What is it with some vehicles...

[imagoon]

(minor vent thread)

So I am being the good little son and fixing my parent's 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.8 liter. It has been spotting the drive way with coolant over on the passenger side so I decide to take a look at it.

First I can see damp spots up top, head to intake. Gasket maybe... yay. It doesn't look that wet so I look underneath. The suspension is wet with coolant and I note that the waterpump inlet pipe is a) damp / dripping b) paint pealing c) rusted. Seems like a sure thing to me. I bust out the brush and clean off the flaking paint, dry it off and then poke various rust spots with a flat head until I see a drop form where I poked. Replace the pipe and run it the drive way for 45 minutes and see no more leaks.

Week 2: dripping yet again. This time I am looking at the intake gasket since it is a wet mess. Open it up find white dried coolant all over the gasket and passenger side of the head.

I have this all apart and then look over to the water pump.... looks like the seal may be weeping...

Are some vehicles just cursed?

 

[rommelrommel]

It's a 10 year old caravan, what do you expect?

 

[imagoon]

It's a 10 year old caravan, what do you expect?

To run like a 10 year old Toyota duh!

 

[crashtech]

That's why I finally bought a Stant coolant system pressure checker. Just put it on in place of the radiator cap and pump it up, and most leaks become immediately obvious.

 

[Tuanies]

To run like a 10 year old Toyota duh!

Pretty sure a 10 year old Sienna would have engine sludge issues with the V6.

 

[imagoon]

Pretty sure a 10 year old Sienna would have engine sludge issues with the V6.

Yeah but it would run until it rusted out of the chassis! Anyway yeah that era of Chrysler is fairly annoying. I was out there finishing up, started it and listen to it screeching, IE there is an bad idler or tensioner. Makes me sigh.

 

[tortillasoup]

(minor vent thread)

So I am being the good little son and fixing my parent's 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.8 liter. It has been spotting the drive way with coolant over on the passenger side so I decide to take a look at it.

First I can see damp spots up top, head to intake. Gasket maybe... yay. It doesn't look that wet so I look underneath. The suspension is wet with coolant and I note that the waterpump inlet pipe is a) damp / dripping b) paint pealing c) rusted. Seems like a sure thing to me. I bust out the brush and clean off the flaking paint, dry it off and then poke various rust spots with a flat head until I see a drop form where I poked. Replace the pipe and run it the drive way for 45 minutes and see no more leaks.

Week 2: dripping yet again. This time I am looking at the intake gasket since it is a wet mess. Open it up find white dried coolant all over the gasket and passenger side of the head.

I have this all apart and then look over to the water pump.... looks like the seal may be weeping...

Are some vehicles just cursed?

you probably need a new radiator cap. They're suppose to be replaced every 5 years. A bad cap can overpressurize the system or allow too much coolant to overflow into the tank.

/thread