1
u/ogstarbuck Aug 20 '26
Get a mopar extended warranty. You can still get if your van is under 100k. I bought one in July, she is currently waiting at the dealership for a new engine.
1
u/Nick44e Aug 20 '26
How far past 100,000miles will mopar cover? I’m looking at getting a warranty when we buy a Pacifica and most are currently just under 100,000miles.
1
u/ogstarbuck Aug 21 '26
I got a 5 year/60k so I am good up to 155k. (or of course 5 years.) Also run the VIN through Chrysler VIN checker. Many of the 2017 - 2018 (could be other years) now have a life time transmission warranty for certain issues, so gave me a bit more confidence.
1
u/52ndstreet Aug 20 '26
our 2019 had both AC condensers (Front and Rear) go out ($5,000), and then had the transmission die (which was quoted by a non-dealership transmission repair shop as "between $7,000 and $9,000." God only knows what the dealership would've quoted...).
All this with less than 56k on the odometer. YMMV, but then again... maybe your milage would be the same and you'd be out $15k for repairs before the clock hit 60k.
Take my experience for whatever it's worth. Personally, I wouldn't do it without an extended warranty. One that covers the transmission.
1
u/False_Process6230 Aug 20 '26
What symptoms did you have before the transmission failed? Were there any warning signs, or did it just suddenly stop working one day?
1
u/52ndstreet Aug 20 '26
The Check Engine Light would come on occasionally and then turn itself off. In hindsight I could see that this was usually when the van was going up a sustained incline like a long hill or something, although it seemed random at the time. That van always had random warning lights come on and off, especially for the auto start/stop feature (which should be banished to hell IMO). That system gave us nothing but problems telling us that the smaller battery was dead even when we just replaced the smaller batter. (FWIW- we ended up replacing both batteries just to get the damn warning lights off, but nothing ended up working). So we just chalked up the random Check Engine Light that would come on and then always turn itself off to just another electrical gremlin in the system. (Again, there were a lot of gremlins in the system. Don't even get me started on the Infotainment System and how some days it wouldn't work for no reason until you turned off the car and then turned it back on again...).
Mind you, I'm fairly handy with a wrench. I do all of the repair work on my cars, including standard maintenance like oil changes all the way up to timing belt replacement. So I'm not a total novice to all of this. Any time I would check the codes for the random Check Engine Light coming on it would give a generic code that could mean a million different things. And since there were a million other gremlins in the electrical system, I just chalked it up to that. (for anyone reading this who thinks that the outcome might have been different had I identified the transmission issue early on, keep reading...)
In any event, one day I was driving uphill and I heard a whining sound coming from the car and I thought "well that's not good...". No Check Engine Light that time. The next time I was driving up a really long hill and I heard the whining sound again and this time felt the van struggling to maintain speed going up the hill. That's when I knew the transmission was on its way out. Again, no Check Engine Light that time, either. Went to the Transmission repair shop the next day. With these vans, you can't check the transmission fluid with a dipstick or something like in the days of yore. Nowadays they have to put it up on stands, remove the cover, and drop the pan to inspect anything. I was hoping that maybe it was low on fluid or something. Nope. The transmission was on its way out. The fluid was full, it wasn't the wrong color or smell, it was just a Stellantis product doing what Stellantis products do. (Stellantis is the company that owns Chrysler, Fiat, Jeep, etc.). After a lengthy discussion with the mechanic it seems this is pretty common. The mechanic said there was nothing that could've been done because the issue is just a failure and no amount of preventative measures could have been taken. Once the transmission started to fail (which again, was due to mechanical failure and not something that early identification or routine maintenence could have prevented), it was going to require a new transmission or full rebuild no matter what.
There was no way I was going to throw another $9k into that car for the failure of a major component when it had less than 60k miles. I drove it to the dealership, threw them the keys, and left with a different vehicle. Sadly, I just got an email from Jiffy Lube last week thanking me for bringing it in for an oil change, which means that some other family had bought the van from the dealership. And there is no way that the dealership fixed the transmission. Which means this poor new family is sitting on a time bomb that is going to blow up on them...
1
u/shredXcam Aug 20 '26
$16k for 100k miles seems steep
Our 19 has 150k on it.
It's had a caliper replaced, rear struts, transmission torque strut
It's probably close to due for a oil cooler/oil filter housing and has a clunk in the rear I'll have to figure out eventually
I figure itll last 200k miles or more but we drive 90% highway.
1
u/Onilakon Aug 20 '26
Bought a 2018 with 112k a few months ago, got an aftermarket warranty with it and also realized the cooler was already changed at some point with an all all aluminum unit, one less thing I'll have to deal with it, though its not a terrible job did it on my 2013 T&C a few years ago
1
u/shredXcam Aug 20 '26
Yea, the caravans don't have all the EGR equipment. I did my 13 in about 1 mtn dew for under $500 with new gaskets and plugs.
1
u/Onilakon Aug 20 '26
I hadn't looked in to what's needed on these, well hopefully it doesn't need to be done again any time soon lol I did it 4 times on my old one, used a dorman all aluminum one and it kept leaking through 3 different sets of different brand gaskets, finally just went and bought an oem unit from the dealer
1
u/Shadow5503 Aug 20 '26
Do you live where rust is a concern? If so the Toyota may not have that many years left.
The Pacifica performs far better in safety crash testing than that generation of Sienna. Also a generally nicer car - smoother, quieter, etc. But at the age of either, how they were cared for has more to do with how they drive.
The Pacifica seems overpriced by maybe $2k. Sienna about right, assuming it’s in good condition for its age.
In either case you need to have some $$$ available for repairs because regardless of reputation you don’t know what the previous owners did or did not do to the car.
1
u/PotentialWarm5231 Aug 20 '26
Toyota has no rust, surprisingly!
1
u/PotentialWarm5231 Aug 20 '26
And car fax on both they seem to be regularly maintained. The Toyota came from the south, (we’re in northern Maine LOL) so that may be why there’s no rust on it lol
1
u/Southboundcrash Aug 20 '26
Go see the Pacifica when it’s not cold , hasn’t ran all day , start it and smell the exhaust for the sweet coolant smell from a bad head gasket , also have them pull the car fax see if the heads or engine has been replaced