Hello all -
My friend asked me to help troubleshoot a "really bad noise" on his daughter's 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan. He had not yet looked at the van or done any troubleshooting, but was just going by his daughter's description. We had no nature of what the noise would be, so looked underneath first. Nothing obvious dragging or hanging.
Started it up, and there was a lot of whatever you call lifter noise on an OHC engine. (In Mazda-speak, the lifters for their JE SOHC engines were called hydraulic lash adjustors - HLAs.) But I was pretty sure that wouldn't have been enough to stop someone from driving the vehicle - and it's unlikely the noise started suddenly - so we kept looking.
We put the van into R and heard a loud and disturbing metallic clang as soon as we started to back up. Went into D and the noise was gone. Back into R, and no noise. Drove for a few minutes around town, and no noise.
Returned to the driveway and jacked up the van with the factory jack. (I hate working away from my place - I never take the right tools.) But anyway, found that a split-open CV boot had flung grease all over. I suspect that they had driven this way for awhile, and that the CV joint had been running dry for awhile. I speculate that the noise was the CV joint seizing temporarily into one position, and then breaking free.
They live in a rural community, perhaps 40 km (25 miles) from my house. I would not want to do the work at their place; I would envision many trips back and forth for tools I had forgotten.
So, that means getting the van over to my place, or having it repaired locally. Unfortunately, their trusted local shop cannot get them in for even an inspection until May 31. Given that I believe I have found the problem, they could tell the folks at the shop who could then be prepared to do the repair then. But even then, money is an issue. I figure the shop would charge at least a couple of hours labour to swap in a new drive axle. Add in the cost of the part and taxes, and they're out at least $400+ that they can't afford.
Alternatively, we could drive the van into town at low speed during off-hours, 4-way flashers on, taking the risk that the CV joint could fail completely during the drive. Perhaps it would help to pack the boot with grease beforehand, and wrap poly and duct tape around it.
But assuming I can get it to my house, then I have to decide whether to try to replace the CV joint itself, or the whole drive axle.
Here are the Rock Auto options:
https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/dodge,2016,grand+caravan,3.6l+v6,3353538,drivetrain,cv+axle,2288
Thoughts from the BITOG pundits?
I should add that this boot failure doesn't reflect poorly on the van. Though it's only six years old, it's got 245,000 km on it - about 150K miles.
Also noticed that both front struts are leaking, but that's an issue for another day. If I can do a simple axle change to get them back on the road and save them some money, that's a good start for now.
As well, I'm thinking more about the "tappet noise" from the engine. I've heard lots of horror stories about the 3.6 l Pentastar having valve train problems in the early years, but would have hoped that by 2016 that was not an issue. I hope that's not the case here!
Thanks in advance!
My friend asked me to help troubleshoot a "really bad noise" on his daughter's 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan. He had not yet looked at the van or done any troubleshooting, but was just going by his daughter's description. We had no nature of what the noise would be, so looked underneath first. Nothing obvious dragging or hanging.
Started it up, and there was a lot of whatever you call lifter noise on an OHC engine. (In Mazda-speak, the lifters for their JE SOHC engines were called hydraulic lash adjustors - HLAs.) But I was pretty sure that wouldn't have been enough to stop someone from driving the vehicle - and it's unlikely the noise started suddenly - so we kept looking.
We put the van into R and heard a loud and disturbing metallic clang as soon as we started to back up. Went into D and the noise was gone. Back into R, and no noise. Drove for a few minutes around town, and no noise.
Returned to the driveway and jacked up the van with the factory jack. (I hate working away from my place - I never take the right tools.) But anyway, found that a split-open CV boot had flung grease all over. I suspect that they had driven this way for awhile, and that the CV joint had been running dry for awhile. I speculate that the noise was the CV joint seizing temporarily into one position, and then breaking free.
They live in a rural community, perhaps 40 km (25 miles) from my house. I would not want to do the work at their place; I would envision many trips back and forth for tools I had forgotten.
So, that means getting the van over to my place, or having it repaired locally. Unfortunately, their trusted local shop cannot get them in for even an inspection until May 31. Given that I believe I have found the problem, they could tell the folks at the shop who could then be prepared to do the repair then. But even then, money is an issue. I figure the shop would charge at least a couple of hours labour to swap in a new drive axle. Add in the cost of the part and taxes, and they're out at least $400+ that they can't afford.
Alternatively, we could drive the van into town at low speed during off-hours, 4-way flashers on, taking the risk that the CV joint could fail completely during the drive. Perhaps it would help to pack the boot with grease beforehand, and wrap poly and duct tape around it.
But assuming I can get it to my house, then I have to decide whether to try to replace the CV joint itself, or the whole drive axle.
Here are the Rock Auto options:
https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/dodge,2016,grand+caravan,3.6l+v6,3353538,drivetrain,cv+axle,2288
Thoughts from the BITOG pundits?
I should add that this boot failure doesn't reflect poorly on the van. Though it's only six years old, it's got 245,000 km on it - about 150K miles.
Also noticed that both front struts are leaking, but that's an issue for another day. If I can do a simple axle change to get them back on the road and save them some money, that's a good start for now.
As well, I'm thinking more about the "tappet noise" from the engine. I've heard lots of horror stories about the 3.6 l Pentastar having valve train problems in the early years, but would have hoped that by 2016 that was not an issue. I hope that's not the case here!
Thanks in advance!