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Just got our van back after 7+ weeks at dealership service, over 700 miles from our home. Here's the story so far.

8646 Views 28 Replies 18 Participants Last post by  kngfisher
I'll keep editing/updating this as kind of a journal for our 2020 Limited "S" PACHY

EDIT: August 9 2022 - 18,660 miles on odometer
The van has a very audible 'clunk/click' noise when pushing and releasing the accelerator pedal. This is the same noise/behavior we had before that was supposedly fixed with the suspension work done on June 2nd (see below).

This time I got a video of it, may have to turn up your volume to hear it clearly. All I'm doing is pressing and releasing the accelerator pedal and I can both hear and feel (through the car/pedal) the click/clunk. It's like a pause before the car engages or disengages the transmission (feels like a 'free falling' moment when you press and release the pedal when the noise occurs).

We can't bring it back to the dealership, because we are extremely close to having a 4th child and have no other vehicle to hold our family. Taking it to the dealership, based on past experience, would mean we would be without the van for at least a month.

2020 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid click/clink noise when pushing and releasing accelerator pedal. - YouTube


EDIT #7: July 26 2022 - 17,973 miles on odometer
Took nearly 2 months to get an appointment to fix the alignment issue.

1) Dealership did 4 wheel alignment. Their alignment printer was down, so I have no idea on the before/after details.

EDIT #6 June 2nd 2022 - 16,105 miles on odometer

We got the van back into our possession. Here's a list of things that were fixed/replace:
1) Replaced both left and right side sliding door kick sensors
2) Replaced the electric coolant pump (to fix engine code POE15 error code/heater issue)
3) Replaced lower control arm (driver side)
4) Replaced half shaft axle (passenger side)
5) Replaced lock nut-hex flange lock
6) Replaced nut-hex

Immediately after getting the van back we noticed it was pulling to the right (bad alignment).

EDIT #5 May 4th 2022 - 16,000 miles on the odometer

We got more info back from the dealership about the issues. The problem list is now up to 6 items.
1) Sliding door 'kick' sensor needs replaced. Part is back ordered.
2) Right front axle leak. Parts are back ordered.
3) Driver side lower ball joint needs replaced. Parts are back ordered.
4) Electric coolant pump/system (heater isn't working). Parts are backordered (45+ days at least for this one that we know of).
5) Front swaybar links. Parts are back ordered.
6) Right-front strut. Parts are back ordered.

So, we are definitely not getting the van back any time soon (likely not for months).

EDIT #4 May 2nd 2022 - 16,000 miles on the odometer

The heater stopped working on April 23rd and later that day the check engine light came on throwing code P0E15. We took the van into the dealership on April 28th to have it checked out. The part needed to replace for that issue is on backorder, so we are looking at probably 2 months before it arrives (dealership had at least 7 other PACHY's waiting for the same part for more than 40 days already). We were told to no longer drive the PACHY long distances as the van isn't able to cool/heat the battery properly anymore and we could end up doing permanent damage to the van. They offered to keep the van until the part arrived, but we will likely take the van home for now..it's still at the dealership right now though. We also had an increasingly loud clunking noise (and you could feel it in the car) when engaging/disengaging the accelerator pedal that's been getting louder over the past few months. Dealership believed it to be the right-front strut, but later said they are ordering parts to replace swaybar/endlink. More details to come as the van is still at the dealership and so far no new updates yet.

EDIT #3 August 4th 2021
Forgot to add this update, but the vehicle ended up having missing bolts for the front-right control arm, with damage to the control arm itself. The bolts literally fell out of the control arm, so it wasn't attached. The left-front control arm also had loose bolts. The local dealership replaced the front right control-arm due to damage sustained after the bolts fell out, and they replaced the bolts in the front-left control-arm. The van spent a couple weeks total at the dealership for this issue (The van spent more than 3 out of the first 8 months of ownership at dealership service). Major MAJOR luck here that the vehicle didn't crash us into a ditch or oncoming traffic, since it wasn't able to be steered properly. Our local dealership believes the problem may have been caused by the service tech at the california dealership, improper installation of control arms/bolts during transmission replacement, but this was never confirmed and is just a guess.

EDIT #2 July 28th, 2021 - 7,400 miles on odometer
Another update.

