Thanks for all the information from everyone, I'm glad to hear that the 3.3 has a timing chain, I know it's an older design but it has a good track record. Dodge recommends 5w-20, I might see if I can find some chevron 5w-20 and run Wix filters. I think I'll wait until 40,000 miles before changing the tranny fluid. The van drives fine, not a lot of power but I didn't expect that anyways.
2005 Grand Caravan questions
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vad and tamu-man
regards the tranny, if i were a gambling man i would bet that the sh***y chrysler tranny failure rate after 2000 compared to that of the honda odyssey, chrysler is less. that honda odyssey tranny is garbage and has a well known, if maybe not worse (i would love to get the real #'s), failure rate as well-chrysler just gets the bashing. get on the odyssey forums and see what happens to the real owners of these vehicles-not just what one sided japanese-car-loving consumer reports says. the joke there is a new tranny every 60k. ford trannys, same-junk. don't know if the gm's use the also infamous 4t60e-another real winner-but i know you will be replacing intake manifold gaskets on the good 'ol 3.1/3.4 gm v6. they all got issues.
regards the engine, i have come to the point where i will take reliable simplicity over complex power where it is not needed. the odyssey is said to be the most peppy/best handling/cornering minivan. i'll keep that in mind when my wife is taking the kids to dance class....its just not a sports car.
then again i work on my own cars. timing belts on dohc transverse mounted v6 engines are a pain and the water pumps are buried in there too. my good old pushrod has been quite reliable and i have come across no engine maintenance that i have not been able to do fairly easily.
i am by no means bashing hondas. i owned an integra that went 200k-you can see the pictures of the innerds of that motor on the auto-rx website-that was mine and it was a great car. it was actually fairly easy to work on in comparison to the maxima i had before it that had a transverse mounted v6. if $$ were never an object and someone else did the mechanics and i were buying another minivan, i would actually choose a 3.3 (non-sludging)toyota sienna for overall engine and trans reliability.
that is my 2cents.
regards the tranny, if i were a gambling man i would bet that the sh***y chrysler tranny failure rate after 2000 compared to that of the honda odyssey, chrysler is less. that honda odyssey tranny is garbage and has a well known, if maybe not worse (i would love to get the real #'s), failure rate as well-chrysler just gets the bashing. get on the odyssey forums and see what happens to the real owners of these vehicles-not just what one sided japanese-car-loving consumer reports says. the joke there is a new tranny every 60k. ford trannys, same-junk. don't know if the gm's use the also infamous 4t60e-another real winner-but i know you will be replacing intake manifold gaskets on the good 'ol 3.1/3.4 gm v6. they all got issues.
regards the engine, i have come to the point where i will take reliable simplicity over complex power where it is not needed. the odyssey is said to be the most peppy/best handling/cornering minivan. i'll keep that in mind when my wife is taking the kids to dance class....its just not a sports car.
then again i work on my own cars. timing belts on dohc transverse mounted v6 engines are a pain and the water pumps are buried in there too. my good old pushrod has been quite reliable and i have come across no engine maintenance that i have not been able to do fairly easily.
i am by no means bashing hondas. i owned an integra that went 200k-you can see the pictures of the innerds of that motor on the auto-rx website-that was mine and it was a great car. it was actually fairly easy to work on in comparison to the maxima i had before it that had a transverse mounted v6. if $$ were never an object and someone else did the mechanics and i were buying another minivan, i would actually choose a 3.3 (non-sludging)toyota sienna for overall engine and trans reliability.
that is my 2cents.
Doesn’t GM have the most reliable transmissions now? The 4T65E is a pretty reliable unit, isn’t it?
FazerZ told me that some Aisin Warner units in the Toyotas are failing for some reason…but very few.
FazerZ told me that some Aisin Warner units in the Toyotas are failing for some reason…but very few.
Mopar ATF +4 is currently available at Wal-Mart.
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