2018 Grand Caravan 1 year review

[tiger862]

Well today is the one year anniversary of the 18 Grand Caravan.
1. Very Comfortable
2. Good fuel mileage for what it is and how I work it.
3. Will haul anything I have thrown at it. Just the other day 10 sheets of plywood and 8 ft. posts.
4. Prefers 87 octane and conventional oil (synthetic blend). Better fuel mileage.
5. Rather boring as no repairs or trips to dealership. Did have one tank of bad fuel mileage that hopefully is over as this tank is back to normal.

I only have put 7000 miles on it and it shows 10800 so not a lot of miles in a year but I will be getting an hour meter and going off that. I more than likely will be running Napa performance 5w20 on next oil change due to less mileage on this change putting Havoline ProDs synthetic oil. Hopefully I will be able to have many more happy years in this vehicle. I really don't see any benefit of Synthetic oil with oil changes between 4 and 5000 miles which follows severe duty schedule in manual.

 

[IndyFan]

Sounds like a nice van! I'm a huge fan of the Pentastar. I'll bet it serves you well for many, many miles!

 

[supton]

Sounds like it's working just great for you. I hope it continues to do so.

 

[KrisZ]

Good to hear another happy Grand Caravan owner. My 15 has been great so far and the utility is unbeatable in this segment.
I did have two issues through, one was a freezing navigation and another noisy front blower, both were fixed under warranty without any hassles. The blower was fixed based on video recording alone as it was an intermittent issue.


I presume you don't have the EVIC, which under vehicle info, it has the hour meter.

 

[bradepb]

We have 7 -2015 Caravan in our fleet. All with the 3.6L, all at about 35-40,000 miles now.

So far two have had camshafts replaced under warranty, the work orders said the rocker arms came loose. We brought them to the dealer with loud tapping. We use Napa Full Synthetic 5w20 every 5000 miles.
No other problems really other than the front turn signal sockets overheating and melting on most of them. There is also a TSB to replace the HVAC blend control on them if problems are experienced with A/C
only on one side, we have had a few done.

They seem a little hard on front tires and brakes but that could be our drivers.

 

[tiger862]

Originally Posted by bradepb
We have 7 -2015 Caravan in our fleet. All with the 3.6L, all at about 35-40,000 miles now.

So far two have had camshafts replaced under warranty, the work orders said the rocker arms came loose. We brought them to the dealer with loud tapping. We use Napa Full Synthetic 5w20 every 5000 miles.
No other problems really other than the front turn signal sockets overheating and melting on most of them. There is also a TSB to replace the HVAC blend control on them if problems are experienced with A/C
only on one side, we have had a few done.

They seem a little hard on front tires and brakes but that could be our drivers.

Yet another case of using Synthetic oil and rocker arm failure. Everyone says Synthetic oil is not the cause but owners manual states conventional oil or a blend is recommended but synthetic can be used. I will be going back to Napa oil on next change as van seems to run great with it.

 

[pezzy669]

The vans have always been the bright spot in the dark void called Chrysler and it seemed that they always spent a little more effort and $$$ on the vans than a lot of their other offerings outside the trucks. I had a number of the post-refresh FCA Grand Caravans for rentals and they were always very nice rides with tons of room for the driver, plenty of power from the Pentastar V6, very comfy ride and pretty impressive fuel economy (~28 MPG on a longish freeway trip that was just myself on board). Not a bad van to sport around in.....and outside the 2nd generation Honda Odyssey the Pentastar makes the 2nd best noises.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted by tiger862

... I really don't see any benefit of Synthetic oil with oil changes between 4 and 5000 miles which follows severe duty schedule in manual.


I don't recall that wording in the manual for our 2013 Grand Caravan. Only to follow the oil life monitor, which I never did because it would take about 8K miles to run down towards zero oil life left. I tended to change oil/filter myself at around 6000mi in the ~4yrs/80K miles we owned the van. I ran mostly Napa synthetic 5w20 in it.

Off topic, but for the pentastar in my 2017 Ram 1500 pickup, I run supertech or napa synthetic 5w30 in it as opposed to the recommended 5w20. I notice no difference in performance or fuel economy. Pentastars all can make weird noises on cold starts, especially very cold starts. Then again, most engines do.

 

[tiger862]

What's interesting to see is the PDS of Napa Synthetic. The additive package is very similar to Valvoline Daily Protection. Next on list is Havoline ProDs then best is Valvoline Advanced in order of personal preference with price being a factor. I have run Napa and not afraid to run it again