Apparently the steering problem is related to a broken or missing bolt on the control arms. Dealer ordered more today. I don't know if it was both control arms or not, will find out more on Monday. But dang we dodged a major accident bullet there. Glad we chose to turn around and go straight home after noticing the weird steering, otherwise we could have ended up in a big accident. We aren't sure yet if it was due to the transmission replacement (which requires removing a lot of the steering related items) or if they actually went bad for another reason.

I'll update again next monday/tuesday once I pick up the van.


EDIT #1: July 21st, 2021 - 7,400 miles on odometer
So update on the van.

We had it towed to our dealership today for a new problem. We were driving some errands near our house and suddenly the steering went all kinds of wacky.

Suddenly holding the steering wheel straight causes the vehicle to drive left, and we had to turn the wheel to the right to keep it straight. In addition, the car will no longer simply drive straight, it kept fighting the steering wheel in my hands and would wobble down the road. It wasn't the lane keep assist, I tried turning it off/on etc and it had no effect. Super unsafe to drive right now.

So, back to service it goes. Lasted about 2.5 weeks before needing to be towed again. Our other vehicle, our 2004 subaru wrx wagon (with 235k miles on it) has been towed 1 time in 14 years when the radiator died at 192k miles. Our 2020 van has been towed 2 times now in 9 months with only about 7,400 miles on it now.

Either we are extremely unlucky with the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid van we bought, or there are some serious manufacturing/quality issues with these vans.

I'll update the thread again when I know more from the service department. We already had a scheduled appointment for early august for the other issues we experienced after getting the van back from the transmission replacement. So now it's at the local dealership/service as an 'emergency' service.

/End EDIT

First problem at 6,000 miles on the odometer. Problem described below:

I didn't think we'd ever end up being one of 'those stories', but here we go.

I'm hoping this info (and the service details at the end of this post) will help others who may be in our situation. I'm also not going to name the dealership, they did a decent job with what they had and were friendly throughout the process (although had to push on them slightly in one situation).

We bought a 2018 Pacifica Hybrid Limited new in late 2018 (and put about 25k trouble free miles on it). Later traded that in for a new 2020 Pacifica Hybrid Limited in late 2020 (actually made money on the deal, thanks federal tax credit!).

Well, about 6k miles into our 2020 Pacifica Hybrid and 700 miles into a 1,200 mile trip (one-way) the van died while driving 70mph on the freeway in the middle of nowhere California.

There's a really long story here that I don't want flood your screen with (so I'll try to make it shorter), but basically our 2020 Pacifica Hybrid spent the last 7+ weeks at a dealership service 700 miles from us, while we had to deal with rental vans and eventually no van once we made it home from our trip. We finally got our 2020 Pacifica hybrid back last weekend.

The story:
The check engine light came on (not flashing) while on the freeway (cruise-control at about 73mph). The car didn't drive any different, no warning bells or anything, plus there was no exit or anywhere to pull over, so we kept going. Another mile or so down the road and the car just shut off, lost all power and we (my Wife, our 3 kids in child car seats, and myself) had to pull over on the shoulder while semi-trucks whizzed past at 70mph+. We were in a super unsafe spot to be stuck/stop, so my immediate goal was to get it off the freeway as soon as possible. I was able to start it and get up to about 30mph before it died again...back to the shoulder. I had to start it over and over, and it seemed to stay on if we kept it under 30mph while being VERY light on the accelerator, driving entirely on the freeway shoulder, finally made it to an offramp and parked at an auto parts store in a tiny town.

We got the codes read:
P0A43 - Drive Motor A Position Sensor Circuit Intermittent
and
P0A3F - Drive Motor A Position Sensor Circuit

The code reader was very old, so not sure how accurate those descriptions were, but those were the codes.

Once in the parking lot of the auto parts store the van would no longer stay on. Push the start button, it turns on then immediately off. It was towed from here to a dealership (closest one!) about 75 miles away. Thank you very much AAA!

7 weeks later and the van is 'repaired' and back in our garage. However it's already started to have other issues. The first day we drove it we had an issue where the van felt like it was seeking between EV mode and ICE/hybrid mode (flipping back and forth) which could also be felt through the accelerator pedal when it switched (i.e. not a smooth transition). Also, when parked and on (in EV mode) there is an absolutely obnoxiously loud sound coming from the engine bay. It sounds like a fan or some vibration (and I'll assume it's something related to the cooling system for the EV/battery, but who knows). It's so loud that two people standing next to the van cannot have a conversation with each other, literally can't hear each other.

