19th Nov 2005, 10:46

We have a '99 Grand Caravan Sport with 78,000 miles on it that we bought new. Up until last night we had no belt problems other than a constant squeak. My wife just pulled in the drive and heard a metal sounding clunk and noticed she lost power steering. She got out and looked under the van and saw nothing and drove on to the house (3/10 mile long driveway) and shut it off. I came home and looked it over and found the whole tensioner assembly with the bolt broken off underneath the main engine pulley on some plastic shroud. Glad it happened in the driveway. Haven't called dealer or mechanic yet. Does the bolt go through bracket with a nut on the other side or does it thread into the bracket? I couldn't tell last night when I looked. Wish me luck! Sounds like there is a major issue here. I've never been a big Mopar fan, but have enjoyed this van until now.

22nd Nov 2005, 06:59

I have a 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.8l with 68,000 miles, my wife and kids were in the van Nov.21st in a heavy rain when the belt came off for the first time. I bought a new Good Year belt, but found out the tensioner spring must be broke because there is no tension. I purchased a new tensioner from Auto Zone, but how do you get to the bolt on the back of the old tensioner to replace it. I am looking at going to the dealer for a replacement and a bill of over $200. Any suggestions or information on how to replace the tensioner? Also does anyone know of a recall or permanent fix? Looks a lot of people are having this safety issue.

29th Nov 2005, 17:54

2000 Dodge Grand Caravan with 88,000 kms - had this same problem today while going through a pile of slush on an otherwise clear street. The belt flew off and lost power steering (also the battery warning light came on). I drove it home and to a dealer and am now up for a $270 bill. They said the belt came off and the tensioner needed to be replaced. I'll never buy a Dodge (or other domestic vehicle) again.

4th Dec 2005, 19:30

I am very interested in the belt problem. I had one go two years ago in a snowstorm, and again Friday night after a heavy snow. I'm wondering if Chrysler feels they have any responsibility for such a made design. In the shop the counter person told us to expect this from N. American cars, as this is our first, and probably our last.

9th Dec 2005, 12:58

Hello all.

Same problem. 1990 Caravan, 3.3 V-6, 158,000 miles. Driving to work this morning, hit a pile of snow that was about 2 feet hight. Belt came off. Nearly froze to death (not really) waiting for a ride.

Not looking forward to standing in 2 feet of snow to replace it.

Haven't had any other problems though.

10th Dec 2005, 18:34

It's rather surprising to read all the comments from irate owners, that a belt came off while crashing through 2-foot high piles of snow and frozen slush. Surely it has occurred to you that a mini-van is not a monster truck with two feet of ground clearance. You are lucky not to have ripped off the radiator and transmission cooler, and torn off the front valence. Is no one willing to accept responsibility that they were pushing their car to do something it was not meant to do?! And yes, that they were ABUSING their car by driving it that way? Get real. Perhaps a few driver's licenses need to be recalled, rather than the vans.

15th Dec 2005, 14:47

Today, I have taken my 1996 Dodge Caravan to have the serpentine belt put back on for the third time. Now I am paying $260 to have the tensioner and pulley replaced. This is my third Dodge Caravan, but I will never buy another one. I was stuck on a busy expressway, trying to steer and it was pouring down rain.

11th Jan 2006, 14:41

WOW! I cannot believe Chrysler is not doing something about this.

I just got off the phone for the 3rd time with Daimler Chrysler's Customer Service Dept in Windsor, On.

I have been trying to resolve this exact issue for my Elderly father.

He has a 2000 Caravan which he has had into the dealership 4 times and all they keep doing is replacing the Serpentine Belt and Tensioner... the last time was only 6 months apart.

Why are they hiding the fact that there is an obvious problem?

Why are the dealerships not fixing the problem correctly?

I will be going into the dealership with printed copies of this thread and a copy of the All-data Tech report for backup.

If anyone knows any other information, please let us know.

