Fleet vehicle adventures: 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan

[L_Sludger]

At work we have a 2007 Caravan that gets mixed fleet use for doing deliveries.
It has about 75,000 miles on it. It has the 3.8L V6 motor. It had an extremely loud power steering whine that was especially bad when cold, mushy brakes, and it was in need of an oil change. Not a problem for me to handle, right?
I check the oil. Not a drop was showing on the dipstick. When I drained it, one and a half quarts of something black came out. Uh oh! I refilled it with 5 1/2 quarts of MaxLife 5w20 and put on a Motorcraft FL-910s filter. Boss said the oil was changed something like four months ago. No obvious signs of leakage are present on the outside of the engine, aside from some slight seepage from the valve covers and oil pan.

Next up, the battery - original battery from 2007 - was cracked and seeping acid all over the terminal. Crud. That was replaced by a Wal-Mart Everstart Maxx battery.

After that came the brakes. I bled the front brakes because I didn't have enough time to jack up the rear. The old fluid didn't look too bad but that doesn't mean very much. Pedal is decently firmer now.

Finally, the power steering noise was 90% eliminated by siphoning out the PS reservoir and refilling it with Supertech ATF +4.

The last niggling problem is a transmission that shudders when coming to a halt as it shifts down to first gear. The van has had this issue since brand new. Should I do a drain and fill with the Supertech ATF +4 and hope it helps?

 

[simple_gifts]

Any chance you will be blamed if/when things go south?

 

[tomcat27]

You may get rid of the remaining PS whine by replacing the resevior - there is a very fine screen filter in it that seems to cause the whine. they're not that expensive. as far as the harsh 2-1 downshift - it's certainly time to replace the fluid - but there is actually a TSB issued in oct 07 to reprogram the PCM for that problem. of course, it would be on your dime since its out of warranty. most people report good success with it - I saw barely any difference after the flash. keep up on the oil level - my 3.8 does seem to use a little oil - maybe a quart every 2k miles.

 

[L_Sludger]

Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
Any chance you will be blamed if/when things go south?
I hope not. My boss wouldn't do something like that.

Originally Posted By: tomcat27
You may get rid of the remaining PS whine by replacing the resevior - there is a very fine screen filter in it that seems to cause the whine. they're not that expensive. as far as the harsh 2-1 downshift - it's certainly time to replace the fluid - but there is actually a TSB issued in oct 07 to reprogram the PCM for that problem. of course, it would be on your dime since its out of warranty. most people report good success with it - I saw barely any difference after the flash. keep up on the oil level - my 3.8 does seem to use a little oil - maybe a quart every 2k miles.


Thanks for the post. I will advise my boss on both of those. He's likely to spring for the transmission fluid drain/fill but probably won't bother paying for a reflash or new reservoir. I'll keep an eye on the oil consumption too.

Are there any trouble spots with the van other than those enumerated for me to keep an eye out for?

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger


Finally, the power steering noise was 90% eliminated by siphoning out the PS reservoir and refilling it with Supertech ATF +4.



If your boss won't spring for the other suggested PV work, do a couple more reservoir siphon/refill operations to get the fluid a bit fresher.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: XS650
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger

Finally, the power steering noise was 90% eliminated by siphoning out the PS reservoir and refilling it with Supertech ATF +4.


If your boss won't spring for the other suggested PV work, do a couple more reservoir siphon/refill operations to get the fluid a bit fresher.


I agree, I siphoned/refilled the Power Steering Reservoir in my E430 5-6 times, it stops the noise after the third(or fourth). I used Maxlife Power Steering Fluid in my car.

 

[caravanmike]

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
Any chance you will be blamed if/when things go south?
I hope not. My boss wouldn't do something like that.

Originally Posted By: tomcat27
You may get rid of the remaining PS whine by replacing the resevior - there is a very fine screen filter in it that seems to cause the whine. they're not that expensive. as far as the harsh 2-1 downshift - it's certainly time to replace the fluid - but there is actually a TSB issued in oct 07 to reprogram the PCM for that problem. of course, it would be on your dime since its out of warranty. most people report good success with it - I saw barely any difference after the flash. keep up on the oil level - my 3.8 does seem to use a little oil - maybe a quart every 2k miles.