So now we've set up an appointment with our local dealership (where we bought it), but they are so incredibly busy the soonest they could see it is early August, although they
said if we needed it towed to the dealership for any reason they would try to look at it sooner.

I'm not going to fault the dealership/service that worked on it for the new issues. We'll get them properly diagnosed with our local dealership and go from there I suppose.

Anyway, that's the story so far. Obviously not the best situation to be in, we love the van...when it works. Not sure what to do next, but definitely not feeling super confident about this particular van's reliability considering it's our family hauler.


Below is what is on the service record that we got from the dealership that worked on it. I've just copy/pasted straight from the service notes:

A RRT 10 [2020 RU PHEV ELECTRONIC BRAKE BOOSTER MODULE (EBBM **] CAUSE:
. 18197790 Module, Electronic Brake Booster (EBBM) - Reprogram Module, Electronic Brake Booster (EBBM) - Reprogram (0 - Low Skilled) 9247 WF1 (N/C) 6662 REQUIRES FLASH REPROGRAMMED THE EBBM WITH THE LATEST AVAILABLE SOFTWARE
****
B CUSTOMER REPORTS ENGINE LOST POWER WHILE DRIVING; CK & ADVISE
CAUSE:
. DIAG DIAGNOSIS 9002 WF1 (N/C)
9247 WF1 (N/C)
DIAG DIAGNOSIS 9002 WF1 (N/C)
DIAG DIAGNOSIS 9002 WF1 (N/C)
DIAG DIAGNOSIS 9002 WF1 (N/C)
09254410 Flexplate/Driveplate, Automatic Transmission - Replace 3.6 liter engine - PHEV (2 - Skilled) 9247 WF1 (N/C)
07FF0150 Coolant, Engine Drain and fill 9247 WF1 (N/C)
1 68490840AB .8MM PART (N/C)
9 68382486AA BOLT-HEX FLANGE HEAD (N/C)
1 68163848AB ANTIFREEZ-COOLANT (N/C)

Verify vehicle turns on but will not move. Test circuit with scan tool. Found P0A3F-00 drive motor A position sensor 1 circuit fault. Inspect and test circuit per fault. Fault Pin out circuits between PIM and trans for sensor A. Test results rec trans replacement. Generate star case. Star agent requested number measurements of all ohm readings and to drain trans fluid for inspection. Push vehicle back in shop. R+R eng air cleaner to access and disconnect PIM connector C1 and trans connector. Pin out trans connector 26 way and PIM C1 65 way connectors. Found wiring between PIM and trans circuits T372, T374, T371, T373, T370, and T375 to be all under 1 ohm resistance. Measured circuits internal to trans to be open resulting in trans replacement diag. Fluid was not burned but some metal flakes were seen. Sent all gathered data including images to star agent.// TECH 9247- Replaced transmission assembly, verified trans came pre-filled. evac'd the hybrid battery coolant system. Cleared dtcs, road test verified normal vehicle performance.

08080110 Battery - Test Charge Retest and Replace All Others (0 - Low Skilled)
9247 WF1 (N/C)
1 BBH6A001AA BATTERY-STORAGE (N/C)
6662 TESTED THE BATTERY WITH THE GR8 TESTER. BATTERY FAILED REC NEW BATTERY // REPLACED BATTERY. VEHICLE STARTS OK AT THIS TIME.
***
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Check your state's lemon laws if the vehicle isn't repaired after your local dealer visit. Most states allow for lemon law cases to be approved if the vehicle is out of service for 30+ days.
If I’m not mistaken there is a 4 try fix for the same issue for lemon law undertakings . But I’m also thinking that service schedules and part issue where does it fit into the equation also . Your best bet is to find out your states laws pertaining to manufacture buybacks and keep all your service history paperwork .
Well, I visit this forum regularly to learn more about the Pacifica so that when the time comes to purchase a new vehicle I’m informed. I do believe that this is the final time I can read that a family lost power to their vehicle while driving on the highway before I decide that there’s no way in **** that I’m buying this car. It’s astounding to read about this repeatedly happening to people. I have two small children and this would be an absolute nightmare. Truly. Never have I known anyone who’s had something like this happen in a new car. To read about it time after time on this forum is insane.

And to the “deniers” on this site who like to say that these problems are true of all car manufacturers - that is simply not true. I drive an 8 year old Subaru and have had zero problems during those years. I also visit a Sienna forum and the posts are nothing like the ones on this site. Nothing.

