1991 Dodge Grand Caravan SE review from North America

Rear Gas Spring:

First the Right Gas Strut/Spring failed. The lower pivot broke that holds it to the door. You can't buy the pivot itself; you must buy the whole Gas Spring Assembly. I bought a new replacement gas spring from Dodge and it cost about $68US. Then the Left Side Broke and I was able to cannibalize the one remaining pivot from the first failed unit. Then the Right Spring failed again; I bought an aftermarket Gas Spring Assembly that had a better warranty. Then the Left upper pivot failed and punched a hole in the headliner. The failure this time was the body metal had fatigued and the whole nut-plate doubler broke out of the sheet metal. I beat it back into place and welded a doubler over the top.

Transmission (Automatic) :

It drove well for the first 65,000 miles and then needed a total overhaul with a new torque converter. Thank goodness the car was under a 7-year/70,000 mile warranty. Then the rebuild transmission started acting up just as before at 72,000. It would not up-shift past second. I changed the fluid and it started shifting somewhat normal again. It still wasn't working correctly and I sold the car before the vehicle left me stranded. I am of the feeling the transmission should last as long or longer that the engine.

Door Warning:

When I filled all of the seats with people, and hit a nominal bump, the warning chime would come on. Sometimes the "door ajar light" would come on. Other times the condition would rectify itself before I could look down at the annunciator panel. I would rarely drive with the vehicle full of people and after many years in this condition, I finely figured out what was happening. The sliding door switch was opening and there was no adjustment for the switch. What a poor design.

Tires: This thing went through tires like my kids eat cereal. I never got more than 20,000 miles on a good set of tires.

Brakes: the only thing worse that the tires were the brakes. I went through 5 sets of brake pads on the front axle in 50,000 miles. I also replaced the rotors or had them resurfaced every time I changed the pads. These brakes are way undersized for the vehicle. They fade on the second brake application.

The car needed a real transmission, real brakes and better execution of quality throughout the whole vehicle. This thing was an Engineering Failure from the start. I resent the Federal Government Loans that kept the firm going!