7.3
pretty bad- Typical Repair Cost:
- $540
- Average Mileage:
- 71,750 miles
- Total Complaints:
- 3 complaints
Most common solutions:
- not sure (2 reports)
- faulty hose replaced (1 reports)
Let me start by saying my back air conditioner is not working and hasn't since 2010. Can see some details of the complaints on this website. They want to replace the rear motor with the same exact part that has been having the same issues. Not willing to put $1000 into repairs to have it go in a few years to have the exact same issue. It's now four years and still hoping that they recall it and make changes to the part so I don't have it happen again.
Back to this, driving home it's about 70 outside so I put on my air conditioner (front because back doesn't even blow) and it's blowing out hot air. I wait and over 15 minutes went by still no cold air. I take it to merchants and they do the dye test. Now they are overpriced but I love the mechanic because he lets me watch and explains. He hooked it up to the machine and only was able to suck out the freon my tank has .15 and it is a 4 lb tank. Clearly means there is a leak so he takes the light and finds the problem. Now it had been so crazy I didn't pay attention to the name of it but a hose was leaking.
So the other guy goes to find the part. Well guess what the only replacement part is a dealer part. The guy comes back and says that the original hose was short and the replacement hose is longer. That they realized that the hose was too short and with the compression of the engine was cracking the hoses so they changed the part. I am thinking if this is something they have had enough issues to update the part then maybe it was recalled. NOPE!
I see the location and it's not hard to access and I see the rubber hose nothing special. The dealer was closed so they said they would call me back during the week. I get the call today and a $575 repair estimate. They said the part is $135 and I am sure they tacked on a percentage to make more money. Because I forgot the name of the part I am going to have to drive to dealer and point it out. Then I will take it to a different garage who's labor costs are more reasonable.
Just don't understand why they would modify a part because of issues and not have it be recalled. I have had this car for almost four years now and only have put 29,000 miles on it. I realized that most minivans had issues but this is just stupid. Seems like Dodge is able to get away with crappy parts and never forced to recall anything. I was hoping this car would and should last 10 years. At this point I am hoping it lasts until my kids are out of car seats so I can trade it in on a midsize Toyota.
- cwatson, Culpeper, VA, US
I am a home health nurse and a mom so I am on the road all of the time during my day. On a sticky 95 degree day here in Iowa (5/14/12) every time I would stop at a stop light my AC would start blasting out hot air. I took it to the only mechanic I trust in town and they put dye in and found a leaky hose from the compressor to the condenser. He said that this has happened on many caravans and that many of them had been recalled....but not mine. I listened while he called the parts place to check the price and I got my hopes up because he said something to the effect that they must be trying to avoid a recall because they were selling the hose cheap. When I asked the cost he said $200 plus labor(and the dye and the 2 recharges/evacs)!! So I handed over the cash. I was told to hold onto the receipt for the repair so that I could be reimbursed for the costs. I am not holding my breath. The worst part about this is that this is complaint # 1. It is now 7/4/12 and 100 degrees and the AC has been blowing hot air since last week. That problem will be addressed in complaint #2 but I will tell you that I am highly disappointed, not only in Dodge's quality of vehicles but their lack of OWNING IT!
- iowamom, Waterloo, IA, US
This is our 4th Grand Caravan. They all seem to have some A/C issues. This 2009 is the worst. They want $1700.00 to fix the problem and I am not willing to pay that amount of money to fix something that we use only occasionally. Annoying issue but definitely not worth that amount of money to fix!
- tundra2, Sylvan Lake, AB, Canada