Stellantis is investing billions in EVs in the coming years. Hopefully they can deal with Chrysler’s issues soon. They should get this car off the road until they’ve figured it out. To @Landshark - I’m truly sorry you have to deal with this. I hope it all works out and you and your family are driving safely soon.
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So you
Well, I visit this forum regularly to learn more about the Pacifica so that when the time comes to purchase a new vehicle I’m informed. I do believe that this is the final time I can read that a family lost power to their vehicle while driving on the highway before I decide that there’s no way in **** that I’m buying this car. It’s astounding to read about this repeatedly happening to people. I have two small children and this would be an absolute nightmare. Truly. Never have I known anyone who’s had something like this happen in a new car. To read about it time after time on this forum is insane.

And to the “deniers” on this site who like to say that these problems are true of all car manufacturers - that is simply not true. I drive an 8 year old Subaru and have had zero problems during those years. I also visit a Sienna forum and the posts are nothing like the ones on this site. Nothing.

Stellantis is investing billions in EVs in the coming years. Hopefully they can deal with Chrysler’s issues soon. They should get this car off the road until they’ve figured it out. To @Landshark - I’m truly sorry you have to deal with this. I hope it all works out and you and your family are driving safely soon.
It makes zero difference what manufactures makes cars as they all succumbed to certain issues in manufacturing. But a response like this is nothing more than you best get your head out of the sand and see what’s going on around you . Any product manufactured today has the potential or inherit risk to stop working at any time , it’s fact ba fiction . And as far as your comment about your Subaru , you best see the recalls and problems that Subaru has , just saying .
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If there were major problems with the Pacifica hybrid, it would be all over the news with all the older Waymo Drivers running around AZ. What are there like 3 to 5 forum users complaining out of how many thousands of Pacifica hybrids on the road?
FTR...I have a 2019 Pacifica Hybrid and the power shut off while driving twice. The first time was while on the freeway (coming back from a camping trip. ugh). We pulled over and was able to start it again and drive home thankfully. The check engine light came on when we restarted it but went away the next day. About a week later, the engine turned off again while idling (trying to exit a parking lot). This time it wouldn't restarted at all. I ended up towing it to the dealer. They later said it started up right away the next morning but needed a software update. I have driven it a couple of weeks since and it hasn't died again (although the check engine came back on for awhile).

So...can I really trust this car on a road trip?
So have you asked what codes it’s generating when they scan it ?
@Landshark

We certainly regret to hear of your unpleasant experience.
If additional assistance is needed while working with your dealer, please let us know and we can connect you with a case specialist.

Lamar
Chrysler Cares
So you

It makes zero difference what manufactures makes cars as they all succumbed to certain issues in manufacturing. But a response like this is nothing more than you best get your head out of the sand and see what’s going on around you . Any product manufactured today has the potential or inherit risk to stop working at any time , it’s fact ba fiction . And as far as your comment about your Subaru , you best see the recalls and problems that Subaru has , just saying .
I get what you are saying, but how many brand new 2020 or 2021 Subaru's have actually died on the freeway? How many have been sold? And how long did it take to get them back on the road?

I follow these forums and a few other PACHY groups and I'm seeing a lot of posts about their PACHY's dying while on the freeway or other various places. With so few PACHYs sold, it's not unfair to be concerned.

My other vehicle is a 2004 Subaru that has 235k miles on it now and has had only 1 single issue, replaced the radiator at 192k miles.

I've owned 2 PACHYs now for a combined 31k miles. 1 of them had random gremlin issues with the electronics (motion-sense door opening being weird, multiple issues with the Uconnect system) and the other also had odd issues with uconnect getting frozen in certain modes (requiring the car to be shut off and then had to follow an odd sequence of steps, like opening the door for 40 seconds, holding certain buttons down, etc) and then the full transmission failure which left us with no vehicle for 7 weeks (we didn't even get our first oil change yet and already it's catastrophic failure!).

Yes, every manufacturer has issues, but seems that for the relatively low amount of the PACHYs that have been sold, there sure are a lot of issues...and major ones at that!
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FTR...the engine in my van stopped again while driving (3rd time). This time I was able to restart it after having it off for about 30 minutes. Its at the dealer again being serviced. They said it had the same code as the last time it was fixed so they are going to replace a part but that part is back ordered. Going to need a rental for awhile, I guess.
I have 2018 pachy touring L, and I was thinking trade it to 2020my Limited with a little additional cost.
BUT like this story, I am afraid to get issue with new one since my 2018 has no issue at all.

