This one is really EASY. The chrysler guy told me about this one, You have water trapped in the cowl. pull off the drain hoses from the wiper module and clean out the leave and crap. He said there was a guy that thought it was the windshield leaking so he caulked the snot out of it.

 

very well could be! but another possible cause is low on coolant. you might be hearing coolant slosh around the heater core. so check your cooolant level.

 

Come on, coolant slosh in the heater core, NO WAY!!!! the chrysler tech and a couple other mechanics think that's the funniest thing ever. If the vehicle was indeed that low on coolant, there would be A LOT of SERIOUS problems.

 

Water slosh plagued me for the longest time on my '02. Right up until my heater pipes burst. After I fixed it up and refilled it with coolant, the sloshing went away. No kidding. Seems unlikely, but there you go. There are a few threads & posts on this exact topic - it seems to be pretty common for the 4th gens.

So.. definitely check your coolant. Actually pop the radiator cap off when it's cool and check there. It should be right up to the top. AND check those rear heater pipes under the van for rust and possible leakage. There are lots of posts on this site about that topic.

 

I don't know how high up the slosh is or if you can locate it more specifically, but something I would check, and it is probably the simplest of all the things suggested, is that since the weather has warmed up, have you started using the AC? The last time I started using the AC after the winter, a wasp had mad a home in my vent tube of my AC, where the condensate water drains out. Does water appear on the ground after using the AC? If not you may be in for a good sloshing when it gets full enough and you go around the right corner. Climb under and find the little rubber nipple that sticks out from the firewall on the passenger side about half way up. Stay out of the way, to the side, and squeeze it so that the slit opens up. If water gushes out, with lots of other crud from the wasp nest (mud daubers we call them down here in FL) that was it and is should fix the problem. If your water is draining normally from the AC and in sufficient volume, then look elsewhere.

 

All great suggestions. I will keep you posted.

 

My 94 makes a slosh sound as well. It is the coolant moving in the coolant lines just after start up.Mine has done this since new.

 

My dodge ram did the same thing. It was only on cold start ups and it would go away after a few seconds of accelerating. There was air in the cooling system. I put the truck up on the ramps so the radiator would be elevated and I let it run to burp the system. Added coolant and did it again. Sound went away. Low on coolant doesn't necessarily mean theres a leak. Water does evaporate over a period of time, especially at high temperatures seen in cooling systems.

 

I couldn't find the AC nipple thing. There wasn't anything in the cowl. I was chronically low on coolant, so I topped that up. I took it out for a long drive to go fishing (~ 300 km), and it hasn't made the noise since.

It was a cold start when I first heard the sound, the van hadn't been started for about 3 weeks. My guess is that it was probably coolant related.

Thanks everyone.

 

Happy to hear you had an easy fix. Thanks for posting the fix. Happy motoring.

 

Well that's awesome. :thumb: