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Vans & Minivans Chrysler Town & Country/Dodge Grand Caravan Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan 2005+
1422 messages, Last post on Sep 25, 2009 at 8:55 AM
You are in the Chrysler Town & Country/Dodge Grand Caravan Forum. Your Host is Karens
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Replying to: micweb (Feb 01, 2006 11:09 am) |
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Replying to: frogger123 (Feb 01, 2006 2:33 pm) As to seating the rings, my understanding is that this is done, or not done, in the first 600 miles of driving - there are, as I recall, some crosshatching on the factory cylinder walls to help them scuff in. Even if your 24,000 miles is a typo (did you mean 2,400?) the rings are probably no longer an issue; but "driving hard once in a while" and varying speeds during the first critical 600-1,000 miles are definitely a good idea. I personally try to avoid full throttle until I hit 3,000 miles, but will use up to 3/4 throttle to hit high rpm, once the car is FULLY warmed up. I have also noticed engines continuing to break in over the first 10,000 miles, so something is definitely going on even after the first 600-1,000 miles, and long term car tests in the magazines often show performance increasing (not decreasing) as their test vehicles approach 15,000- 30,000 miles. I guess the total break-in process is a lot longer than we think, but at least our ability - as drivers - to harm the vehicles is a lot less after the first 600-1,000 miles.
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Replying to: micweb (Feb 01, 2006 4:46 pm) Curious as to anyones thoughts on reliability with Caravans(or any van)that have been rentals and are usually sold to the public at around 20,000 miles. Much is said about proper "break in", yet usually people(myself  ) who rent autos are pretty hard on them from the get go(i.e frequent and heavy throttle, usually long trips at a constant high speed)...or as some say "they get ragged out" Keeping this in mind, it seems to be a bit risky in buying a rental.
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Replying to: frogger123 (Feb 01, 2006 2:33 pm) Regarding your rings, my bet is that the compression rings are fully seated and there is nothing more that you can do with them shy of pulling the motor and rebuilding it (not that I'm suggesting that, it sounds like they're doing just fine). When I was mentioning your rings earlier it was in reference to your oil rings, and they don't "seat" in the conventional sense. They are however very suceptible to getting cruded up, and that means that they aren't scavenging the oil off the cylinder wall as effectively as they should. Given the relatively frequent oil changes that your van has had I'd be a little surprised if you had an oil ring problem, in spite of the Quaker State oil that has been used. Then again, maybe that stuff really is that bad. To bring this discussion full circle, I simply don't think you have anything to worry about with regards to your oil consumption. My bet is that if you keep your van properly maintained, you'll see well beyond the north side of 100,000 miles as still won't see your oil consumption drop to the point of concern (i.e. 1 quart per 1,000 miles). Best Regards, Shipo
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Replying to: shipo (Feb 01, 2006 6:37 pm) |
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I found out that extra bins for the overhead rail system are indeed $140 (yes 140) PER BIN...Vans equiped with the system have room for 2 or 3 more (as noted in sales literature)..SO $280, or $420 EEEEEEEEK Where can I find a wreck? Tony |
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Replying to: frogger123 (Jan 31, 2006 7:50 pm)
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Replying to: genetuck (Feb 03, 2006 12:56 am)
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Replying to: frogger123 (Jan 31, 2006 10:07 am)
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Replying to: genetuck (Feb 03, 2006 9:43 pm) Both of our DGCs showed noticable power and mileage improvements through 20,000 miles where things pretty much leveled off. That having been said, with 106K on one van and 58K on the other, both seem to have marginally improved since then. I say "seem to" simply because a half of a mile per gallon is hard to prove given all of the other factors that could be in play here. At this point, our 1998 3.8 is able to do about 24 mpg on the highway and our 2003 3.8 is more like 26. Of course a few weeks ago we had some "Hurricane force winds" one evening, and on that drive home I got 11 mpg at a steady 65 from the 1998 (I knew it would be bad so I reset the OBC so I could see just how bad). The good news is that the next morning, even though the winds had died down to a nice 20-30 knot breeze, I managed to get 28 mpg for that same 40 mile commute back to work.  Best Regards, Shipo |
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