26th Aug 2007, 16:28

I have a '97 Chrysler t&c lxi. I have had it in and out of the shop over the past 4 months because of the serpentine belt coming off. The auto shop can't seem to give me a concrete answer on why this continues to happen. I am so frustrated with this, and I need my transportation! Other than this problem, I love my car! Do you have any advice?

26th Dec 2007, 12:17

I have a knocking under my T&C LXI van and it's a 1997 and I don't know what it is. I'm worried it's going to cost me an arm and a leg to fix, but other than that the only problem I've had was the serpentine belt coming off. I love this vehicle, but you guys have me very worried!

17th Feb 2008, 19:45

I just bought a 1997 T&C for only $900 at 130,000. Your comments are very helpful. At least I will know what may be coming down the road.

21st Oct 2008, 21:57

I have 1997 Chrysler T&C. I bought it at 135.000 miles.

Then after I started having several problems. To be short, the speakers makes interruptions while sounding. Not all speakers work best at the same time. Some of them are not working even.

Radiator problem is that it evaporates the water just in a day. Which means I have to supply water every single day.

I am now coming to the most important one; starting from 155K miles upto today (180K miles) it started to practice stalls while driving, which is very dangerous.

First times it was coming once a week. It started to happen more and more over time. And today it stalls almost 5, or some times 10 times while driving in a day.

Also its new sickness is that there is no power or light in the control panel when I come to my garage to take off after having parked it the previous night.. sometimes it goes and comes back. But this morning the control panel never wants to light up. And in this case it never makes an ignition. It ignites the first ones but then stops going on. I think it is just a headache. It serves me lot with its volume. I think the same : great design, poor manufacturing. I would appreciate any advice and recommendations.

23rd Oct 2008, 08:21

Well first, you do realize that at 11 years old and 135,000 miles, you weren't getting a brand new car, right? And you have managed to put 45,000 miles on it. It would seem that the quality of manufacturing must be pretty good.

So, for the stalling problem, try checking the camshaft position sensor. Also check the routine maintenance like have the spark plugs ever been changed, or the spark plug wires.

I hope you aren't simply pouring water into the radiator all the time. Are you adding actual engine coolant? Does the van run hot? It could be that adding water is not sufficient to keep the engine cool, and the steam is venting out. Unfortunately, by adding just water, you may have corroded your cooling system and clogged it up. Disappearing engine coolant is commonly a sign of a leaking head gasket, in which case the engine might run choppy or the crankcase would be filled with brown or green sludge. Check on that next time you change the oil.

It sounds like this van has done a pretty good job, but you need to take care of it a little bit.

29th Oct 2008, 17:21

I just got a clock spring recall in the mail for my 1997 Town and Country AWD.

I had problems for the longest time with the windscreen wipers and cruise control. Biggest problem this past year the neck to the gas tank rotted out, $350.00 just for the part, this never happened to any of my other vehicles.

12th Feb 2009, 10:12

My 1996 Town & County Lxi has 210k miles. Car is reliable with just some minor fixes. Turn signal switch, fan relay (recall), clock spring (recall) and window regulators. Auto Tranny is still running strong. We bought this car in 1999 with 60k. The first thing we did was add a transmission cooler and use a synthetic trans fluid. Not one problem with the tranny. Bottom line: If you maintain this vehicle it WILL run forever. We're happy with this car and will probably drive it till it dies!

13th Feb 2009, 12:52

I guess I disagree with you. Our T&C (97 LXi) has been well maintained (at least since I have owned it), and I have had failures galore. There is not an original part of the AC on the car now. Lost the first tranny at 96K and the second one at 160K. Window motors have both failed. Power Brake booster is dead. I guess I should be happy to get to 160K, but the TCO has been very high. No more Chryslers for me.

24th Feb 2009, 12:26

I currently have a 1997 T&C lxi with 295000km on it. It had the transmission replaced at 190000km, but other than that it has worked great. The only thing that has failed on the interior is the door settings for the seat but that isn't important to me. Overall it has been a very reliable van. Gonna drive it until it dies I guess.

8th Mar 2009, 10:37

I own a 97 Chrysler Town and Country, bought it used in 2002 with 52000 miles on it. Sort of well maintained, we have had no problems with the car. I put carbon brakes and new rotors on it once, and it stops great. Cooling fan switch failed, but at 9 years old,no big deal, I just bought my second T&C now, and the old one is up to 110000 miles and going strong. And we run it hard.

10th Mar 2009, 19:15

I bought a '97 T&C LXi fairly new in '97 that had 500 miles on it. It was used as a courtesy vehicle for a major golf tournament. The odometer now reads 120K miles. Right off the bat there was a fuel tank recall related to some vapor leak. Other than that the major items needing repair were the water pump that went out around 70K and most recently starter that went bad around 110K. I still have the original tranny so I guess I'm lucky in that respect. Have to agree with the others that the brakes are quite underpowered and I have to remember to leave lots of room for the car in front. I've had a few panic stops where I didn't think the van would stop in time. Also the headlights are very dim and the plastic lenses have hazed over, exacerbating the problem.