11th Jul 2008, 12:54

I own a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT that has about 52K on it, and from day 1 have had a popping sound in the front end, especially when I made a turn.

I took it to the dealership when it was still under warranty, and they tightened a few bolts. Then the dealership tried to say it was the steering case ($500).

All this, even though it was under warranty when the problem starting happening, and then it was still making the noise so I took it back in to the same dealership; big mistake, and they charged me another $1000 dollars to fix something that ended up fixing nothing.

It is good to hear that it may have something to do with the traction control, but I am sick of dealing with dealers for maintenance. They act like they have no clue what is going on when it is obvious on this website that this is a pretty common problem.

I also have the rear driver side power sliding door that will only open automatically about a foot. Anyone have any ideas on this one?

Other than that, the vehicle has been wonderful.

11th Jul 2008, 22:18

In November 2006 I bought a 2006 Grand Caravan. I too have had to have all three automatic doors in to be fixed because of intermittent problems of them opening/closing.

I have now been in to the dealer three times since June 25/08 to have the A/C fixed. It lasted 5 days the first time and one day the second time.

Today, they couldn't fix it and I'll have to bring it back next week for further diagnostics, but they believe the evaporator will need to be replaced next.

I too have treated this vehicle, as I do all of my vehicles, very well and have religiously followed the maintenance schedule. Prior to this I owned a 2000 Jeep Cherokee that I thought was a lemon due to the number of things that continually went wrong with it. So I traded it in for a 2003 Jeep Liberty, which I loved and had no problems with.

However, I do feel that if I were to purchase another van, I would spend the extra money and buy a Toyota. Which is too bad for the North American car market.

11th Jul 2008, 23:45

If anyone wants a really unreliable vehicle, get a Windstar or Freestar. I have never seen such poor quality engineering in my life, overall they are just unreliable.

P.S Caravans had 20 years of great reports and reliability.

14th Jul 2008, 23:16

I bought a 2005 Grand Caravan as a program van with 28,000. Replaced the brakes the next week.

I've put 3 fuel sensors in it, and the fuel sensor malfunction light is on again. The dealer's service dept. say they want to do exploratory troubleshooting at $85 per hour and feel the fly wheel is cracked. (6 to 8 hours)

Passenger side window does not work.

Power locks are out.

Lights turn on 1 out of 7 times and almost never in cold, wet weather. They will go out also while driving.

Right side turn signal is out.

We have also done the recalls.

My other 2 Caravans (1996, 2001) both had 195,000+ and very little trouble except tension pulley's. This is my last one.

25th Jul 2008, 05:22

2005 Grand Caravan SXT.

Bought used at 38k. Owned 4 months.

So far...

Passenger power sliding door - started opening and closing about a foot then stopped. Opens fine manually.

AC stopped working last week.

Brakes - could not stop squeaking and vibration on new pads and rotors until we finally caved and replaced the factory brakes with Brembo pads and rotors for the front. It now stops well - but rears still squeak. We put 3rd tier pads and rotors on my other cars and have NO problems!

Rack and pinion was leaking, which was replaced before purchase.

We don't have much faith in North American cars and this was a leap of faith. I have never owned a vehicle that has had so many problems so early on.

That being said: Drives like a charm and is a lot of bang for the buck.

Really looking for an explanation for the door. Dealers want to be paid to simply take a look and act like it is a mystery. Meanwhile it is obvious that it is common, and they should be able to diagnose without charging me.

Thanks.

5th Aug 2008, 19:18

I have a 2005 Grand Caravan SXT, purchased new, and now has about 40k miles. I am recently experiencing a lot of vibration when I apply the brake when traveling on the freeway at high speed. It is very nerve racking - almost feel like the brakes will fail. Is this simply a rotor issue? Do I need to resurface or replace, and how much might this cost at the Dealership roughly? Thanks.

7th Aug 2008, 09:40

The 38,000 is probably Canadian Dollars since there is CD after the amount. Also, purchased a 2005 GC used with 28K miles. I have had the AC and Wiper recall. I had the rotors turned and pads replaced at about 35K.

The car has now about 53K on it. No real problems with sway bar, or scrub sound, although I don't think I have traction control.

I also wonder if most problems are occurring in the SXT model, which I do not have. I do hear a rattle crunching sound in the engine bay, which might be the idler pulley someone else had replaced.

The only current problem is that the light for the rear wiper is burned out. Also, the rear axle is slightly out of factory specs and would cost several hundred dollars to shim.

The tires were replaced in the 35K range, but expect that from cheap stock tires.

Hope my 3.3 holds up. We had a 1996 Caravan with the 3.0 Mitsubishi motor in it. Constant issues with that car, although the motor held up. The transmission gave out twice in that van and brakes, pulleys constantly replaced.