I have a 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan. A couple days ago, it was the coldest night of this winter so far, at about 5 degrees Fahrenheit. My car had been sitting outside parked for about 15 hours, and when I tried to start it, the engine wouldn't turn. It sounded like it was trying, but after a few tries, it started to sound weaker and weaker until I was just hearing the clicking of a drained battery.
So the next day, I took the battery out of the car, brought it inside, hooked it up to a charger and put it on a trickle charge (2 amps) for about 6 hours. When I reconnected the battery, the weather had warmed up to about 35 degrees. But when I tried to start it up, the same thing happened.
So, today, I remembered to grab my portable jump box from home, made sure it was fully charged, hooked it up to the battery and the engine still wouldn't turn over. It seemed like it was getting a bit closer than yesterday, but still nothing was happening. According to the instructions for the jump box, it said to try again after 2 minutes, so I kept on waiting and trying. After more than 5 tries, I had to get back into my office, so I gave up and disconnected the box.
I'm guessing that I need to get a new battery, but before I go and drop $100+ on one, I'm wondering if there's anything else I should be trying, or if there may be another issue here. So, any advice?
We are out of town for the weekend and have a 3 hour drive home.
Car became stuck in snow had my wife attempt to do stop and go while I pushed to escape it. It took a while and after getting down the road I error light came on the lighting bolt symbol. The temp gauge dropped to nothing. Reach my stop a mile down the road. Turned off restarted nothing. Entered store came back out drive down the road get a few miles light back to drops off. Reach the next place (5miles ) turn off car.
Repeats 4 two more locations until reach hotel. Do goggle search talks about resetting it with pressing floor petal and release I attempted it. Still error. Go to auto place use PC reader, (the error bolt light not on). Gives code for thermostat error. I check fuild ( it's low ) buy more and add it. 50/50 mix ( just had flush on system so proper fuild added by me). Drive around nothing happens,(no long drives) just 2-5 minutes.
Today warm car 15 minutes start for a drive hit a few stores nothing. 2-5 minutes trips with 20 minutes inside. Then drive 5 miles 0ver 50 light back temp drops. Drive more 10 miles with light on and no temp gauge, park check fluid, it's fine. Visit store. Then drive to next place no light temp fine until reach parking lot, (14miles 55mph). Leave head back to hotel no light entire drive (25 miles 55mph).
The temp never reaches the mid way point but it does do a slow climb to one dash before the center.
I do not believe it is over heating any one have tips. I need to drive 180 miles on Monday back home
It will not start. I turn the key and the dash lights all come on like there is a battery connection. A jump does not work. I thought it could have been the key so I got a new battery put in the key and it still will not start. I had it towed to Tuffy and Tuffy said that it seems like a computer issue and they don't know how to fix it so they recommended taking it to a dealer. Before I take it to the dealer, any suggestions? Are there any common causes for this type of issue with this particular vehicle? Thank you.
Hey All.
This has been happening for a while. The oil light turns on randomly on my dash when I start the car. I'd say it is like a 1/4 % chance it turns on. Usually, if you turn the car off and then back on it will start without the oil light on. The oil is full. I've had a couple oil changes since this started and it will happen right after the oil changes too (it's not like changing the oil fixes it). The car runs great by the way.
I figure the issue is probably the oil pressure sender/switch. Does anyone else have any other thoughts?
A dumb question - When I go to change the oil pressure sender, do I have to do it at the same time as an oil change? E.g., if I were to do it now with the car full of oil, will it leak oil when I take out the old sender?
Thanks,
I had reduced my choices for a minivan down to the Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey. A trusted dealership I bought my last vehicle at posted a 2008 Toyota Sienna with 170k miles for $9000. Despite the high miles I was tempted to make the buy because I have heard they can run for 300k+. While considering the purchase my sister informed me she was looking to downsize from her van to something smaller and would sell the van to me. It’s a 2014 Dodge Grand Caravan with 70k miles and she would sell it for between 5k-8k. This will be my stay at home wife’s vehicle and will not be used for anything other than your typical back and forth errands. What would you buy?
I have had it for a couple of years. When I first got it the front end felt really loose. So I took it to a mechanic. They replaced shocks, struts, sway bar, upper and lower control arms, half shafts.
It still made noise on bumps, but every time I brought it back to them they said that was normal. Recently it has started shaking a little at high speeds only on acceleration. I took it to Belle tire thinking it might be the tires. They said that it was the struts because they could move them. They said they could tell that they were new but they must be installed incorrectly.
I returned to the previous shop and asked him to look at it and he said that the sway bar had become disconnected and that it was no charge.
The shop I am using is always very busy, like they schedule u 2 months out. I haven't picked it up yet to see if it is fixed, but what should I do? Should I find another shop, that's not a chain to look at it for piece of mind or should I just continue to drive it? I want to believe this guy because frankly I do not want ot dump more money into the van, but I also do not want to end up in some accident because my "front fell off"
Does the sway bar becomeing disconnected make sense as to why it is vibrating on acceleration?
So, back story, my nephew has autism and has become fixated on the 2005 and later Grand Caravan (or Town & Country) .. specifically in silver or white.
My sister would love to get him one.. Diecast would be amazing, but hell. Anything at this point would be great.
So I come to the Reddit community -- has anything that mundane ever been produced and, better yet, anyone know where I can track one down?
You will be making a child (and his exhausted mother) VERY happy if you have any ideas. Thanks!
Battery light came on the dash, put in a brand new battery and my scanner says voltage is low... any thoughts
My van is overheating as the title implies. I thought it might be a bad thermostat. So I took it out (I know your not really supposed to do this) and drove to go get a new one. When I started driving it overheated again but if started to go back down as I was trying to pull over so I kept going. It eventually cooled down to about half on the gauge. I made my way back home I haven't put the new thermostat in yet. I just feel like that is weird from what I have googled it sounded like my car shouldn't have overheated without the thermostat in. I don't know what else it could really be. It doesn't look like it is leaking anywhere.
i completed head gaskets just a few months ago along with putting in a new thermostat. it failed (open) last week, so i replaced it. engine is running cool again unless on idle for a while (i got a limited lifetime warranty just because of this), so i'm going to replace in autozone parking lot so that they can have the failed thermostat back. (at least it's easy to get to. i'm thankful to engineers for once for making the thermostat accessible.) why does this keep happening? google and reddit searches are getting me no answers.
Could someone please share? my backup camera failed and I want to see if I can wire in a universal backup camera. The OEM camera cost too damn much...
I have a 2006 dodge grand caravan, and lately, after its been driven 30+ minutes, it randomly dies. I can be driving, or parked at a light, and it just turns off. i can quickly put it in neutral and restart it, and it immediately restarts. the after 20 minutes or so shuts off again. Is there any way to troubleshoot this? how much would a mechanic charge to troubleshoot it?
Has anyone had this years model and typically how many miles do they get before crapping? Im at 180k and runs good maybe new drum brakes soon but idk how to do those myself has anyone paid for drum brake replacement before as well
