'98 Grand Caravan 3.3L head gasket failing at 33,000 miles

'98 Grand Caravan 3.3L V6 head gasket failing at 33,000 miles.

Dripping coolant leak from failing head gasket on rear cylinder
bank.
No oil in water, no water in oil, just coolant dripping from rear
bank, so far.

Beyond 3 yrs time, within 36,000 mileage of OEM warranty.

"Self authorizing" Dealer says "tough", won't advocate with
Chrysler for any "good will" coverage

$1000 head gaskets plus $600 other opportune work (pumps, belts).

In 35 years of prior ownership, no BMW, Honda or Datsun head
gasket has ever failed.

Last Chrysler product, ever.

 

| '98 Grand Caravan 3.3L V6 head gasket failing at 33,000 miles.
|
| Dripping coolant leak from failing head gasket on rear cylinder
| bank.
| No oil in water, no water in oil, just coolant dripping from rear
| bank, so far.
|
| Beyond 3 yrs time, within 36,000 mileage of OEM warranty.
|
| "Self authorizing" Dealer says "tough", won't advocate with
| Chrysler for any "good will" coverage
|
| $1000 head gaskets plus $600 other opportune work (pumps, belts).
|
| In 35 years of prior ownership, no BMW, Honda or Datsun head
| gasket has ever failed.
|
| Last Chrysler product, ever.
|
|

I would think Chrysler would go halves with you on the cost. Keep pushing.
It's worth it to them to keep you as a customer.

 

Right.....we all know the technicians in their dealerships are just there
for show. Sorry to hear your problem but the others don't roll on water
either. My friend just spen well in excess of $1500 to fix a oil leak on his
Camry with only 30+k on it. Toyota didn't help HIm either. Funny though he
thinks the sun rises and sets on that CAmry. BTW it may not be a head
gasket.
Larry

 

Unless the dealer techs are, as you say, "just there for show", they says they
checked and it's the head gasket...

 

In 30 years of ownership and over 750,000 miles, no Chrysler head gasket
has failed me. Yer point?

No imports. Ever.


Now that the insults are over, you should contact another dealer or
contact Chrysler directly. For one thing, failed head gaskets on a 3.3
are not common AT ALL. Its not a like a 2.0 DOHC (or all those Hondas
for which Fel Pro makes "problem solver" head gaskets, for that matter).

Secondly, if oil and water haven't mixed, are you SURE its a head
gasket? Could be a casting plug (aka 'freeze plug') on that head too.
Could be LOTS of things, unless you've actually traced the source of the
water to the head/block junction.

 

Classic case of YMMV.

Visually, leaks starts at the head/block interface and unless the dealer
techs are flat lying, they state, yes, it is a failing head gasket (as did
the local garage).

Round two with DC begins tomorrow.

 

We'll see; round 2 with DC begins Thursday. They apparently took a snow
day today. We're in the minivan market for at least one more round,
whether DC or a competitor.

 

|
|
| "James C. Reeves" wrote:
| >
| > | '98 Grand Caravan 3.3L V6 head gasket failing at 33,000 miles.
| > |
| > | Dripping coolant leak from failing head gasket on rear cylinder
| > | bank.
| > | No oil in water, no water in oil, just coolant dripping from rear
| > | bank, so far.
| > |
| > | Beyond 3 yrs time, within 36,000 mileage of OEM warranty.
| > |
| > | "Self authorizing" Dealer says "tough", won't advocate with
| > | Chrysler for any "good will" coverage
| > |
| > | $1000 head gaskets plus $600 other opportune work (pumps, belts).
| > |
| > | In 35 years of prior ownership, no BMW, Honda or Datsun head
| > | gasket has ever failed.
| > |
| > | Last Chrysler product, ever.
| > |
| > |
| >
| > I would think Chrysler would go halves with you on the cost. Keep pushing.
| > It's worth it to them to keep you as a customer.
|
| We'll see; round 2 with DC begins Thursday. They apparently took a snow
| day today. We're in the minivan market for at least one more round,
| whether DC or a competitor.

I've had two. A 1987 Grand (the 1st year for the grand) ...ran great for 10
years and sold it to a friend that ran it for another 3-4 years. I'd imagine
it had over 200,000 miles before they got rid of it. I currently have a 97
with the 3.3. Been lucky, I guess...never any gasket problems that I can
remember.

 

YEHAA!no more want freebe work on my vehicle after 3/36 is up. waaaaaa!
since you won't be buying another chrysler product means we don't have
to listen to whine all over again

 

it's more than likely the metal heater hose y pipe behind the plenium
leaking

 

Independent garage and dealer don't think so. Both say head gasket.

I'm sure you'll be able to tell. Maybe you want to have a look?

 

I agree with the other posters that the head gasket is not a common
problem on this engine, but mine did go. Albeit at 129,000 km!

Same place, on the rear cylender bank. The previous owner replaced the
water pump, thinking that this is what was leaking - or perhaps HOPING
that it was the water pump.

I was skeptical at first, but I was slowly and consistantly loosing
coolant.

After the head gasket was replaced, all was well again.

I think the dealer is jacking you around. You are doing the right
thing going direct to DC. The minimum they should do for a vehicle
with such low mileage is 50/50 split. Kick some butt, and let us know
how it goes.

Mine is a '94 GC BTW.

 

This topic has been discussed before and the recommendation was
to go to Chrysler's regional people. You can start by calling their
800 number, 1-800-992-1997, E-mail and paper post address is
also available on the Chrysler website. Keep in mind that the regional
people if they agree, are going to only give you any kind of credit if
you have the work done at a dealership. So you should shop around
before you start calling them.