Are there any trouble spots with the van other than those enumerated for me to keep an eye out for?

if you have the front end clunk it is the 15 dollar sway bar bushings!

 

[UNC017]

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger

The last niggling problem is a transmission that shudders when coming to a halt as it shifts down to first gear. The van has had this issue since brand new. Should I do a drain and fill with the Supertech ATF +4 and hope it helps?


That would never be a BAD thing to do for a 41TE. But it probably won't stop the "bump" downshift- they're just prone to it. If its a fleet vehicle, its probably aggravated by the way someone is driving it since the adaptive software "learns" shift points, downshift points, etc.

 

[L_Sludger]

The adventure continues.
The van started ticking for a few seconds on cold startups. I suspected filter failure, so I changed the oil again at So I refilled with Valvoline MaxLife 5w30 and put in another Motorcraft FL-910s filter.

I used a siphon to pull three quarts of transmission fluid out and refilled with SuperTech ATF+4. The shifting has improved somewhat.

I also convinced the boss to spring for a new PS fluid reservoir. The old one, as presciently pointed out by tomcat27 (thanks, I did a little reading and it's a hundred-page thread at the Caravan forum), had deposits on the filter screen. The new filter is the exact same design and cost $30. The steering has improved a little more. Anything to avoid cavitation, you know?

We washed and waxed the van and it's running nicely right now.

Persistent issues include blown speakers in the LR and RF position. Anytime a song hits bass, the speakers crack up and sound terrible. For an '07 van, I'm disappointed that the stock speakers failed so quickly. I don't think that the boss will bother with replacing those speakers, so I might just have to disconnect them.

 

[Challenger71]

Sounds like a very abused vehicle. I commend your efforts to bring it back up to speed. Continued good luck to you.

 

[The_Jeff]

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger

Persistent issues include blown speakers in the LR and RF position. Anytime a song hits bass, the speakers crack up and sound terrible. For an '07 van, I'm disappointed that the stock speakers failed so quickly. I don't think that the boss will bother with replacing those speakers, so I might just have to disconnect them.


There's a new ford fleet feature where you can lock the stock stereo to 45% of its max volume. I can completely understand your boss not fixing them.

 

[MrCritical]

Love a delivery van that the oil was changed "something like 4 months ago".

 

[bdcardinal]

No one in my dept will touch our delivery trucks. We let service dept handle everything. Last thing one of use needs is "ever since you did...."

On a good note, we just traded our 2005 Mazda B2300 with 181k miles on it for a Transit Connect. Our driver is super happy because the F150s are too big for him and the Transit is an automatic.

 

[Ramblin Fever]

Same thing here....only thing I will agree to do on my company fleet truck, that I drive 200 miles a day, is check the oil and washer fluid levels, along with checking tire pressure.

I do keep the belts in check and the obvious things, but I don't dare do any repairs on my own; I do keep a [censored] good eye on things though, as this truck has 260k miles on an automatic ford ranger.

Good truck, can't complain, but I generally end up driving 50 miles or more into the middle of nowhere for my job, so I have to at least pay attention to the stuff I can prevent.

This truck is an oil user, 1-2qts a week; the shop only lets me have the oil changed every 5k - which is fine, but if I only checked it every 5k, it would be a bad scenerio!

 

[Hokiefyd]

That '07 3.8L will run best on 5W-20 oil, as specified in the owner's manual. Run a few changes of 5W-20 PP through it and it'll really hum. I've tried a number of oils in ours, and it seems to like the PP the best.

As for the clunks, yes, check the sway bar bushings. Ours is on its 5th pair. Last week, while at the dealer for a transmission leak, the dealer pointed out a left outer TRE that needs replacement. I inquired about that over a year ago (when the van was still under warranty), but it was "normal" then. Curious, huh?

Parts for these vans are pretty cheap (and inexpensive as well...), so it doesn't cost a whole heckuva lot to keep them running as long as you don't get any major failures. The PS systems seem particularly fragile, so keep that PS system topped up with fresh ATF+4. I have a dedicated turkey baster for that purpose.