2nd Oct 2007, 13:44

I made it to 203,000 before I lost my first serpentine belt on my 1997 Dodge Caravan. I didn't lose it. It shredded while I was teaching my 16 year old to drive and made a big thumping sound, scaring me and my son. When replacing the belt, my mechanic saw that it had a misaligned tensioner and replaced it also, not with a knockoff, but with a Dodge part.

Since then, it's come off 3 times. I'm taking him the link to these comments to see if any of them help. Avoiding puddles in Florida is, unfortunately, impossible. Same with avoiding driving in the rain. I'll have him check out all of the comments. It's extremely frustrating to him and me,

11th Dec 2007, 03:21

I have a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan, and my wife was going to a friend's house and it started raining, and ten minutes after she had left home, she said the van was hard to turn. The first thing I figured was that the serpentine belt had broken. She brought it back home, I put the belt back on, and the very next day she was on her to work it started raining and the belt came off again. My question is why won't Dodge address this issue? This is a serious problem with this vehicle.

27th Jan 2008, 16:12

We have a 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan with about 86k miles. We have only owned the car for 5 years and bought it at 50k miles. Our serpentine belt has come off twice in the rain stranding my wife and two small daughters at an intersection the first time, and the second time was just today when we loaned our car to a friend.

I doubt I will buy a Dodge again. Something this common that could potentially be this serious should be taken care of by a recall.

8th Mar 2008, 21:40

We have a Dodge Caravan 2000. Nov. 2007 our mechanic replaced the serpentine belt, March 2008 (after 4 months)it came off and left my wife stranded, good thing our daughter was not with her. I took it to the garage, they cleaned and put them back. The next day it came off again, so I just put them back on myself. My wife is too afraid to drive it ever since, so we're planning to replace it soon and NEVER TO BUY DODGE ANYMORE.

24th Mar 2008, 07:52

I own a 2000 Dodge Caravan. In the 5 years of owing it I had to replace the Tensioner Pulley 3 times. And plus the 5 Serpentine Belts it has chewed up during these troubled times. Also I live in a part of Canada where the snow fall does get extreme and when I "run" into a snow drift the Serpentine Belt would kick off. I called Dodge and they're aware of the problem. All they recommended for me to do is to purchase a snow shield (A round circular piece of metal that is attached to the Tensioner Pulley, its about a 1/4 higher in diameter then the Tensioner Pulley). This solution did help me when my van encountered snow drifts, but the van still goes through Tensioner Pulleys like an old man goes through Depends under garments! (LOL)

26th Mar 2008, 16:43

I own a 2000 Dodge Caravan. On one occasion the serpentine belt came off. I put the belt back on and had no problems until recently when I had the transmission rebuilt.

After 1 week of driving and 350 miles, I heard a loud squealing and smelled burning. I stopped the van, looked under the hood and noticed wear on the serpentine belt (top of the belt on the engine side). Called a mechanic; when he came to tow the van the problem had stopped and the van ran fine. He removed the belt and checked all the pulleys and they all worked fine. He replaced the belt, and no problems till now now. I am getting a humm from the air conditioning compressor and have developed a tick in the engine. Any ideas or suggestions?

18th Apr 2008, 23:16

We didn't have any troubles with the serpentine belt on our 2000 Caravan until the first time we replaced it. The mechanic told us that we needed to replace the tensioner, so we did. That was about three years ago. Since then, we have had the belt slip off five times, always driving through water that accumulates on a right curb in a rainstorm, and once snow on the curb.

The last time this happened (yesterday), the tow truck driver said he makes a pretty good living towing Chrysler/Dodge minivans in the rain.

Reading over these comments (very useful) I am beginning to believe it is an pulley alignment/bearing problem, since we had so many miles before with no problem whatsoever. Yeah, we have had two more tensioners, but never had the pulley alignment/bearings looked at.

It is about time for a new timing belt. That sounds to me like an excellent time to get the whole serpentine pulley system looked at.

28th Dec 2008, 10:33

I have a 2000 Grand Caravan. The belt has fallen off 2 times since I got it in August of of this year. I've already replaced the belt 2 times. One time I was driving with my 2 young children and the belt flew off, and I couldn't steer and I was on the Boulevard in Rome, NY and I had to get off of it somehow and I almost hit a cement pole. I just missed this pole by a inch.

I'm scared to drive this van anywhere, and it's my only transportation. I think Chrysler should have a recall on these vans. I've stuck almost $1000 in this van since August and it's only December.

25th Mar 2009, 22:55

Thank you all for these valuable comments. I just began getting this problem with the belt going off when it rains. This happened already twice in the last two months. I own a Grand Caravan 2000. I will try with my mechanic to change the tensioner and see if that works. Today I had not to use my car. It just does not make sense to me, and I am scared to keep driving this car.

21st Apr 2009, 01:18

I have a 2000 Grand Caravan, and replaced the tension pulley a couple of years ago, and got robbed in my opinion, and paid over 200 bucks for it.

Exactly 4 months ago, the serpentine belt slipped off when I went through a huge puddle on the BQE in Brooklyn, NY (anyone who's driven on the BQE knows how it gets flooded out in a rainstorm). I had it replaced, the tensioner and all other pulleys were fine so I figured it was just time for a new belt, but here I am, 4 months to the day and the belt slipped off again, in another rainstorm, on the same damn highway!! I am going to be calling the regional manager at the Dodge dealership I bought the van from, since I bought it new and sent a ton of business their way with my family and friends, and we'll see where it gets me. This seems to be a major problem, and should seriously be recalled by the company!!