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Caravan/Voyager Warning Lights & Problem Codes

42 messages, Last post on Mar 21, 2009 at 2:44 PM
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Replying to: van_mann (Aug 21, 2006 8:53 am)
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The "door open" warning light and warning bell come on while I am driving. All doors are closed securely. How do you disconnect this system?
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Replying to: chafuq (Oct 17, 2006 6:18 am) |
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...and it is flashing indicating that "...serious conditions that could lead to immediate loss of power or severe catalytic converter damage..." I can also sense burning gas ans the whole engine 9and the car) are shaking lile Little Richard. What's wrong and what to do? |
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I am having a problem with my 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan Sport. My oil light is coming on and the oil is not low. The oil light does not stay on all the time, it comes on once I have driven the van approximately 12 miles or so, then it comes on when I am no longer accelerating. Once I accelerate again, the light goes off. Does anyone have a clue as to what this could be? Please help!!!! Thanks! Gail
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Replying to: agdowdle (Oct 30, 2006 11:45 am) Under the assumption that the above is true (as opposed to an electrical problem, a problem which is highly unlikely to manifest itself this way), the reason that the light goes off when you are accelerating is that the transmission is typically in a lower gear meaning that the engine driven oil pump is running at a higher RPM which in turn means that it is pumping more oil. Sludging is fairly easily diagnosed. You should simply be able to open the oil filler cap and look inside. On the 3.3 and 3.8 liter V6 engines you should see nice clean rocker arms, identical to the ones that can be viewed in my "Caravan Stuff" photo album on my Yahoo! photos page: http://photos.yahoo.com/shipo If instead you see lots of crud built up around the rocker arms and rocker shaft or on the underlying cylinder head, your engine is sludged. Regarding the Mitsubishi 3.0 liter V6 (if you have that engine instead of either of the Chrysler V6s), I haven't looked through the oil filler hole of one of those since a friend of mine had an old Dodge Dynasty back in the 1980s so I'm not sure if you can similar engine details. Another thing you can do to help us offer more qualified opinions as to what your problem might be, is if you would post some particulars about your van. I'm including a list of points to cover to help get you started: - Engine model [3.0, 3.3, 3.8] liter V6, Note: for the 3.3s and the 3.8s, the displacement is casted into the top of the intake plenum on the 1998 engines) - Typical type of traffic encountered when driving the van - Typical time duration and mileage distance for each trip - Total miles on engine - Typical miles driven between oil changes - Typical type of oil used - How many oil changes went beyond the recommendation of 7,500 miles - How many oil changes went beyond 10,000 miles - Greatest number of miles driven on a single oil change Best Regards, Shipo
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Replying to: stashshel (Sep 24, 2006 1:53 pm)
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Replying to: samson4954 (Nov 03, 2006 4:41 pm) If you don't have an electronic dash, take it to Autozone, Murray's or something similar and they will read it for free. |
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Replying to: shipo (Oct 30, 2006 1:48 pm) Thanks
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Replying to: hakb (Nov 07, 2006 6:14 am) Were I in your shoes I'd try a heavier oil first before I did anything else. IIRC, our vans call for 5W-30 oil in the Owner's Manual, however, as I've now had a couple of cars that call for 0W-40 and as I don't like keeping different kinds of oil in my garage, I started using 0W-40 in both of our 3.8 liter DGCs a couple of years back. As the 0W-40 won't thin out as much as 5W-30 when at operating temperatures, I'd start there. If you are still seeing the light at idle with that oil I'd probably bump the oil up to either a 5W-50 (hard to find here in the U.S.A.) or a 15W-50 and try one of them out. While I consider it fairly likely that the heavier oils will solve the light issue; if they don't then your only other option will be to drop the oil pan and have the (four) main and (six) rod bearings replaced. I haven't heard of anybody ever having to have that done to the DC V6 engines in our minivans so I don't have a real good feel for the potential cost. That having been said I guess I wouldn't be too surprised if you were quoted between $500 and $1,000 plus parts. The counterpoint to all of this is that if you are running low oil pressure at idle only, your engine will most likely last many more years (assuming you keep good oil in it). I had an old (as in old when I bought it) 1966 Plymouth Valiant with the 225 "Slant-Six" engine that was constantly winking at me when idling. I bought the car with 103,000 miles on the clock and finally pulled and overhauled the engine when the odo showed 210,000 miles. It was still running perfectly well I just simply got tired of feeding it oil all of the time. Best Regards, Shipo |
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