2008 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT review: Lemon van 48

I have a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan. I has less than 50K miles. I have had to have the brakes replaced 5 times already! Also, the lights flash for no reason. We'll be sitting on our front porch and they'll just flash. I took it to the dealer and they said they couldn't do anything about it because they couldn't make it do the same thing for them. That tells me there's an electrical short somewhere. I'm just waiting til I get my loan balance low enough to trade this piece of junk in on something else.

Very similar issues with our 2008 Grand Caravan SXT. We had the engine shut off on us when we were coiming back from vacation; going down the highway at 70 miles per hour in Michigan and basically having the car lose all power scares the heck out of you. It was a Sunday so we had to get a hotel room and stay the night for the dealership to tell us the next day they couldn't find anything wrong with the car. We took the risk and drove to Chicago traffic home to Wisconsin with no issues. Later that week the car shut off on my wife when she was running an errand. It was a week before the dealer gave it back to us. We have had the brake issues, radio problem, the doors not closing, a banging noise under the car and now the AC is out. At 20K the brakes had to be fixed; they said it was wear and tear item and we have friends with 80K on their van (GM) who haven't had any issues. I feel the transmission is not consistent either. Done with Dodge.

It makes me very nervous reading all of the complaints. I have already had to deal with a minivan stopping in the middle of the highway with two small children and me being 9 months pregnant. We sold that van to a mechanic and bought the 08 Caravan, thinking that we would no longer have to deal with any car malfunctions. After all, we wanted our children to be safe in the vehicle they travel in. It has been quite a different story. My brakes have been squeaking ever since we purchase the van. I took it to the dealer to find out the problem. Low and behold, all four brake pads were worn and needed to be replaced, along with the brake disks. Let me remind you, we only have 25K on the vehicle. Even after replacing everything, the van still squeaks. Just the other day, we were driving and the car sounded as if the engine was falling to the ground and made a clunking sound when coming to a stop. I am afraid that it might be the transmission. (The van that broke down on me in the middle of the highway was due to the transmission going on me.) I am scared to death now to even drive the van and put the lives of my family in danger. Not only that, but my automatic locks decide to work when they want. It doesn't make any sense. Something needs to be done. How do we get lawsuit going, since the manufacturer obviously doesn't seem to care.

I have the same problems! I have had my van for 2 years now. I only bought it for the convenience and I wish I would have NOT bought the thing. I have had it in the shop 9 times and have missed many days of work due to this. I am afraid reading all of your posts about breaks and it just dying on you as I have 3 kids too. I really wish the dealer would just work with us and give us a different vehicle. What loss is it to therm really? I have boughten 2 cars from them and will never again if they can do something for us. Do not buy from Jeff Belzer's in Lakeville, MN.
I have had a new exhaust put on it. The drivers side sliding door would start closing and pop back open. That was finally fixed when they replace the enire track on the door. The power steering has gone out twice on it. The dash had loose wires so the windshield wipers would randomly go and the lights would all start flashing. The A/C had to be fixed. My bumper is cracked too and they just said it is my problem. My keyless entry didn't always work either. Remember I bought this for ease, when the doors don't automattically open, that is not easy.
I so wish I would have spent them money on honda or toyota because this van sucks!

Here is my story. I bought my '08 Grand Caravan in April of '08, it had 50 miles on it. I had paid over 35k on it and it had the works. We were looking at a Chrysler Town and Country but the dealer talkedus into this vehicle instead. In the first year we had our van back to the dealer a total of 15 times. Where do I start, first we had problems with the computer chip in the vehicle basically shutting down while my wife was driving our triplets to the babysitters. She was driving down the road in the rain nd everything but the engine shut off. She couldnt use her windshield wipers and had no heat or anything. The bumper warped on us and had to have it replaced, we still have issues with the sliding rear doorswhile open, when you goto close them they will get about 75% closed and then just open back up for no apparent reason. The rear drivers side door, while it is closed and driving down the road, is not latching all the way. You can actually hear the door hitting the stop when driving down the road. The computer chip for the radio has been replaced twice. The carpet in the front floorboards and the rear trunk area arent even glued down, they just laid it in there. Our brakes also went out after 25k miles. Now we have 32k miles on our van and the transmission is going out, I can hear it slipping gears while driving down the road. I called the dealer numerous times andthey wouldnt help us, I called Chrysler and they wouldnt help us. Chrysler actually argued with my wife on thephone and tod her that the problems were her fault. I will never buy another vehicle from Chrysler or from Brad Deery Motors in Maquoketa, Iowa!

I’ve been doing some searching and I am surprised to find out not more people have been having problems. We bought our van in Feb 08 paid over 35k got it fully loaded. We have had the my gig system replaced, the front brakes were toast at 20k miles the rear brake calipers are bad I just found out it is wearing the inner break pad it is gone while the outer is still thick. Took it to get an alignment and they can’t align it without putting some sort of a kit on it also the rear is out of alignment and they say there is nothing they can do..Hello! There is some sort of a squeak coming from the suspension and they can’t figure out what it is. Just today I found out I have a coolant leak, the driver side passenger door will open halfway and then shut on you 60% of the time. The Grill is peeling I had the rear bumper replaced for warping. The spoiler on the back broke off twice when I opened the back hatch. The Transmission…don’t even get me started, the dealer states that it is a “smart” transmission…hhaa it is the dumbest transmission I have ever seen, it shifts different every time I drive it sometimes it will clunk into 2nd gear and when slowing and then hitting the gas again it will hope the whole car feels like you are running over a pot hole. A couple weeks ago I started it up and a light and the check engine light came on I didn’t’ t know what the light was and apparently it has something to do with the gas pedal switch. It eventually went off. Oh and I also had problems with the gear shift It was getting to the point I had to force it into park then one day it just stopped. Oh and how can I forget the time it died on me, it didn’t die though just would not do anything but the motor was still running. And every once in a while I have to shut the car off and restart it to get the windows to roll up… I don’t understand I haven’t even broke 30k miles on this thing yet it is my family car I don’t race it I’m not hard on it I do all the things I’m supposed to I just don’t get it.

I am with you i paid cash for my dodge grand caravan almost the same issues and you know they smashed my bumper in the service center my car has been in the shop so many times i lost count now today October 5th 2009 ive had the vehicle little over a year the head casket went out i can't believe this is happening what can we do i though
about filing a class action lawsuit this is inbelievable why isn't their anyone that can help us consumers this is un justified my e-mail is v_lemastes @yahoo.com lets get
some help here