Faults:

MY TRASMISSION LOST 2 GEARS at 160,000 miles put on new tires at 75,000 miles put in new light switch at70,000 miles put in new front end at100,000 miles put in new breaks at 140,000 miles.

General Comments:

This van is seriously loyal and it is considered family its in great shape for its age no complaint's at all.

Faults:

The 1996 Dodge Ram conversion van was manufactured without a tensioner on the timing chain. It was discovered in 1997 and a technical service bulletin was put out, but customers who already owned the vans had no idea until they brought it in for service and their mechanic pulled up the TSB. At 30,000 the timing chain was replaced, and the tensioner was supposed to be put on, but it was not, resulting in us paying for something that was not completely done. Now, 30,000 miles later, the same thing happened only to find out that the tensioner was never put on at 30,000. We paid $1,500 to have the van repaired. After contacting Daimler Chrysler in writing and via phone we were told it was not their problem, but the dealers. The dealers in our area are no longer in business -- not even the one we bought the van from! We explained to Daimler Chrysler that it is not the dealers name that is being tarnished, it is their name. After a long conversation, they still did not care and told us there was nothing they would do for us.

General Comments:

After paying out of pocket $1500 for the above, we now have a tremendous creaking noise coming from the front end. Our mechanic is baffled, he changed everything he thought it could be. Nobody can figure out where the creak is coming from and how to fix it. Although the van is 8 years old, we only have 65,000 miles on it. I thought we'd have this van for the long haul, I guess not. The creak is so loud it sounds like the whole front end is going to fall apart. We will never buy another Daimler Chrysler product again. They do not stand behind their products and they don't care about their customers.

Faults:

Leaking rear transmission seal. Replaced, not problems since.

Shocks worn out. They are the original ones, just a normal wear item.

It runs too warm, granted, pulling a trailer and driving with the A/C on. Installation of a heavy duty transmission cooler helped alleviate this problem.

General Comments:

This is the van that my band bought this past winter. We used a 26' RV before, but it was way too big for a lot of places we have to go, and had poor fuel economy. The van so far is much more what we need. In addition to the 4-7 occupants in the van at any one time, the van also pulls a 2,000 lb equipment trailer. We do both local and distance gigs, ranging from 15 to 600 miles away.

Comfort: There's no comfortable spot to put your left foot while driving! Having become accustomed to a "dummy pedal" on my personal cars, I find the tight legroom and lack of comfortable foot rest to be quite annoying. The Mark III conversion is kinda cool, featuring map and "mood" lights, 4 captains chairs and fold out rear bed, darkly tinted windows with blinds. The fabric, however, grabs to your clothes, and after sitting in other Dodge vans, I think I would have preferred good factory seat over the Mark III units. The "mood" and map light overhead unit is large, cuts into headroom if you are the middle back seat passenger, but is convenient otherwise.

Performance: For our application, I believe the 5.9 liter would have been more suitable, as we have to run it in "O/D Off" mode in order to keep the transmission from cycling too much due to the weight of the van (about 4800 lbs,) people, and trailer. Braking is acceptable with high quality brake pads (ABS equipped,) using the cheap stuff will not cut it! Handling is pretty sloppy, as is expected with full-size vans, better than the Ford, not as nice as the new GM vans. Converting from 15x7 wheels to something a bit larger helps both load carrying capacity as well as handling and braking, and the newer Dodge 3/4 ton vans had 16" wheels stock. A good wheel to keep in mind is the 16x7 5-spoke wheels from the mid-late 90's Dodge trucks. I'm currently looking into fitting late model 17x8 wheels from either the Durango or full size pickups for improved handling, braking, load carrying, and of course, looks.

Coolness: While the 70's and the hey day of the custom van may be over, the full-size van still has its place. The basic design of this van dates back to the days of disco, and that's okay, making it easier to find parts if you need them, and sort of a modern throw back to the "old days". Keep it stock, or personalize it, the van is certainly a welcome alternative to the SUV.

Value: We bought the van for about half the Blue Book price. Given that, and its general mechanical durability, I feel that we have a good vehicle that will more than suit its purpose in reasonable comfort and reliability, while delivering decent fuel economy.