Well, it all depends on how long you usually keep your vehicles, right?

This is a 6 year old vehicle. If you kept it in the garage and never drove
it at all, it would still depreciate and you would lose value.

I'm sure you know this and you know that the vehicle is worth maybe
$7K and your thinking that nearly a quarter of the value of this vehicle is
about to
be sunk in repairs.

But let me ask this. Suppose that this van was driven on a more ordinary
schedule and 2 years ago it was at 33,000 miles. Well it's the same vehicle
as what you got now, isn't it? But it's market value would be more along
the lines of $11,000, turning this repair more like a 10-15% of the car
value. And I'd guess also that you wouldn't be as hesitant to drop $1600
into repairs on a 4 year old vehicle.

I never had an electric frying pan gasket fail. I've had a few head gasket
failures
in some of my vehicles. Therefore your logic is that electric frying pans
are
superior to cars.

Not an apples-to-apples comparison.

Ted

 

DC Customer Service (1-800) was closed for a snow day yesterday... as we
are, here, today. Thanks for the pointer on email; didn't find that on
the site.

The issue is not the cost of repair, it is the indifferent attitude of
dealer, the fact that dealer reneged on a promised advocacy role, and
what is clearly either a manufacturing or assembly defect; overall track
record suggests it may not be a marginal design.

Not a frying pan to automobile comparison, either! ;-)

Thanks for the regional contact reference.

 

I've owned two chryslers for over 200k miles and had two head gaskets go.
Both on 2.2 engines.

No boring cars, ever. Import or domestic.

Good advice. I would start with a different dealer that might be
friendlier and willing to help you out with chrysler.

One of my chrysler head gaskets failed in such a way that the coolant
leaked out of the block and not into any of the oil passesge. So it is
possible for the head gasket to go with no coolant and oil mixing.

 

Take some pictures and post them. We can all take a shot at diagnosing
the problem.

 

FWIW, I had a head gasket on our 3.3L Intrepid go bad at 44K almost exactly
two years ago. The leak was on the right head near a water gallery on the
back or bellhousing end of the head. Corrosion between the head and block
ate a tiny hole in the gasket, which is thin there. I'll bet your leak is in
the same spot (right side of the rear head on the Voyager).

I pulled the other head and did both gaskets just to make sure all was well.
That one spot of corrosion about the size of a dime, which cleaned up
beautifully with minimal work in the machine shop, was all I found. No rust
or corrosion elsewhere in the engine cooling galleries could be seen.

The only thing I can figure is that either clamping forces aren't good in
that area, or the previous owner wasn't careful about using the proper
antifreeze/water mixture. Or, more likely because the EGR pipe to exhaust
manifold joint had a leak (improper assembly at the factory), that
eventually caused overheating in the right bank which warped the head at
that point. I do know I had to replace the right exhaust manifold because it
had cracked in several places. And, once the EGR pipe was properly installed
(I had to buy a new one + gaskets for that), I no longer got spurious Check
Engine EGR codes which had been happening occasionally for about 6,000
miles.

Who knows? I've run two other 3.3L Mopar engines to far greater mileage
without a head gasket problem.

Did the head gasket jobs myself, except for machine shop planing of the
heads, and haven't had a problem since then. Did the work on evenings and
one weekend for about $350 in parts and machine shop work.

 

Drivers side, rear head (Caravan 3.3L). Thanks.

Just wondering, but how did you determine "improper assembly at the
factory"?

Did you take this or the inadequate clamping force (design issue) up
with D-C?

 

That's all great and good. But, what about when the mechanic tells you (and
puts it in writing) that "it's normal for the age and mileage of the
vehicle". In my case they said that about a rear bearing noise on our Grand
Cherokee.
In reality, a lot of Jeeps have bearing problems in the axles. Do you
think they'd have fixed that under the warranty ? Nooo.... of course not !
lol....

Mechanics aren't perfect either and should take some blame for items that
are their fault as well.

Steve m...
(98' Grand Cherokee now has 72k miles)
(04' Pontiac GP 4k miles ... hey what happened to all that Dexcool ???
lol.... )

 

I determined this by close examination of the gasket between the pipe from
the EGR valve and the exhaust manifold. The gasket was burned through and
there were clear signs of a leak, as if the joint had never been tightened
properly since day one. Also, the bolts were loose. There had been so much
leakage that the clamping collar was distorted from heat, and would not
effect a seal when I tried using a new gasket. My car is a California model
with a special pipe, which attaches to the back end of the exhaust manifold
instead of looping down and coming up from underneath and mounting to the
bottom of the manifold, as in federal emissions 3.3's. Installing the new
pipe was a real bear; there's little working room and only one way the
inside bolt can be approached and tightened. It took a lot of trial and
error and fooling around with a mix of sockets, extensions, etc. to get it
torqued correctly. If it was that difficult for me, then it must also have
been too much trouble to get right on the assembly line, is my thinking.

No, I was well out of the 3/36 warranty, and that's merely speculation on my
part. Also, I didn't need the aggravation, if you know what I mean, as I had
to get the car back on the road ASAP. The EGR/running lean overheating
probably caused just enough warping in that spot to let corrosion start.
Corrosion is what broke the seal by eroding the gasket. The machine shop guy
said he took very little metal off when truing the head, so if there was
warpage, it wasn't much. And the block passed warpage tests.