I plan on driving from upstate NY to Florida in a couple of weeks and plan on taking our 2014 DGC with 125000 miles on it . I try to keep up with all the maintenance on it . Just had the oil changed . Tires are good , thermostat was done a little while ago and told them to do the coolant at that time . Also had the tranny fluid done at 110000 miles or so . It is running real good at this point . Should i have any reservations on taking a vehicle with this many miles on a 2500 mile trip ? I know of no issues with it at this point . I even checked to see if the compact spare would come down and it did and the tire was still hard . The car has been pretty decent reliability wise and really the only thing we have had done was the famous oil filter leak issues and a thermostat for a p0128 code . I had the Stellantis shop look it over when they did the oil and they looked at the belt (original) and the hoses and they said they looked fine but probably at some point in the not too distant future to do the belt just on age alone but said it should be ok for this . Any thoughts ?
Opinions on taking a higher mileage mileage van on a long trip
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2014, 125k miles, worried about road tripping?
Does not compute.
I drive my 300k mile 94 across the country without thinking twice. You take proper care of your vehicles, you know what has and hasn't been done, so you know it won't have issues and you just drive it.
Does not compute.
I drive my 300k mile 94 across the country without thinking twice. You take proper care of your vehicles, you know what has and hasn't been done, so you know it won't have issues and you just drive it.
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If it were a 4th Generation. with that many miles on it, I wouldn't be concerned.
Being a 5th Generation, there are common issues to be mindful of:
Also keep an eye on the door locks to make sure they are working, especially for the sliding doors.
Every vehicle can have problems at almost any miles. The things I listed for the 5th Generation are things to be mindful of. You are likely ok for a 2500 mile trip, so just do a bit of checking on the way.
Being a 5th Generation, there are common issues to be mindful of:
- engine tick (rockers and cam maybe) can develop, a too common problem.
- plastic Ys (2) in heater lines for rear heat can start leaking out of the blue. I carry a spare set, made of aluminum, that I intend to install someday, hopefully before the plastic ones start to leak.
- many have reported leaky couplings for the transmission cooler lines. I keep an eye on that with routine transmission fluid level checks and driveway checks.
- the oil filter housing issue you have death with already. Likely damaged by tightening the filter cap too much There are weak spots in the plastic housing.
Also keep an eye on the door locks to make sure they are working, especially for the sliding doors.
Every vehicle can have problems at almost any miles. The things I listed for the 5th Generation are things to be mindful of. You are likely ok for a 2500 mile trip, so just do a bit of checking on the way.
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Here's one of them, courtesy of gregz's thread at: Fixing Y Pipe - Missing Mystery Part
The other one is not far away, you will see it. There are several threads/posts about them. Used for rear heat.
Rockauto has them, plastic or aluminum.
2016 DODGE GRAND CARAVAN 3.6L V6 Heater Hose Connector | RockAuto
RockAuto ships auto parts and body parts from over 300 manufacturers to customers' doors worldwide, all at warehouse prices. Easy to use parts catalog.
www.rockauto.com
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Suggestions...take your pick.
Be prepared to change a flat, jack, wrenches, blocks of wood to drive flat tire up onto, road flares?
Jug of drinking water for the cooling system and a roll of duct tape.
Buy the serpentine belt now and take it with you. Wrenches necessary to change it? In the future when you change it, keep the old one as a spare.
Oil, trans oil, windshield fluid. Spare bulbs if you already have them. Flash light. Drop sheet to lay on incase you need a nap.Tire pump gauge, booster cables.
Tube of RTV, hand wipes.
Be prepared to change a flat, jack, wrenches, blocks of wood to drive flat tire up onto, road flares?
Jug of drinking water for the cooling system and a roll of duct tape.
Buy the serpentine belt now and take it with you. Wrenches necessary to change it? In the future when you change it, keep the old one as a spare.
Oil, trans oil, windshield fluid. Spare bulbs if you already have them. Flash light. Drop sheet to lay on incase you need a nap.Tire pump gauge, booster cables.
