26th Feb 2010, 16:43

I am the original owner of a 1999 Grand Caravan that now has 127,000 miles. Never had a serpentine problem until last night.

After going thru a large puddle during a winter rain storm, I lost power steering, got the battery light, and began to overheat about 1 mile from my home. Luckily I made it home.

Last night I feverishly read many of the posts on this problem to prepare for this new adventure. Today I replaced the belt with new Gator-back belt in about an hour and by myself.

I owe my success to the following two valuable tips I read last night: 1) loop the old belt around the 15mm wrench and use your foot to maintain the large force needed to sufficiently relieve the tensioner, and 2) position the belt under the smooth idler pulley last. I nearly stood on the lower belt loop to get enough force to be able to slide the belt under the idler.

Thanks to those who contributed these tips. I doubt I could have completed this any other way. Hopefully, I also learned a lesson in the process and will avoid the puddles.

14th Apr 2010, 12:46

I have a 2003 Dodge Grand Caravan, and I've always had a lot of squealing from the belt during periods of rain.

One night I started the van after it had been sitting in the rain for a couple of hours, and had no power steering. I cut the engine, and power steering came back after re-starting. The belt has come off twice when it was NOT raining, but knock on wood, no problems in the last 3 months.

My parents had a Chrysler Town & Country that did the same thing. Their belt came off 3 times in clear weather, had the tensioner replaced, and sold the van.

Love my Dodge, but hope they fix this problem before I decide to buy another one.

9th Jul 2010, 15:18

I have a 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan. Bought it at 100K miles, and it is now at 150K miles.

Yesterday I drove it in slight rain, and drove through a small puddle of water, and the serpentine belt came off while I was trying to take a right turn at the signal. Could not steer and it was scary. Got the vehicle towed to the nearest Dodge dealer and they said it is a known problem. I was told the serpentine belt will be off if you drive the Caravan/Town & Country/Voyager in rain or through puddle of water. They just put the belt on and offered a permanent fix for 300 dollars. I rejected it.

Why don't Dodge fix it for free? It is potentially a safety hazard for the drivers, passengers and others vehicles on the road. Do Chrysler folks expect no rain when customer drives these vehicles? Or even if it rains, they don't expect water on the road? and the water won't splash? What a pathetic design by Chrysler's engineers? Why is this not recalled yet? Do Chrysler expect all Caravans and Town & Countrys be garaged when it rains?

3rd Aug 2010, 19:00

Just found this site/review. Have been battling this belt slip-off condition for a few years, including myself and professional mechanic services. '99 grand caravan 3.8L.

I've read about the aftermarket Gates & Goodyear products, for the 1st time, here today. That is to say, it is not a universally known fact. My wife & kids use this van. I can't just "go out and buy something else" (not yet, anyway). Surely all the powers-that-be understand that this is a potentially deadly safety hazard, and only a recall could properly alert the consumer and fix the problem. This is a clear indication of how things are working in such places.

I am appalled at Chrysler pretending to know nothing about it, and the goverment not doing anything about it as a result.

I am quite ashamed of this criminal behavior at the expense of the (potentially) lives, but definitely time, money, and inconvenience, of the consumers.

I will be avoiding Chrysler products from now on, and will advise all I know to do the same, mostly because of the way they have (or have not) reacted to this issue. Makes me ashamed that they are called an American company.

16th Aug 2010, 20:56

Belt problem fix solution on the 3.3L motor. See my original solution is described on 14th Jul 2008, 23:12 comment and it worked. The solution was to put a thin metal shim between the lower side idler arm bracket and engine bracket my serpentine belt has never come off in rain, snow or any other time. I have put 35k miles on the vehicle and trust it anywhere. The cost of the shim was $2.00 and two hours of my time. It's pretty obvious to me know that the issue causing the belt to slip was an improperly aligned belt not running in a flat plane. This may have been due to a bracket or motor mount that fatigued, bent or deformed at one time. Good luck.

18th Aug 2010, 13:04

Have been a 98 Grand Caravan owner for 10 years.

I knew about the throwing problem from other repair reading, but it never happened to me. Recently I had a chirping water pump and replaced it along with tensioner pulley.

Guess what happened the next time it rained, while I was on I81 just outside of nowhere? One post here, by a mechanic, mentions the practice of using a straight edge to align the pulleys. Many posts refer to adding some sort of lip arrangement. Why Chrysler would have put so much faith in alignment perfection is baffling. All of the old cars use lipped pulleys.

To the guys who talk about putting your kids in an old car or trying to cross a river at speed, I would suggest a course on reading comprehension and possibly one on proper etiquette when addressing persons making less than $200K/year. Why would we own old vehicles if we didn't have to. Heck, I should have just told my chauffeur to "handle it".

If you don't currently have the problem, you're lucky. If you change any part of the drive belt system components, expect a problem. From these posts it is apparent that any opportunity for slight misalignment of the component pulleys can cause belt jump and introduction of liquids, especially viscous ones, can act as a catalyst.

Obviously, many Chrysler mechanics are not trained on the alignment criticality.

HarborFreight.com sells a belt tensioner tool for $16 ($10 on sale) that will make very quick work of getting the belt back on. Some parts stores lend them with a deposit.