1996 Chrysler Town and Country LX 3.3 from North America

Summary:

If you like the comfort and are willing to spend a few thousands of dollars in repair, good minivan

Faults:

Clock spring gave airbag and cruise control problems.

Rack and pinion and power steering pump broke.

Radiator broke and started leaking.

Front springs and struts were bad.

Fuel was leaking from the fuel rails and fuel tank seal.

Exterior paint deteriorates easily.

Inside upholstery (dashboard and doors) break easily.

It stalls when stopped.

General Comments:

First of all, I have to say that this minivan is a very comfortable ride.

However, recalls and items that should be recalls are too many to list.

There's the problem with the clock spring giving the airbag trouble light (covered by a recall and reimbursable if done by a third party shop, but not for all years).

Then there's the problem with the front suspension. The front struts and shocks are defective and the front of the minivan rides lower than it should.

There's also the steering problem (the rack and pinion makes a whining noise and the steering pump makes it hard to turn).

Finally, the minivan stalls when stopped (some say it could be the map sensor).

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 19th October, 2004

1996 Chrysler Town and Country LXI 3.7L from North America

Summary:

A luxurious Rube Goldberg without an owners manual

Faults:

It amazes me reading the comments on this forum. Yes, our T&C has also been plagued by problems. Fortunately, none of them have been show stoppers, but all have been annoying.

Windshield wipers come on by themselves.

Fuel gauge shows tank is empty (intermittently) after a recent fill up. This causes the chime to come on and go off trying to let you know you are running out of gas. Right! :-P This would lead me to believe it is a fuel tank sensor or something being pinched when the tank is heavy.

Passenger side sliding door lock only operates in "lock" mode. Will not "unlock" electrically.

CD player volume control flaky. Intermittently plays writable CDs. Sometimes will not eject CD.

Intermittent total shutdown. Nothing works... nothing. No radio, no wipers, no doorlocks, no windows. But some electrical things DO work. This happens seldom.

Engine dies intermittently. Will be running fine then just quit. On the highway this feels like a jolting hiccup, and then it keeps running. Around town, the engine just dies and you have to stop, put it in park (or neutral) and re-start it. It usually restarts easily and just keeps going. It may not happen again till the following day. But it happens most every day once or twice. Funny thing... it seems to happen almost all the time at a particular stop sign. Damndest thing! A chain of events? I don't know.

The blower only works in the two upper speeds. The lower speeds quit working.

The spare tire will not turn loose. It lowers OK, but I cannot remove it.

General Comments:

If you have any input to the solutions to these problems please share them in this forum. There are so many repeat issues here that dealers should have fixes for, but do not.

The largest issue for me is the engine stalling. This keeps my wife thinking she would someday be stranded somewhere.

You won't find a more luxurious car in it's class. But the number of problems and shoddy repairs by Chrysler is criminal.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 15th June, 2004

10th Jul 2004, 10:09

Our 1996 T&C does the same. The hiccups and restarting generally ocurred around microwave phone towers and at the "same" places. When it occurs look around for them. The dealership replaced the fuel pump and our problem went away. We are on our fourth A/C compressors and second transmission. Hmmm, oh yes, we are also on our fourth belt-tensioner with it presently squeaking louder each week. Other than all of this, we too have a love and hate relationship that just keeps us going.

24th Oct 2004, 19:28

We had the same problem with the windshield wipers coming on randomly. It was our battery dying. Once we replaced that the problem went away. our speedometer would also stop working every once and a while before we replaced the battery.

29th Oct 2006, 16:20

My advice would be you should have bought a chevy astro mini van instead. The 4.3 v6 and automatic transmission they put in those are just about indestructible.