Tube of RTV, hand wipes.
I drove my '97 to South Dakota from Texas for the 2017 Solar Eclipse, I think it had 420,000 miles on it at the time. No issues other than an ABS light which popped on driving through Denver, then went away and never came back.
125,000 miles is usually a sweet spot for cars. If it's made it that far without major issues, it was well put together and is proven/tested. Seems like most vehicles have issues in the 60k-80k mile range if at all.
I've heard of racers specifically taking worn engines from the junkyard to race with, and running the bottom end as-is. The theory is that a lot of stuff could go wrong with a brand new engine if something wasn't done right, but an engine with a lot of miles on it is guaranteed to be an engine that was put together well enough to not puke it's guts out earlier in its life.
125,000 miles is usually a sweet spot for cars. If it's made it that far without major issues, it was well put together and is proven/tested. Seems like most vehicles have issues in the 60k-80k mile range if at all.
I've heard of racers specifically taking worn engines from the junkyard to race with, and running the bottom end as-is. The theory is that a lot of stuff could go wrong with a brand new engine if something wasn't done right, but an engine with a lot of miles on it is guaranteed to be an engine that was put together well enough to not puke it's guts out earlier in its life.
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I'm disappointed that I can only like/upvote this once, excellent graph.
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The one thing that graph fails to account for is people who actually take proper care of their vehicles and replace things before they create failures.
That list is for the end of the world.
Couple jugs of distilled water, serpentine belt
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Proper insurance with towing coverage, take nothing but yourselves, enjoy.
I'm in a similar boat considering whether to take my '09 Gen 5 van with 189k miles on a Atlanta - Baltimore - Atlanta road trip next week, versus my car with 67k miles (and 40+ mpgs). Right now i'm leaning toward driving the van for added space even if it's $100 more in fuel.
There are several great suggestions up-thread, some perhaps a little over the top in my view. But I would add this $0.02 given current heat wave. I made a similar drive Atlanta to/from upstate New York about 6-7 years ago and ended up losing the transmission with 105k miles in Virginia. It was early July and actual ambient temps were low 100s. Not sure if you are planning I-79/I-77 or I-81/I-77 routing (or some other), but driving interstates through the hilly terrain in the Pennsylvania/Virginia/West Virginia areas you'll want to be careful on the van downshifting and going back and forth between 6th and 5th. Just pay attention if the van can't hold 6th. Either slow down a bit so it can hold 6th, or use the manual shifter to hold 5th until you reach the top of the long inclines. Don't just set the cruise control at 75 and let the transmission go back and forth between kick-down and upshifting and cooking your transmission. Don't be paranoid, but just pay attention to what the transmission is doing when driving through the quasi-mountainous stretches. (Our friends in Colorado and Utah may now proceed with raucous laughter....)
There are several great suggestions up-thread, some perhaps a little over the top in my view. But I would add this $0.02 given current heat wave. I made a similar drive Atlanta to/from upstate New York about 6-7 years ago and ended up losing the transmission with 105k miles in Virginia. It was early July and actual ambient temps were low 100s. Not sure if you are planning I-79/I-77 or I-81/I-77 routing (or some other), but driving interstates through the hilly terrain in the Pennsylvania/Virginia/West Virginia areas you'll want to be careful on the van downshifting and going back and forth between 6th and 5th. Just pay attention if the van can't hold 6th. Either slow down a bit so it can hold 6th, or use the manual shifter to hold 5th until you reach the top of the long inclines. Don't just set the cruise control at 75 and let the transmission go back and forth between kick-down and upshifting and cooking your transmission. Don't be paranoid, but just pay attention to what the transmission is doing when driving through the quasi-mountainous stretches. (Our friends in Colorado and Utah may now proceed with raucous laughter....)
Interesting, I did a ATL-NYC-ATL trip about 6 years ago in my van too. I averaged about 90mph on the interstate. Hills matter less when you have speed behind you. I pretty much only hit downshifting when toying with cars that thought they were fast. 
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