2008 Grand Caravan occasionally stalls while driving on wet roads.
I have a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan 4.0L. In the 3 1/2 years I have had it at least 6
times it has just lost power steering and brakes. This has usually happened with wet
roads although not heavily. I notice a slight slip in the car, the anti-traction light comes
on the dash and I lose power steering/brakes and just glide to the side of the road.
Thankfully this has happened only on side roads at fairly slow speeds and usually
within a few miles after I start it. I took it to a dealer initially but they didn't have a clue
what I could be talking about. I couldn't bring it in when it happened because I couldn't
drive it. Turning the car off and back on is all I can do. I am afraid this could happen
on the highway with my kids in the car. In all honesty I didn't know it was stalling since
I just "drove" it to the side of the road. I just turned it off and on again and it would be
fine. My husband was finally able to come to where I was this last time and he got in
and it wouldn't drive and he said that it was off, although it was still "on". Any ideas?
Basically your engine is stalling while you are driving, and you feel the loss in power steering and power brakes, as both require the engine to be running to receive proper boosting, this is in addition obviously to the fact you are now coasting when this happens - correct? So the problem is not with the brakes or power steering, it boils down to a stalled engine when driving. Since this happens in the rain, water getting into the engine compartment is the contributing factor - could be anything from cracked coil pack, any number of corroded terminals or electrical connections may be affected by water... perhaps a good tune up and inspection for weak/corroded wiring is in order. Dodge especially has the bad habit of putting modules way down there in the wheel well for some odd reason, making them vulnerable to splashing water and road grime.
Thank you Ken. Now do you think that the traction control warning light comes on because it is stalling? Because in every instance that light has come on at the same time which was making me think that I was losing traction and that was shutting down my steering and braking, which didn't make sense to me. And since the roads have been wet, although it was not like I was hyroplaning or something, it did feel like the car slipped. Now that could just be from it stalling maybe? No other lights come on the dash. No engine warning lights at all. Just the traction control one. I plan to bring it in again, however the last time the said they ran their checks and diagnostics and came up with nothing. I do have other issues with the car including problems with the antifreeze. It is either leaking or buring somehow because often times there is no heat and then I check the antifreeze and it is way down. I am sure there must be cracks somewhere. Thanks for your help.
We have been having the same exact problems for years with our 2009 Dodge Grand caravan, looking on dodge/Chrysler forums led us to change the egr valve! Runs perfectly, hadn't died/stalled 1 single time. We'll worth the $150 for the part...
Cherry, We actually changed the egr valve as well and have not had one single stall since then. Definitely worth it.
Also having the issue of van stalling in wet driving conditions. Had the egr valve replaced since mechanic commented it was stuck in the open position? Two days later and some hefty repair bill back to square one. Mechanic scratching his head contacted Chrysler for possible recalls on this issue. I am no further ahead in resolving this issue than I was a month ago.
O k i have a 2009 dodge grand caravan and it used to stall and die for 1 year was playing guessing game on what it could be changed throttle body still died then did cam and crank shaft sensor still no luck then just a month ago i prayed that i could get a check engine light or a sign of what it was and about 5 hours later i left work and my check engine light came on thank god i was about to say goodbye to my van because i have 5 kids and it would die going to town while driving no warning and wheel would lock up ....so anyways the EGR valve was the light that finally came up And here a month later after changing it it has not died at all since i replaced EGR valve so thankful got it to not die
We spent months trying to get an answer to this problem, plus a lot of money. The fix was a new computer board...Very costly, and that was after numerous other parts that were replaced...spent too much on the vehicle, but we'll keep it for another year just to make up the $4000.....
