The steering pump on my 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan is making horrendous noises (it has been getting louder for several weeks). I have to replace it. My concern is that metal debris is in the steering rack.
Is it necessary to flush the rack and pinion along with the entire steering system ?
Thanks
Yes it is important to flush the rack. Push fresh fluid through the high pressure hose and drain it from the low pressure hose.
Just a thought… Dodge and Chrysler have had problems with the power steering fluid reservoir’s screens clogging up and causing noises in the power steering pump. a lot of owners have changed the pump reservoirs and the noise stopped.
with a clogged screen the fluid would not get to the pump.
Follow Up…
It was not the power steering pump even though I thought it was.
The grumbling noise was coming from the water pump AND the belt tensioner idler wheel.
The water pump was shot. The bearings were really gone. To be transparent, I had been smelling anti-freeze but kept dismissing it as other vehicles. The radiator was low on coolant. My failure to check the vehicle properly.
Once the pump was replaced I still had a kind of whining screeching noise and used a mechanics stethoscope to narrow it down to the idler pulley.
After replacing both, the motor is quiet and running fine.
Thank you both for you assistance. Much appreciated.
For anyone needing to replace the water pump on a 4th Gen 2001 - 2007 Dodge Caravan…
It’s a PITA.
I needed to support the engine and completely remove the passenger side motor mount to get the pump removed because it is up against the frame rail. But that wasn’t the hard part. Getting to the rear water pump bolt was the hardest for me. Access is blocked by the axle and getting to it is no fun. The bigger your hands, the harder it will be. You need to be a contortionist. All the while, the pulley is blocking your every move because it will not remove until the pump is out (it unbolts and just dangles loosely there, making removing 4 of the pump bolts a bit easier, but not that last bolt).
On my 3rd Gen Caravan water pump replacement is a breeze. On the 4th Gen, be prepared for a hassle.
Next time use a floor jack so you can raise and lower the engine to make life much easier…
Labor is only 1.7 hours…
Which engine do you have? The 3.3/3.8 or the Mitsubishi 3.0L? I remember owning a 1995 Caravan with the 3.0L, and assisting a friend to do the timing belt on his 1998 Voyager with the 3.0L. It is somewhat of a pain to change the water pump on that engine because of how it seats onto a steel crossover pipe, with a rubber O-ring. I have never worked on the 3.3/3.8 engines.
It’s a challenging job on my early 90’s Corolla too. It’s complicated enough that I wouldn’t recommend attempting this job for a beginning diy’er. I don’t have to remove the right mount itself, but I do have to remove the right mount through-bolt with engine supported by floor jack & thick board from below, and I also remove the bolts from two mounts at the transmission/engine interface area, then I jack up the engine enough to remove the four bolts holding the pulley onto the water pump’s hub. (I hand-rotate the engine to get those bolts positioned to an accessible location, one by one.) The engine/transmission at this point pivots on the two remaining front & left mounts. The pulley can’t be removed at this point, it is interfered by the water pump hub and the inner fender. To remove the water pump pulley entirely, I have to jack the engine even higher.
Removing the belt is no problem on the Corolla. I don’t understand your comment about the belt being in the way. Usually removing an accessory belt isn’t overly complicated. Are you saying the only way to replace the accessory belt is to first remove the water pump on this car?
BTW, when you are hearing a weird noise in the engine area, it is often helpful to use a length of old garden hose as a stethoscope to narrow down where it is coming from.
IMO working under the hood of any minivan is difficult. The small hood offered little access from above and getting at anything from below is almost impossible without a lift.
lol … frequent poster and Dodge owner-advocate @Nevada_545 may like to comment … personally I’ve no experience owning Dodges, but I think the body designs in the late 90’s/ early 2000’s are attractive.
I don’t have a 99 Dodge, I have a 1998 and a 2000 Dodge. I try not to drive them but sometimes I can’t resist the temptation.
1999 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.3L OHV had over 180,000 miles on it and the last 50K was a VERY HARD life as a paper delivery van, used to fill it full to the tires were in the quarters and bulging tires… Still going strong until my son run it low on ATF and toasted the transmission…
Did a full tune up with belt and tensioner at 75K and other then oil changes and a few window regulators (window gets rolled up/down 100’s of times a night), cooling fan relay and juicing the AC a few times, and a blower motor resister nothing was ever done to it…
Oh yeah, I replaced both the input and output shaft sensors on the trans (easy and cheap fix) and the valve body ($700 not cheap lol) all under 60K miles…and later on, the trans cooler hoses (another cheap and easy fix)… The ATF had about 120K miles on it when it died during a very hard life…
What crazy talk! I would love to have another mid-90’s Caravan, or better yet a low-mileage Dodge Spirit or Dodge Shadow. I still see them on the road every now and then. Mostly gone, but definitely not forgotten!
Vans haul stuff well.
Yes, I used a floor jack to support the motor. Thanks.
The job is much easier if you have small arms and hands. Getting past the axle otherwise is no childs play. I think it took me about two hours so not too far off, but it was a real PITA 2 hours.
Not looking forward to doing it again.
How long does it take to remove the axle, 10-15 minutes?? next time move it, either from the trans or the hub and mechanic wire it over a little for that extra room, or remove it completely… sometimes moving something that is not required to do the job, is still faster than working around it… Yes I have very large hands, so got that t-shirt… lol