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Bought a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan with 98,180 miles on it

16 messages,  Last post on Nov 21, 2011 at 11:43 AM

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

What is this discussion about? Chrysler Grand Voyager, Dodge Grand Caravan, Van

Messages Page 2 of 3

#4 of 16 Re: Bought a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan with 98,180 miles on it [big_poppabear] by scoutll

Jul 11, 2009 (10:05 pm)

Replying to: big_poppabear (Mar 23, 2009 8:53 pm)
I had a 2003 GC and the light came on at around 90,000 miles. It would go off periodically, but always came back on. It would stay off for a couple days when ever the battery was disconnected for a while. The code always came up as a vac leak in the emissions system. Never could find it (the leak) or get the light to stay off permanently.
The van is now owned by a good friend, has about 150,000 on it and the light still comes on whenever it feels like it. Never had any other problem with it other than a new ignition switch at 110,000.

#5 of 16 Re: Bought a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan with 98,180 miles on it [scoutll] by LASHAWN

Jul 30, 2009 (2:15 pm)

Replying to: scoutll (Jul 11, 2009 10:05 pm)
I have a1996 Town & Country(selling it now) that has 155k miles on it and the CEL comes on every now and then and don't know why. But recently for some odd reason we switched to using name brand fuel stations(BP, Exxon, Shell) it seems to run better and the CEL hasn't come on for past 2 months. Wierd

#6 of 16 Re: Bought a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan with 98,180 miles on it [LASHAWN] by big_poppabear

Jul 30, 2009 (3:01 pm)

Replying to: LASHAWN (Jul 30, 2009 2:15 pm)
The message light is gone now, it could be because I only use ExxonMobil gas. It is one of the perks since I work for them.
 
It's a great van and the whole family loves it.

#7 of 16 Re: Bought a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan with 98,180 miles on it [scoutll] by lokiwong

Aug 20, 2009 (4:40 pm)

Replying to: scoutll (Jul 11, 2009 10:05 pm)
2003 Grand Caravan, low mileage. Check engine light came on for the same reason as previously posted. No luck with the "replace the gas cap solution." My friend the mechanic used nitrogen to try to find the emission leak with no luck. Live in California and can't get new tags until I clear this up. Any suggestions? Looking to do a "smoke test" next, but not optimistic.

#8 of 16 CEL by big_poppabear

Aug 20, 2009 (4:56 pm)

Sorry no luck on my end either, the light comes and goes as it pleases.
 
Disconnect the battery and see if that will work. Other than that your going to have to replace the egr valve. Don't know how much it wil cost, but I was told that they had to remove the exhaust manifold to get to the EGR valve.

#9 of 16 Re: Bought a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan with 98,180 miles on it [lokiwong] by LASHAWN

Aug 25, 2009 (10:55 am)

Replying to: lokiwong (Aug 20, 2009 4:40 pm)
The only suggestion I have is to take to the nearest dealer to have looked at if you haven't already. They probably can take care of the emission test for you too, I know that some dealers perform an emissions test.

#10 of 16 Re: Bought a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan with 98,180 miles on it [LASHAWN] by scrat1

Sep 10, 2009 (6:44 pm)

Replying to: LASHAWN (Aug 25, 2009 10:55 am)
My wife has the same car 2005 dodge grand caravan about the same mileage. her check engine light just came on today. Question i have i want to get a code reader to find out what the code is. what is a good code reader to get. i was at autozone and it seems like there are so many different types. not too sure which to get then once i get the code reader where would i find out what the codes mean. i had a lot of experience on obd1 but not obd2 type of codes.

#11 of 16 Re: Bought a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan with 98,180 miles on it [scrat1] by srs_49

Sep 11, 2009 (3:38 am)

Replying to: scrat1 (Sep 10, 2009 6:44 pm)
Unless you do a lot of work on cars, a basic one that will 1) read out and display the codes and 2) allow you to reset them, is all you need. With the code in hand, there are plenty of resources on the internet that will tell you what the code means, so you don't need an OBD-II reader that does that for you.
 
I have a ~$50 Accutron that does those two things, and it's worked fine for my uses.

#12 of 16 buy 2000 GC with 96k? by tallmanswife

Dec 17, 2009 (9:10 pm)

Our local mechanic has a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan Sport, AWD, with 96,000 miles on it. I'm wary about buying a Dodge with that many miles on it. Advice?

#13 of 16 Re: buy 2000 GC with 96k? [tallmanswife] by srs_49

Dec 18, 2009 (4:53 am)

Replying to: tallmanswife (Dec 17, 2009 9:10 pm)
If you read through this forum, you will see that owners' experiences with Dodge/Chrysler minivans run the full gamut, from "total POS, I'll never own another DC product as long as I live" to "Best vehicle I've ever owned; have 200,000 miles on it and it's still going strong".
 
I got 174,000 miles on our '94 Caravan. Except for a transmission rebuild (which thankfully happened when it was still under warranty, which was 70,000 miles at the time), there were no major problems - just normal maintenance.
 
We have 60,000 miles on our 2007 DGC, and, except for one set of front brake pads and oil changes, it's hasn't needed any other work (know on wood).
 
That said, I would be hesitant to buy any vehicle with that number of miles on it unless 1) it was a really good deal, price-wise, 2) I had a good sense of how it was driven and 3) how it was maintained. Also, it's good to know why someone is getting rid of an ostensibly good running vehicle.
 
I bought a Merc Tracer for $2500 for my boys some years ago that had 125,000 miles on it. My wife worked with the owner who was going to for Africa for couple of years. I also bought a 10 year old 87 BMW with 125,000 miles for around $2500 who's owners were being transferred to Key West. Again, my wife knew the owners, plus they were able to provide many of the service records. I still have, and drive, the BMW.
 
So yes, miled-up vehicles can be good deals. You just have to be cautious and go into the deal with eyes open to fact that you may have to lay out a thousand dollars or two to fix something major or even just to catch up on neglected maintenance.

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