I think it is better to keep the car if it has no problem.
What are there like 3 to 5 forum users complaining out of how many thousands of Pacifica hybrids on the road?
3-5? What!? Just scroll down this page and view the “Recommended Reading” section for other bad experiences.

I’ve been a hybrid forum, lurker, participant, and moderator for over 12 years and have never seen a hybrid forum for new models that has more reliability issue threads than this one. I had hoped my “research” that lead me to buy a late 2020 pachy (last year model before an update) would insulate me from so many reliability issues and Chrysler’s consistently low rankings. I gambled and lost.

#6

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!
So update on the van.

We had it towed to our dealership today for a new problem. We were driving some errands near our house and suddenly the steering went all kinds of wacky.

Suddenly holding the steering wheel straight causes the vehicle to drive left, and we had to turn the wheel to the right to keep it straight. In addition, the car will no longer simply drive straight, it kept fighting the steering wheel in my hands and would wobble down the road. It wasn't the lane keep assist, I tried turning it off/on etc and it had no effect. Super unsafe to drive right now.

So, back to service it goes. Lasted about 2.5 weeks before needing to be towed again. Our other vehicle, our 2004 subaru wrx wagon (with 235k miles on it) has been towed 1 time in 14 years when the radiator died at 192k miles. Our 2020 van has been towed 2 times now in 9 months with only about 7,400 miles on it now.

Either we are extremely unlucky with the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid van we bought, or there are some serious manufacturing/quality issues with these vans.

I'll update the thread again when I know more from the service department. We already had a scheduled appointment for early august for the other issues we experienced after getting the van back from the transmission replacement. So now it's at the local dealership/service as an 'emergency' service.
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Another update.

Apparently the steering problem is related to a broken or missing bolt on the control arms. Dealer ordered more today. I don't know if it was both control arms or not, will find out more on Monday. But dang we dodged a major accident bullet there. Glad we chose to turn around and go straight home after noticing the weird steering, otherwise we could have ended up in a big accident. We aren't sure yet if it was due to the transmission replacement (which requires removing a lot of the steering related items) or if they actually went bad for another reason.

I'll update again next monday/tuesday once I pick up the van.
@Landshark I had similar stalling issues with our 2020 Pacifica Hybrid, and it turns out the codes you mentioned were both stored in our van and read by the service center. They have not been able to recreate the issue (of course) but they do have those codes; have there been any updates on your situation?
Its not just the Hybrids. Our old (?) 2015 T&C had the engine replaced on Chrylser'dime due to a defect on the hardening of the rocker arms. Well known issue on the 3.6 engines across all the families of 3.6 users ( Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep etc). We just spent 4 weeks arguing with the extended warranty insurance because the trans went into lock down ( cripple mode) on a road trip at 80K miles. Turns out to be a bad pressure sensor. I've had different issues with different brands and some had zero issues. I won't buy another Volkswagen.. but I would happily buy another Toyota. But the local Toyota dealer is a den of thieves so my motivation is greatly reduced to buy one again.

My personal opinion is some of the issues we face with the hybrid in particular is that the mechanics just do not know how to work on something this complicated. When I worked in Aerospace, we had very precise procedures to follow, specific tools to use and so on. And we had that because something that appeared to be "common sense" was very wrong given the tech involved. A lot of the tech in our cars now is delicate and requires precision work. yeah.. it will last miles and miles but it does that when it's treated and handled correctly. And honestly something take so much precision that most shops have no business working on them other than as a replacement job. The newest transmissions are in that camp. My local C dealer won't even open them up other to do the PM. IF the problem is internal beyond the valve body, they just replace the entire unit. At least they are honest about it.

Any hybrid is a very complicated piece of engineering and the fact that they will last 100,000 miles is pretty astounding when you think about it. But things like an engine position sensor that is literally networked with the rest of the car and a dozen computers is not your average repair job. The odds of the repair failing or the attempt at a repair breaking something else is higher than on the older cars just because of the nature of the beast.
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My experience, Bought a 2020 PacHy Limited September of last year, have around 9800 miles on it, started with charge fault errors intermittently around July of last year, starts making a loud noise after the charge fault error shows up, but it did not prevent me from driving the vehicle, I let the dealer know and they didn't have the schedule for their hybrid tech open up immediately, hence gave me an August 16 date to drop off the vehicle, which I did,

it started with a need for a charger module being replaced, then a charger port needing to be replaced, then some jumper wiring is what I was told, basically current state it is not charging at all in the dealers shop, and the dealer service is currently iterating with Chrysler engineering, I dont have an update since last Thursday, so basically 51 days in the shop and no end in sight.

