I’m going to continue this thread instead of making a new one. For those of you who have or have family/friends that have this van, its twin the Town and Country or the Volkswagen copy, hopefully this will help you out.
The van currently has 116k miles on it. It’s paid off and because my father-in-law can’t get into a truck or normal SUV, its staying around. Not to mention we’re not paying the moronic monthly payments that have been going on for quite some time.
I didn’t think about it until afterwards, of taking pictures or anything but most of what I’m going to share can be found on Youtube how to videos. 🤦♂️
A few years ago, I did a fluid/filter swap on the transmission. Before I started, I cleaned off the oil dipstick tube and put it down the fill port on the transmission. It will stop because there is a metal piece inside the trans it hits up against. I pulled it and made a mark with a utility knife then cleaned the area with brake cleaner and a rag. I did this with the transmission cold since it sat overnight. Bought a pan with a drain plug, rubber gasket/etc and installed it. Really straight forward. Used ATF+4 to fill. There is a fill plug but you’ll need a long funnel to fill it. I just measured how much I recovered from my drain pan and put the same amount in. Did this about 35k miles ago and haven’t had an issue. 15k miles ago, I drained and filled the pan.
Also replaced the spark plugs at 80k miles. I had my middle daughter helping me. On the 3.6 you have to take off the upper intake manifold off. IIRC, there are 7(?) fasteners holding the upper on as well as two mounting plates. First mounting plate is on the drivers side at the rear of the intake and the other is in the front. I used an adjustable wrench to loosen the nut and spun it off by hand. It is not hard but one thing I would seriously suggest is cover the lower intake ports with rags/shop towels/etc. just in case, this isn’t the type of fishing anyone wants. Just remember to remove them before installing the intake. I bought the champion plugs that were stock. Old plugs had miles on them but were not horrible. Like all new engines, take the coil fastener off, remove the wiring harness on the coil, pull coil and there’s the plug. I do remember when putting the upper intake back on, the fasteners had a sequence and it was something silly like 7 N-m. I put them in by hand and just a tiny snug with a ¼” ratchet.
Replaced the rear shocks. Uber easy. The front, I just bought the coil over setup. I got both on Rockauto. Bottom bolts (2 of them) were really on there. The upper three bolts are under the plastic cowling. I saw where people removed the wiper arms and moved the cowling. I did it by loosing up the cowling and just using a wrench without removing the arms. Hardest part for me was getting the new coil over up and stay in place to put at least one nut on. I ended up putting both bottom bolts through the lower area of the shock (loosely) and placing the floor jack under the a-arm, slowly raising the shock into place until all three studs came up through the cowling and putting the nuts on. Again, straight forward when you have the tire off and see it. It was a bit of a trick doing this by yourself but it worked out fine.
I just replaced the A/C compressor. I put the passenger front tire on the ramp. To remove the side/underneath plastic that helps protect the accessory drive, its two 10mm fasteners and 2 push pins. You’ll want a set of extensions on your ratchet to reach the 10mm fasteners. To remove the belt, the space is limited because of the frame. I don’t have a 3/8” breaker bar and my ½” with the adaptor was to long to get in between things. So I used a 3/8 ratchet and the box end of a ¾ wrench to loosen the belt tensioner and take the belt off the compressor pully. I will give props to the engineer on the compressor. The two bottom bolts, the two nuts holding the a/c lines on and the top two nuts holding the compressor on are all 13mm. A wrench will take off the bottom bolts and a/c lines. You’ll want a deep socket for the top two nuts. The top nuts screw on to a set of threads that are installed in the block. You do not have to remove the threaded bolts to remove the compressor. Once everything is unbolted, and the a/c lines pushed out of the way, the compressor comes out easily. Install is a touch harder because you have to hold the compressor in place and slide it over the top threads. I was doing this on the ground, if you have a lift its probably really easy. The vacuum pump I borrowed from the store didn’t work, so I had my Wife rev the engine up to 2k while filling. Early in the filling stage I vented the high side port until I could smell Freon. This was a Friday and so far its staying cool (60 degrees coming out of the vent according to the thermometer). It’s 100+ here and she’s happy. I told her if it doesn’t get cold enough for 110+ days, I’ll vacuum it down and refill.
Ah, engine mounts. All the nice things I said about the engineering above, I now had the mad Russian cursing them. First, who the hell thought the design is worth a damn (see attached picture. The picture is a brand new mount. They all look like this). Its not just dodge, its Honda and even BMW. I changed these out 17k miles ago (roughly 2 years) according to my maintenance log. Front mount, passenger side mount (under the air box) and the driver’s side mount (under the battery), not a big deal. Done in 1.5 hours. The drivers side mount is a bit of a pain because you have to use a wrench on two of the bolts and they’re not the easiest to get out. Break them loose and take them out by hand (and they barely clear). My major complaint is the rear mount. Room is really tight. I’m doing this on the ground with the van on ramps. Three 18mm bolts and had to use my breaker bar. I barely got the socket on and had enough of a turn to get it on again. After breaking the three bolts loose, I could get them out with my 3/8 electric ratchet gun. There are four bolts holding the mount to the k-member and IIRC they are 15mm. Just use a long extension for the front 2. Once I broke them loose, the gun took them the rest of the way out. There are other odds and ends but if you need to do the job, the channel is called TRQ on youtube had an excellent video.
Oh, and the mounts. I filled in the jack-o-lantern pattern in with the window sealant. I didn't get crazy like most of the youtube videos, I just filled in the gaps. I didn't want my Wife or kids complaining about noise harmonics or vibration. The sealant trick worked. I put them on about 2 months ago and checked the front mount when I was taking care of the A/C compressor and its still in good shape. The engineer who designed them because of the bean counters, both should be taken behind the wood shed like Miami did to Florida over the weekend. :Dr Evil:
Anyways, just wanted to update the saga in case anyone was interested or wanted to ask a few questions.
EDIT:
1. Funny for you guys. so I have the new mount in and I'm putting the heat shield that goes over the mount. The top fastener is in loosely so I can adjust and put the side fastener in. My Wife comes out and asks how everything is going. I should have asked her nicely to go away because those who wrench know what's going to happen. Instead I said everything is going well and I'm almost done.
Yep, I dropped that fastener an it fell into the 10mm socket abyss. I felt all around trying to find it. Had her grab the flashlight, mirror and magnet out of my tool box. I couldn't find it to save anyone's life. It truly fell into the land of loose sockets. I spend more time looking for it then it took me to install the new mount, finally said screw it and cranked the top fastener down. Put the heat shield on for the spare tire (yes, it's right behind the engine with the exhaust running right next to the tire AND the rear A/C lines. 🤦♂️).
2. So I had the van backed into the garage. I jacked it up and slid the ramps under the front tires. Remember, it is only 80 in the AM but quickly hits triple digits out here. So I took 2 mornings to do all 4 mounts. Anyways, I finished with the rear mount and when I took the van off the rams, I had my overly cautious 16 year old, who just got her license and has yet to drive by herself, I tricked her into driving herself around. I told her to take it up the street and turn around and park it normally in the garage, when she got back I stood at the end of the driveway and told her to take it around the neighborhood. She did and when she got back she was like you tricked me into driving by myself. Yes I did.
