to use some "belt dressing" on it tonight and instantly the belt came off. I hit the Internet and after looking at all the comments here we went and purchased the Gator belt from Auto Zone ($29.95) and proceeded to beat ourselves up trying to "jury-rig " something that would get the tensioner far enough out of the way to get the new belt on. Finally, after giving up and deciding to make a trip to the dealership in the morning "sans" belt we came across the suggestion to use the old serpentine belt to cinch the wrench (we used a 19/32 instead of the 15mm) using your leg to keep the tension. After thirty minutes more struggling and a couple final tugs on the tensioner, the belt slid on and we released the tensioner back in place. A couple of turns of the engine to set the belt and voila! She started and quiet as a whisper. That belt dressing turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The van has never been quieter. Here's to keeping it on, no shredding and peace quiet for the next 108,000 miles! We love this van, (even when it was squealing you couldn't hear it from inside the van with the AC and music on, LOL!) Highly recommend the Gator belt, the old belt as a tensioner tool and staying away from belt dressing on serpentine belts!

I experienced the same problem most of your comments are describing. I had the serpentine belt shred, took it to a repair shop that replaced both the tensioner and belt. Within a week the belt shred again. They said it was because they didn't have the teeth on correctly. They replaced the belt again, but within 2 weeks the belt split again.

I figured the dealership could do a better job, so I took it there. I had the tensioner replaced again, and the belt replaced 3 more times. After the third time, I decided they didn't know what they were doing either.

At last I took it to a local shop, that I knew was a little more expensive, but had never disappointed me before. They explained that the dealership was using the incorrect size of belt. They replaced it, and I have not had a problem for a year.

I thought I was the only one with this problem, because I asked the dealership about the issue, and they said it was not that common. Looking at everyone else's comments, it appears that I was not alone.

I am glad I came across this site and these comments. Thank you all for your input. I have had serpentine problems with 2 vans I have owned and I think I am beginning to learn some differences that I hope hold true. I had a GM Astro van that shredded belts like there was no tomorrow. It turned out that there was an alignment issue with the tension mounting bracket and that fixing the bracket fixed the shredding.

I also have a 1999 Dodge Caravan Sport that has serpentine issues. I have noticed the squealing the entire time I have owned the van (3 years), mostly on humid wet days. I also tried belt dressing and the belt slipped off immediately. I also have had the belt slip off driving through puddles, most recently this morning! From the valuable comments I have read so far I am concluding that there are two issues involved here. One is where there is an alignment problem, causing the belt to shred. The other is a tensioner problem causing the belt to slip off. I appreciate the lessons learned and will be installing a gator back belt and a Dayco tensioner. I will post back with my experiences.

As another note, you can "rent" a serpentine belt tool for free (a $19.95 deposit) at Autozone. Nice to have under the back seat if the belt slips off.

Wow! I thought I was the only one with this problem. I am so glad I found this site. I have lost the belt about four time now, always in rainy weather. I have heard the words tensioner and idler mentioned several times. Are they not the same thing in a 1999 Grand caravan? How do I move the idler to slip the belt back on? Any help is greatly appreciated.

I have experienced the same problem. I have 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan and the problematic serpentine belt slipped off two times after hitting on a puddle. People and mechanics may argue that this is a misaligned problem of belt tensioner. But this is a definite wrong mechanical design of Chrysler van. A car is a moving thing. Even wheel alignment is changing. They should not design this way. I found that the problem came from belt tensioner and idler, If I were them, I would use two belts. Since I didn't see any recalls from Chrysler, I am thinking of fixing this problem by myself. How about adding another wing type washer after outside of tensioner? I think it may prohibit the belt from slipping off.

My belt has slipped off 3 times. This last time I had my tensioner replaced with a Car Quest tensioner. The guy at the shop knew all about Caravan belts slipping off, he replaced the tensioner idler pulley with a Ford pulley. The Ford pulley has little flange sides on the pulley so the belt doesn't slip off so easily.

If you go this route you have to put a washer behind the flange pulley or else it will rub.

I too have experienced the serpentine belt kick out. I have a 2000 T&C with little over 65K. A new belt was installed a month ago, and now every time I drive in wet weather the belt slips off.

My dealer tells me this is normal, but it has never happened before, so I questioned that. Come to find out that a splash guard can be installed to protect spray from the roadway. Time will tell if this is a fix or a band aid. I know I have driven through large pools of water in the past without having to call for a tow...

During the last failure, I had an independent repair shop show me a different belt, one with larger ridges. That has been installed for over a week, driven heavily in wet weather, and have not experienced any problems.

Again, my dealer says this is all normal, and that MAYBE the non-Mopar belts are better. He told me to call Chrysler to talk to them, but this is a KNOWN issue with the Mini-Van...

After suffering through a number of transmission failures, and now a KNOWN problem with the serpentine belt, I am going to look at something that better protects the lives I entrust to this transportation. I wonder if Toyota or Ford have similar problems. It's not the cost of the repair, but more to do with the reliability of this car... And winter is coming on fast!