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Chrysler Town & Country overheating

45 messages,  Last post on Jan 14, 2013 at 5:09 PM

You are in the Chrysler Town & Country/Dodge Grand Caravan Forum.

What is this discussion about? Chrysler Town and Country, Van

Messages Page 2 of 6

#4 of 45 Re: Chrysler Town & Country overheating [hp3] by mikewilson2

May 16, 2007 (10:30 am)

Replying to: hp3 (May 11, 2007 9:38 am)
I just had an overheating problem that resulted in ruining the motor. The rear heater tubes rusted out, ran the coolant out of the sysytem and the engine seized. Has anyone else had this issue? I have been told by two garages that this is a "normal" problem with this model. I am looking at a $3000 bill for new motor and heater tubes. My van has 117,000. Do I put the money into it and then have the transmission go or something else.
Has anyone had transmission problems with this model (2002 T & C)

#5 of 45 Overheating by jgianino

May 18, 2007 (1:48 pm)

My 1999 Chrysler T&C overheated earlier today. First I smelled anti-freeze then a few minutes later the temp went to HOT. The alarm came on them the fast beep followed. There was no heat coming out of the vents when I tried to turn the heat on full. My wife arrived with bottle of anti-freeze and water. I filled the radiator which was empty. I drove home barely making it before the heat went to HOT once again. What do you think the problem it. Radiator hose?, Themostat? or something else? Thanks, JTG

#6 of 45 Re: Overheating [jgianino] by xwesx

May 18, 2007 (4:17 pm)

Replying to: jgianino (May 18, 2007 1:48 pm)
Hard to say without seeing where it was leaking (spraying!) out, so it is probably worth your while to fill it up (with water... a little more environmentally friendly!) and let it run out again. Sounds like a hose split, a clamp failed, or maybe a fitting cracked/broke.

#7 of 45 Re: Overheating [xwesx] by jgianino

May 19, 2007 (1:19 pm)

Replying to: xwesx (May 18, 2007 4:17 pm)
xwesx - I took your advice and filled the radiator with water only. I ran the engine for 20 minutes. Temp guage never went past 1/2 way. Tried running heat on full and only cold air came out. Then I heard a click and the air warmed up a bit then went back to cold. All the time the temp guage stayed on 1/2. (warm). No apparent leaks coming from the undercarriage. ???????

#8 of 45 Re: Overheating [jgianino] by xwesx

May 20, 2007 (12:45 pm)

Replying to: jgianino (May 19, 2007 1:19 pm)
Hmmm..... well, if you lost fluid the first two times, it must have gone somewhere. So, did you see white smoke out the exhaust? Are there any "wet" areas in the engine bay? On the engine or transmission? On the undercarriage?
 
At this point I would recommend a full visual inspection of hoses, clamps, gaskets, radiator cap, and engine oil. "Wet" areas on hoses, clamps, radiator cap, or gaskets may point to the area of failure, though it may be something that currently requires higher-than-idle RPMs to manifest itself. Frothiness or coolant in the engine oil would point to a failed head gasket or cracked block, though I have not heard that to be a common occurrence in these engines.
 
The on-and-off of the heater may point to a faulty thermostat. When your engine heats up and stabilizes at 1/2 on the guage, feel your upper radiator hose - it should be warm/hot to the touch. If it remains cold or goes warm then cold, then the thermostat is likely bad.
 
Did your radiator's cooling fans come on at all while it was idling?
 
If all of this yields nothing, you may need to add coolant to the system again and wait until it manifests once more.

#9 of 45 Re: Overheating [xwesx] by jgianino

May 20, 2007 (3:40 pm)

Replying to: xwesx (May 20, 2007 12:45 pm)
No wetness that I could see. The only thing I'm recalling now when you mentioned RPM. Right before the initial smell of radiator fluid I was sitting in my son's school parking lot. He was in the back seat and when I was reaching to hand him a drink I push off what I thought was the floorboard but was actually the accelerator. I quickly realized what I had done and quickly removed my foot. I do not know how high the RPM's got but I am now concerned that I might have hurt the engine.

#10 of 45 Re: Chrysler Town & Country overheating [mikewilson2] by jpf

May 20, 2007 (5:58 pm)

Replying to: mikewilson2 (May 16, 2007 10:30 am)
I have heard of this problem before with other vehicles. Do you live in an area where a lot of road salt is used during the winter months? If so, then after 4 or 5 winters this problem can readily occur. Washing the undercarriage of the vehicle on a regular basis is a good preventative maintenance measure. If you decide to keep the vehicle and replace the engine, then I would recommend changing the transmission fluid and filter. An overheat situation, also means the transmission fluid was not properly cooled and may be contaminated. Keeping the old tranny fluid may damage the transmission. Good luck.

#11 of 45 Re: Chrysler Town & Country overheating [jpf] by jgianino

May 20, 2007 (6:16 pm)

Replying to: jpf (May 20, 2007 5:58 pm)
Are you telling me that I cracked my block. If not what are you telling me. I let the car run for an hour today without overheating. I drove it around but I never revved the engine.

#12 of 45 Re: Chrysler Town & Country overheating [jgianino] by xwesx

May 21, 2007 (10:37 am)

Replying to: jgianino (May 20, 2007 6:16 pm)
This poster was responding to a different post.
 
I am not sure I would consider a cracked block at this point. Did you check your engine oil for any contamination?
 
It may be worthwhile to replace the thermostat just as a matter of caution, but the fact that the heater core goes cool leads me to think that it is a circulation issue and that means either: 1) thermostat, 2) water pump, or 3) blockage (air or debris).
 
Any of these could cause intermittent problems unless one has completely failed.

#13 of 45 Re: Chrysler Town & Country overheating [masterpaul1] by hp3

Jun 05, 2007 (2:16 pm)

Replying to: masterpaul1 (May 11, 2007 5:19 pm)
Thanks very much. The problem was the fan relay. I checked all suggestions above. After taking it to a shop, they decided it was either relay or temp sensor and changed relay first. The sensor is fine.
 
The main tip-off: when it was overheating, the fans weren't running.... even when AC was turned on. Everything else was operating normally and there were no other inidcators such as cracked blocks, plugged thermonstats etc.

Messages Page 2 of 6

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