[sonofray]

My 2001 Grand Caravan Sport (3.3L) has been slowly leaking more and more oil. It's got 93K on it and needs plugs too. The first guilty party was the valve cover gaskets. I priced the dealership and a mechanic doing them, gasped, and then decided to give it a shot.

I went in from the top and removed the intake plenum (managed to shatter the plastic cowl over it too, ... great.) and a lot of other hoses, sensors and more connected to it and the attached throttle.

I removed the battery tray and assembly on the right, and the air filter assembly on the left.

I removed the valve covers and gaskets, cleaned and replaced.

I removed the spark plugs and wires, replaced plugs. (wires were in great shape)

I did everything in reverse and had no extra bolts (hooray!) and no loose plugs, hoses, etc.

Prayed, and started it up ...

The van freaked. Jerky idling at least initially, and a horrible high-pitched whirring/moaning sound. I shut it off fast. checked my error codes (P1684 from the lengthy battery disconnect) and that's all.

I'm going to have it towed to a nice dealership nearby, and pray that it's just some oversight on my part. But I was terribly meticulous. It took me SIX DAYS!

Any ideas of how to troubleshoot, check things in the mean time?

HELP...

 

[Hokiefyd]

It might be the alternator charging the battery back up from setting for so long. I bought a new battery for my Dakota, but had the truck unplugged for a few days. When I first started it, with the new battery, there was a very loud whine from the engine. It was coming from the alternator. I guess the battery was a little low and it was working hard to charge it. There was also a lot of noise from all the evaporative emission solenoids getting going again. After about 2 miles of driving, all went quiet again, and it's been fine since.

 

[PCE Scott]

Re-check that you put the spark plug wires back to the correct plugs. Also, check the torque on your valve covers (and look for leaks) and the fittings for the air filter to see if you have any vacuum leaks.

 

[sonofray]

UPDATE: The diagnosis...

Thank you all for your replies. I shuddered at the thought of diving into that thing again after six days "in the hole," so I considered discretion the better part of valor, and towed that sucker to a reliable dealer in the area.

Turns out that the one bit of information I thought too trivial to even post was the culprit. ... Power steering fluid.

As I had removed one of the hoses from the power steering reservoir that ran over the rear valve cover, I had spilled a good bit of fluid. I knew I was going to need to add some later, but I had NO idea that that sucker would scream and moan like a cat in heat were it deprived of it's precious fluid (I suppose in both cases! :nut

I had mentioned it almost absent-mindedly as I spewed-forth my litany of details to the Dodge tech who so kindly sat there and took down note after note after note. (thinking "Please leave and LET ME DO MY JOB!" the whole time) Dutifully, that was the first thing he did, and ba-dah-boom.

I got out of this whole madness with just busted knuckles and prices for parts and a $46 Dodge shop fee. (tow was covered by insurance). I've always believed if you're stupid, you better be lucky, too. I think I pulled that off this time.

Now, if I can just get my stupid automatic slider to behave ...

- Michael

 

[AzTraveller]

Three Cheers for your superb success in removing, replacing, ALL that stuff successfully. :ThumbsUp::ThumbsUp::ThumbsUp:

Now you're ready for ANYTHING that comes up in the future !!!
:lol: