Lookin for 99 Dodge Caravan tips

[Mutant]

Heyas,

My poor ol' Lesabre destroyed itself a month ago (think the main bearing siezed, maybe spun a rod bearing... sob...) and got myself a 99 Dodge Caravan 2.4L 4 cylinder - 3 speed tranny with 67K on the odometer. It was a fleet vehicle for the local giant university, doesnt seem to have been abused too bad and has had at least some minimal maintainence. I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with the goofy thing in terms of maintainence and know if there is anything I should watch out for with this model.

So far I have run a bottle of Gumout Regane through the gas tank and been feeding it Fuel Power FP60. The engine is running smoother than when I got it. I plan on changing the PCV Valve and possibly running some SeaFoam or the like through the vacuum hose to clean it out well (any suggestions?). I'm not sure how sludgy this engine can be, but will run at least one bottle of Auto-Rx through the engine and see what turn up in the filter. Heard some rumors about the Dodge DOHC engines being abit dirty. From the service records the tranny pan appears to have come off for gasket replacement about 10-15K ago but have no idea if the filter was replace. Was thinking of putting a little Auto-RX in the tranny and having a filter change to be sure. I don't think the radiator fluid has ever been change so prolly overdue for flush. Anything obvious I am missing?

Regards

 

[Mutant]

I've heard horror stories about some of the 4 speed trannies with Dodge, are the 3 speeds abit wonky too?

Regards

 

[Gary Allan]

I don't know how they evolved over the span from 92-99. Mine was a 3 speed with a lockup. Basically a modified Omni 3 speed with a lockup. The only thing I needed the 7176 fluid for was lock up clutch chatter. Mine let go ..and filled the trans with grit. It made the governor stick and you would start out in 2nd gear and no amount of flushing would relieve it. This cost me a rebuild.
(rant on)
So, as you can see, I'm deathly fearful of any contemporary automatic ..especially Chrysler and some Fords (a few actually). The allpar board has many members that have had issues ..across over nearly a decade of production. Chrysler has established, IMHO, a new standard for predictably flawed engeering in this single element and has raised this deliquency/deficiency to a new level of shameful distinction. (rant off)

In reality ..it may only be a function of so many units in use for so long. It is however a very expensive item. You're lucky in that it may only cost you $1000 (plus if you're in a high end area) ..while the more lame sophisticated 4 speeds can run anywhere from $2500-3500. Just take note at any auto trans shop. I assure you there will always be a minivan parked there for more than a day.

Buy an in line filter from any vendor you choose ..but I highly recommend installing one.

 

[Mike_dup1]

A friend son now has the trans shop that he ran since 1970. He was telling me he is getting rich of DC auto trans. He sees more of them then anything else, the local dealer even sends most of the warranty work to him. He said that he has had over 10 of them waiting for work at one time. Weather the newer models have gotten better, I can't say but he claims, 1990's models are a crap shoot, some got forever and other die suddenly.

 

[oilboy123]

Allpar site has good info. It was supposed to be 4 speed trans that had the problems. Mostly up to 94 if I remember right?

Yours should be OK on the trans, never heard of any problems with the 3 speeds. In fact they used them in the older turbo minivans.
They held up to those well.

 

[Gary Allan]

For the sake of "quick and convenient" get one of those Magnafine in line trans filters. They've probably improved the bonding of the converter clutch material, but models in the past have discharged material and fouled the rest of the trans. It happened to me

. If you've got more ambition and a little surgical talent, get a remote mount and put a spin-on filter in the trans coolant circuit.

 

[doitmyself]

My first DC mini had the 2.4 L engine and 3 speed tranny. I drove it 200,000 very trouble free miles. In fact, it was the best vehicle I ever owned in terms of reliability.

Change that tranny fluid every 30,000 and ONLY put in the correct fluid. A garage once put in Dexron and it turned into shudder express. A Blackstone analysis convinced them to correct their mistake.

My engine valve train was spotless at 200K. I did 3 to 4k OCI's due to short trip operation.

Past the 100K mark will be the normal maintenance items to watch out for: struts/shocks (there was an issue with premature stut tower corrosion around '99), tie rod ends, etc..

Someone else here posted about the 4 speed tranny debacle. They revised it four times over about a dozen years. They "think" the fifth revision and the new ATF+4 has solved the problems. We'll see.

Seems like every brand has an archilles heel. Toyota sludgers, GM head gaskets.........

 

[Mutant]

Thanks for the tips! I was thinking of running some sort of 'bypass' filter on the tranny but maybe an inline would suffice. It certainly would fit my budget right now.

I'm a fan of the used car and try to keep up on what the pros and cons of the different models so I can work that into my maintainance schedule. I picked the van quick as my other car tore apart the bottom end and didnt have much time to research.

Speaking of bypass filters, anyone here mount a bypass oil filter in a 4 banger Caravan?

Regards

 

[Gary Allan]

quote:

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Speaking of bypass filters, anyone here mount a bypass oil filter in a 4 banger Caravan?

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I assume that you're talking for the engine, since you appear to think the inline is a good deal right now for the trans.

You should have enough room for a relatively easy install. Don't restrict yourself to sheet metal fastening. Zip ties work wonders for attaching the canister to lots of places.

Even if you're not all that creative, you can usually manage to get something "McGeyver'd"

one lame, but functional, installation