19th Jan 2006, 14:11

I have a 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan and I have spent several thousand dollars fixing the same problem as everyone else. I have replaced everything except the van. I cannot tell you how many times it has left my wife on the side of road. It is in the shop again today I want to feel confident that it is fixed so I can put a big for sale sign on it.

27th Jan 2006, 19:19

I own a 1999 Dodge Caravan with automatic transmission. Right now I am experiencing a problem with the transmission with the vehicle that has only 87 thousands kilometers. Does any one have similar problem with this low kilometers? Sometimes the transmission doesn't engage either on reverse or drive position especially when the engine is cold.

6th Feb 2006, 20:58

My wife and I also have a 1996 Dodge Caravan, and four times in the last 12 months the serpentine belt has slipped off when driving on wet roads.

The individual in an earlier posting who blasted other car-owners for abusing their vans or deliberately driving hard in adverse conditions clearly doesn't know what they're talking about. Each time the belt has slipped off our Caravan, it has been under normal road conditions--not in floods or deep snow-drifts, not even in pounding rain: just wet roads, small puddles.

AND: once it happened to our teen-aged daughter, a new driver, a petite girl who definitely does not have the strength to drive safely under a sudden loss of power steering. Thank God she wasn't in a horrible accident. My wife asked me when Chrysler was going to bite the bullet and admit there's a design flaw, do a recall, and fix the problem. I told her probably not until a thousand people die. It sounds cynical, but I imagine I'm not far from the truth.

My wife called me at work this afternoon to tell me it happened again, and I got on the phone to the local Chrysler dealership. Their shop manager hadn't ever heard of the problem; he found no recalls and didn't know about the technical service bulletin mentioned here in another posting until I told him about it.

I'm not a mechanic--I'm an English teacher--but I've figured out a few things in the past and I hope I'll succeed this time too. Here's what I see about this.

If you take a look under your van, you'll see what the problem is, or at least one of the problems. The splash-guard Chrysler put in this car repels water from the passenger-side wheel-well, but IT'S OPEN ON THE OTHER SIDE, NOT 8 INCHES FROM THE ROAD SURFACE. It's OPEN! Water splashed from the left side of the car, say from a puddle hit by the driver-side wheel or during a left turn, will easily wash up & over the open edge of the splash-guard, dousing the rear lower pulley with a good gush of water. No wonder the belt comes off! That, combined with the fact that--as several people above have commented--the tensioner pulley has no outer lip to retain the belt--it's also just open to side-ways movement--means the belts come off. Ridiculous. The designers of these automobiles ought to be required to drive them, or to have their wives & daughters drive them. I'll bet if they did, they'd come up with some solutions pretty quick.

Here's an English teacher's three-pronged plan of attack. 1: get new belt; 2: get more splash protection to the underside; 3: get a tensioner pulley with a lip on it. Here's the story so far.

1. Today I got a new Gator-back belt and put it on. Huge effort. Like the guy said above, get a shirt you don't mind throwing away afterwards, get a can of Go-Jo, and be prepared to grunt and get covered in grease. Before I put the new belt on, I sprayed engine degreaser on all the pulleys including the tensioner and wiped them down clean.

2. Then I got a flat piece of splash-guard I picked up on the side of the road last month (for this very purpose) and attached it to the open edge of the existing splash-guard. I drilled 1/4" holes and put six or eight of those plastic trim bolts with the pressure fins and pushed them in to hold the two shields together. I did the same with the front edge, hooking it onto the lower edge of the plastic bumper, and wedged the rear edge of the new shield above the steel cross-member behind the oil pan. It looks like it'll stay in place and by golly now no water is going to find its way to the drive belt under any circumstances.

3. My last scheme isn't done yet: I'll go to the parts store and get a pulley about the same diameter as the pulley on the tensioner--maybe a little bigger, for added tension--with a LIP on it for goodness' sake (come on, Chrysler! get brilliant for once!).

I'll write again to tell how this plan of attacking the problem works--some of the rest of you may want to try some or all of them. I'll sign with a fake name so you'll be able to catch the update.

"Chuck" (not my real name) from "Chattanooga" (not my real town)