2000 Dodge Grand Caravan SE from North America - Comments

This is the best sight I have found for the serpentine belt nightmare on the 2000 Dodge caravan. I have a 3.3 and had no problems until the bearing went out in the idler pulley. I replaced it with a new pulley from the dealer with the new bearing in it. That was at 85k and it must have been summer or luck because it went to 96k before the belt started coming off when you drove in puddles. Of course the dealers service departments were no service. After three belts and a new power steering pump pulley, tensioner, and two Saturdays under the van I now find out just how common this problem is. I am going to use the splash pan idea and the washers idea (which I already thought about doing) to continue to fight this. Hoping to keep this van for about 200k of course I am more than disappointed and understand the negative comments, but hey, seven yrs ago I did spend 5k less than for the Honda!

I made it to 203,000 before I lost my first serpentine belt on my 1997 Dodge Caravan. I didn't lose it. It shredded while I was teaching my 16 year old to drive and made a big thumping sound, scaring me and my son. When replacing the belt, my mechanic saw that it had a misaligned tensioner and replaced it also, not with a knockoff, but with a Dodge part.

Since then, it's come off 3 times. I'm taking him the link to these comments to see if any of them help. Avoiding puddles in Florida is, unfortunately, impossible. Same with avoiding driving in the rain. I'll have him check out all of the comments. It's extremely frustrating to him and me,

I have a 2000 dodge grand caravan and my wife was going to a friends house and it started raining and ten minutes after she had left home she said, the van was hard to turn. The first thing I figured was that the serpentine belt had broken. She brought it back home I put the belt back on the very next day she was on her to work it started raining and the belt came off again. My question is why want dodge address

this issue?This is a serious problem with this vehicle.

Yes and Yes-- Damn Belt Comes out of Rainy Day, this is a Crime by Chrysler-- can you fight with it, well wait until Bush gets out of damn office then Fight with Dodge.

I have a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan and the belt jumped out any time it rained.

I solved the problem with a $2- package that I picked up from electrical department of a Hardware store OSH.

Here how I fixed it Cheap--

But you got to know how to do it, cheaters mechanic charges $600 but honest one chages $120

It takes a good 2-hours work.

You need to take the uppe serpentine pulley out and put this cover plate ON and screw it back.

Here how to Open the Upper serpentine pulley:

1. Go a Hardware store and in the electrical section there

is a "Round Metal Electrical Box Cover" for "Round

Electric Box-- get the one which is a very very little

bigger than the pully diameter.

Get the metal cover box", --Buy one.

2. There is a hole right middle of the Round Metal

Electrical Box Cover make the middle hole bigger little

bigger than the size of the Upper Pulley.

3. Unscrew the upper serpentine pulley and pull the middle

screw out-- but do not take the pulley out, or if comesup make sure you put the pulley first when you putting it back.

Now we are putting it back with Round Metal Cover:

1. On Middle Screw Put a washer first and then Round Metal

Electrical Cover then another washer and then put the

pulley the screw it back into the engine

2. Tight the middle screw with cover on sometimes screw is short get a longer one.

3. Put the "BELT BACK", this is a real hard to do, if you are a man with a little mussle it is not that bad, but if you are a woman forget about it; have some mechanic to do and and do not buy his argument.

Afterward make sure get a hose of water and leak it on the belt for 10 minutes while car is running to make sure it won't jump-out ever-- mine did not.

The end.

There is a new upper and lower pulley made buy "Good Year" it is $95 a set, check the google for this part, that is the best and more rliable solution change the upper and lower.

Good Luck..

We have a 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan with about 86k miles. We have only owned the car for 5 years and bought it at 50k miles. Our serpentine belt has come off twice in the rain stranding my wife and two small daughters at an intersection the first time, and the second time was just today when we loaned our car to a friend.

I doubt I will buy a Dodge again. Something this common that could potentially be this serious should be taken care of by a recall.

We have a Dodge Caravan 2000. Nov. 2007 our mechanic replaced the serpentine belt, March 2008 (after 4 months)it came off and left my wife stranded, good thing our daughter was not with her. I took it to the garage, they cleaned and put them back. The next day it came off again, so I just put them back on myself. My wife is too afraid to drive it ever since, so we're planning to replace it soon and NEVER TO BUY DODGE ANYMORE.

I own a 2000 Dodge Caravan. In the 5 years of owing it I had to replace the Tensioner Pulley 3 times. And plus the 5 Serpentine Belts it has chewed up during these troubled times. Also I live in a part of Canada where the snow fall does get extreme and when I "run" into a snow drift the Serpentine Belt would kick off. I called Dodge and they're aware of the problem. All they recommended for me to do is to purchase a snow shield (A round circular piece of metal that is attached to the Tensioner Pulley, its about a 1/4 higher in diameter then the Tensioner Pulley). This solution did help me when my van encountered snow drifts, but the van still goes through Tensioner Pulleys like an old man goes through Depends under garments! (LOL)

I own a 200 Dodge Caravan. On one occasion the serpentine belt came off. I put the belt back on and had no problems until recently when I had the transmission rebuilt.

After 1 week of driving and 350 miles, I heard a loud squealing and smelled burning. I stopped the van, looked under the hood and noticed wear on the serpentine belt (top of the belt on the engine side). Called a mechanic; when he came to tow the van the problem had stopped and the van ran fine. He removed the belt and checked all the pulleys and they all worked fine. He replaced the belt, and no problems till now now. I am getting a humm from the air conditioning compressor and have developed a tick in the engine. Any ideas or suggestions?

We didn't have any troubles with the serpentine belt on our 2000 Caravan until the first time we replaced it. The mechanic told us that we needed to replace the tensioner, so we did. That was about three years ago. Since then, we have had the belt slip off five times, always driving through water that accumulates on a right curb in a rainstorm, and once snow on the curb.

The last time this happened (yesterday), the tow truck driver said he makes a pretty good living towing Chrysler/Dodge minivans in the rain.

Reading over these comments (very useful) I am beginning to believe it is an pulley alignment/bearing problem, since we had so many miles before with no problem whatsoever. Yeah, we have had two more tensioners, but never had the pulley alignment/bearings looked at.

It is about time for a new timing belt. That sounds to me like an excellent time to get the whole serpentine pulley system looked at.