Hello,

About 1.5 years ago my van (05 T&C) had 30K miles and was still under warranty. I took to dealer to address sway bar link problems and noisy serpentine belt. They fixed the sway bar links, replaced the idler pulley and saw that the water pump was leaking and replaced that too.

Now, van has 43K miles and I see coolant drips in water pump area. Any thoughts if this pump could have failed so soon? Are there any seals or gaskets to replace? I checked the pump holddown bolts and they were all tight.

BTW, the tie rod end on the passenger side was loose. Book says it should be torqued to 55 ft-lbs but I snugged it up with just a regular wrench.

Thanks,
Bill

 

Update: I replaced the pump today. The old one (only 1.5 years old) was leaking at the shaft seal. What a pain. I basically had to jam the pump in against the frame and then knock into its housing. I don't know why Chrysler couldn't have added an extra 1/4 inch of clearance. FYI, the only way to get the pump out is to push it forward and just fight with it.

Also, releasing the serpentine belt tension was almost impossible. Older T&C vans had a lug at the back end of the tensioner where you could more easily use a wrench to release the tension. My van has a 1 1/8" wide block under the tensioner roller. The problem is that when a wrench is used and pulled down, it hits the pulley for the water pump. I had to be a real contortionist to get this to work. There must be some special tool that I didn't have.

Based on all the problems I've had (and I only have 44K miles on a 4 yr old van), I can see why Chrsyler has such a poor reputation...