In the meanwhile I had opened a case with Chrysler, on Sept 16 (30 days after it was in the shop with no resolution), after a week of calling after I opened the case, it was escalated I believe and finally there was a case manager assigned who was trying to offer a compensation for me to keep the vehicle, while signing some sort of a release agreement under NDA with Chrysler that I will not be using this particular incident (where the vehicle is in the shop for more than 30 days) in any future claims, I was thinking about it, but there is no end in sight with the repair or a clear idea of what more is going on with the van..hence last week I told the Chrysler retention agent that I will go with the goodwill repurchase option that they had presented earlier. In terms of this process, I was told that there is some panel which decides on the repurchase who are still in the process of making a decision, dont know how long to wait before I try to initiate a lemon law claim from the state (I purchased the vehicle in NY, and registered in NJ, hence I believe the NY lemon law statues should hold), I dont know if anyone else in the forum had any experiences with this whole buyback/lemon law process, any input is much appreciated.

Thanks
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I've been updating the top post with our van saga. It's just been non-stop issues with the PACHY.



I'll keep editing/updating this as kind of a journal for our 2020 Limited "S" PACHY

EDIT: August 9 2022 - 18,660 miles on odometer
The van has a very audible 'clunk/click' noise when pushing and releasing the accelerator pedal. This is the same noise/behavior we had before that was supposedly fixed with the suspension work done on June 2nd (see below).

This time I got a video of it, may have to turn up your volume to hear it clearly. All I'm doing is pressing and releasing the accelerator pedal and I can both hear and feel (through the car/pedal) the click/clunk. It's like a pause before the car engages or disengages the transmission (feels like a 'free falling' moment when you press and release the pedal when the noise occurs).

We can't bring it back to the dealership, because we are extremely close to having a 4th child and have no other vehicle to hold our family. Taking it to the dealership, based on past experience, would mean we would be without the van for at least a month.

2020 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid click/clink noise when pushing and releasing accelerator pedal. - YouTube


EDIT #7: July 26 2022 - 17,973 miles on odometer
Took nearly 2 months to get an appointment to fix the alignment issue.

1) Dealership did 4 wheel alignment. Their alignment printer was down, so I have no idea on the before/after details.

EDIT #6 June 2nd 2022 - 16,105 miles on odometer

We got the van back into our possession. Here's a list of things that were fixed/replace:
1) Replaced both left and right side sliding door kick sensors
2) Replaced the electric coolant pump (to fix engine code POE15 error code/heater issue)
3) Replaced lower control arm (driver side)
4) Replaced half shaft axle (passenger side)
5) Replaced lock nut-hex flange lock
6) Replaced nut-hex

Immediately after getting the van back we noticed it was pulling to the right (bad alignment).

EDIT #5 May 4th 2022 - 16,000 miles on the odometer

We got more info back from the dealership about the issues. The problem list is now up to 6 items.
1) Sliding door 'kick' sensor needs replaced. Part is back ordered.
2) Right front axle leak. Parts are back ordered.
3) Driver side lower ball joint needs replaced. Parts are back ordered.
4) Electric coolant pump/system (heater isn't working). Parts are backordered (45+ days at least for this one that we know of).
5) Front swaybar links. Parts are back ordered.
6) Right-front strut. Parts are back ordered.

So, we are definitely not getting the van back any time soon (likely not for months).

EDIT #4 May 2nd 2022 - 16,000 miles on the odometer

The heater stopped working on April 23rd and later that day the check engine light came on throwing code P0E15. We took the van into the dealership on April 28th to have it checked out. The part needed to replace for that issue is on backorder, so we are looking at probably 2 months before it arrives (dealership had at least 7 other PACHY's waiting for the same part for more than 40 days already). We were told to no longer drive the PACHY long distances as the van isn't able to cool/heat the battery properly anymore and we could end up doing permanent damage to the van. They offered to keep the van until the part arrived, but we will likely take the van home for now..it's still at the dealership right now though. We also had an increasingly loud clunking noise (and you could feel it in the car) when engaging/disengaging the accelerator pedal that's been getting louder over the past few months. Dealership believed it to be the right-front strut, but later said they are ordering parts to replace swaybar/endlink. More details to come as the van is still at the dealership and so far no new updates yet.

