It appears that Dodge has a lot of problems with Head gasket repairs.
I have a 1998 Grand Caravan with 51,000km and a head gasket that is leaking anti freeze.
I have begun discussions with the dealership service manager and dodge about admitting this problem and getting dodge to pay for all/part of the repairs.
Everyone is denying that this is a common problem and that any additional hidden warranty exists.
The Canadian Chrysler Cust support rep stats that reported problems, repairs and class action suites in the states do not apply to Canada and that they are unaware of any problems with the gaskets in a Caravan.
Any help on evidence related to Canada and that Dodge has helped with repair costs in Canada would be appreciated.
PS)They are trying to convince me to replace the other head gasket once everything has been taken apart.
Please reply to snipped-for-privacy@usask.ca and or post to this thread.
This is probably not an accurate quote of what you were told. Certain Chrysler minivan engines (in particular the 2.4 litre 4-cylinder) have had head gasket issues. Certain other engines (3.0, 3.3 and 3.8 litre V6s) have had no such systematic issues. The 2.4 litre 4-cylinder engine is not available in the Grand Caravan, so that engine's head gasket issues do not apply to your vehicle. Therefore, a statement of "no problems with the gaskets in your vehicle" would be correct, since you don't own a (non-Grand) Caravan with a 4-cylinder engine.
"The other head gasket" only exists in the V6 engines. Head gaskets probably should not leak coolant at 51,000 KM, though it can happen if you have rotten luck or, particularly, if the wrong coolant formulation is used. A common such mistaken application is using GM Dex-Cool or an aftermarket Dex-Cool formulation in a system not _specifically_ designed for Dex-Cool. Coolant colour is no longer the accurate means of identifying formulation that it once was, and both the original coolant in a '98 Chrysler product and Dex-Cool are red-orange in colour.
All of this isn't to deny that your head gasket leaks, but to point out that it's probably not Chrysler's fault.
The head gasket seals oil passages, coolant passages and combustion chambers (cylinders). Therefore, the symptoms depend on the type of failure. If there is a failure between two cylinders, the engine will run poorly and show low compression on two adjacent cylinders. If there is a failure between a coolant passage and a cylinder, the cooling system will overboil and/or the vehicle will run poorly and exhibit sharp-smelling white smoke (not steam) in the exhaust. If there is a failure between a coolant passage and an oil passage, coolant and oil will mix in the crankcase and/or the cooling system, causing an oily mess in the cooling system and/or a sludgy mess in the crankcase. And if there is a leak between an oil or coolant passage and the edge of the gasket, the "engine" will leak oil or coolant.
The 3.8 is a very robust, well designed engine. It has no systematic head gasket problems.
The 3.3, like its bigger brother the 3.8, is a very rugged, well-proven design that does not have any history of frequent or premature head gasket failure.
Hooboy. That's a *real* can of worms, much more than it was five or ten years ago when pretty much all cars had the same coolant chemistry except for a few specific imports. There are a great deal of coolant chemistries on the road today, many of which do not play nicely with each other, and there is no longer any such thing as a universal "works with all original fluids" coolant on the market. I mention Dex-Cool specifically because it's known and shown to degrade gasket materials not specifically designed for it -- in tests and, regrettably, on my own cars when I bought into the "new and better" hype that surrounded Dex-Cool.
Your beef is with the dealership that installed the re-cycled coolant. Unless your maintanance manual specifies otherwise (I doubt it) they did a very dumb thing.
Your owners manual should specify that the coolant must meet XXX Chrysler specification, it's up to the dealership to prove that their re-cycled coolant actually meets that specification, a task which I would personally consider impossible.
There are known problems with the 2.4 headgasket for this model year. Since you mentioned *other* gasket, I presume you are talking about a V-6. I don't recall reading any posts in this NG related to headgasket failures on the 3.3 and 3.8 litre engines.
I would like to thank Daniel for his responses but i am not quite sure if I believe that the 3.3 is not having gasket problems. But my only evidence in anecdota. After spending some time search via google I have found other reports of 3.3 v6 engines leaking and what is more interesting two of them report the leak in rear engine seal.
I will include a few of this links. Additionally, I got a ride last night from an a friend and the first thing he stated when I told him the head gasket went he stated:
His wifes 98 caravan with a 3.3 v6 needed the head gasket replace at
72,000 km. The probability of someone I only met recently who had the same van, same engine with the same problem with milage that is close is fairly high.
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the head gasket on my 1998 dodge grand caravan leaks on the right rear corner of the rear head.
I have the 3.3 v6 with only 55,650 miles
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'98%20Dodge%20Caravan%20blew%20its%20head%20gasket The head gasket on my 1998 Dodge Caravan blew at 91,300 km. The only response I have from Chrysler is "its not covered by warranty." Also the warranty data is unavailable... I wonder why.
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This is a 94 caravan and the article imples that is is a V6 as they refer to rear gasket, again where mine is leaking.
1994 Dodge Caravan 6 mileage: 90000. Is there a way to stop a leaking rear head gasket by using a sealant or is that not a good remedy. I've been quoted a 1200.00 repair bill and there must be another way. Is there? Can one head gasket be repaired without repairing the other?
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first post Hi! Would this class action suit apply to other Chrysler vehicles, as well? I have a 98 Dodge Caravan with 74,000 miles on it that is now leaking oil from the head gasket. My mechanic tells me that head gaskets going out isn't something that "just happens" from normal wear and tear, that it's usually a factory defect(though I'm sure I'm just repeating what you already are painfully aware of).
second post My 1998 Dodge Caravan has a head gasket problem (at 49,000 miles
I would bet that there is and never has been an engine produced that has never had a few head gaskets fail(*). The fact that you found a few proves nothing, the fact is that the 3.3/3.8 DO NOT have statistically significant incidents of head gasket failure. Some other engines (the
2.4, for example) HAVE had such issues, but the 3.3/3.8 does not.
*- except engines without any head gasket at all, and yes there are such things- "T-head" engines and many radial aircraft engines, to cite a couple of types.
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