EDIT #3 August 4th 2021
Forgot to add this update, but the vehicle ended up having missing bolts for the front-right control arm, with damage to the control arm itself. The bolts literally fell out of the control arm, so it wasn't attached. The left-front control arm also had loose bolts. The local dealership replaced the front right control-arm due to damage sustained after the bolts fell out, and they replaced the bolts in the front-left control-arm. The van spent a couple weeks total at the dealership for this issue (The van spent more than 3 out of the first 8 months of ownership at dealership service). Major MAJOR luck here that the vehicle didn't crash us into a ditch or oncoming traffic, since it wasn't able to be steered properly. Our local dealership believes the problem may have been caused by the service tech at the california dealership, improper installation of control arms/bolts during transmission replacement, but this was never confirmed and is just a guess.

EDIT #2 July 28th, 2021 - 7,400 miles on odometer
Another update.

Apparently the steering problem is related to a broken or missing bolt on the control arms. Dealer ordered more today. I don't know if it was both control arms or not, will find out more on Monday. But dang we dodged a major accident bullet there. Glad we chose to turn around and go straight home after noticing the weird steering, otherwise we could have ended up in a big accident. We aren't sure yet if it was due to the transmission replacement (which requires removing a lot of the steering related items) or if they actually went bad for another reason.

I'll update again next monday/tuesday once I pick up the van.


EDIT #1: July 21st, 2021 - 7,400 miles on odometer
So update on the van.

We had it towed to our dealership today for a new problem. We were driving some errands near our house and suddenly the steering went all kinds of wacky.

Suddenly holding the steering wheel straight causes the vehicle to drive left, and we had to turn the wheel to the right to keep it straight. In addition, the car will no longer simply drive straight, it kept fighting the steering wheel in my hands and would wobble down the road. It wasn't the lane keep assist, I tried turning it off/on etc and it had no effect. Super unsafe to drive right now.

So, back to service it goes. Lasted about 2.5 weeks before needing to be towed again. Our other vehicle, our 2004 subaru wrx wagon (with 235k miles on it) has been towed 1 time in 14 years when the radiator died at 192k miles. Our 2020 van has been towed 2 times now in 9 months with only about 7,400 miles on it now.

Either we are extremely unlucky with the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid van we bought, or there are some serious manufacturing/quality issues with these vans.

I'll update the thread again when I know more from the service department. We already had a scheduled appointment for early august for the other issues we experienced after getting the van back from the transmission replacement. So now it's at the local dealership/service as an 'emergency' service.

/End EDIT

First problem at 6,000 miles on the odometer. Problem described below:

I didn't think we'd ever end up being one of 'those stories', but here we go.

I'm hoping this info (and the service details at the end of this post) will help others who may be in our situation. I'm also not going to name the dealership, they did a decent job with what they had and were friendly throughout the process (although had to push on them slightly in one situation).

We bought a 2018 Pacifica Hybrid Limited new in late 2018 (and put about 25k trouble free miles on it). Later traded that in for a new 2020 Pacifica Hybrid Limited in late 2020 (actually made money on the deal, thanks federal tax credit!).

Well, about 6k miles into our 2020 Pacifica Hybrid and 700 miles into a 1,200 mile trip (one-way) the van died while driving 70mph on the freeway in the middle of nowhere California.

There's a really long story here that I don't want flood your screen with (so I'll try to make it shorter), but basically our 2020 Pacifica Hybrid spent the last 7+ weeks at a dealership service 700 miles from us, while we had to deal with rental vans and eventually no van once we made it home from our trip. We finally got our 2020 Pacifica hybrid back last weekend.

The story:
The check engine light came on (not flashing) while on the freeway (cruise-control at about 73mph). The car didn't drive any different, no warning bells or anything, plus there was no exit or anywhere to pull over, so we kept going. Another mile or so down the road and the car just shut off, lost all power and we (my Wife, our 3 kids in child car seats, and myself) had to pull over on the shoulder while semi-trucks whizzed past at 70mph+. We were in a super unsafe spot to be stuck/stop, so my immediate goal was to get it off the freeway as soon as possible. I was able to start it and get up to about 30mph before it died again...back to the shoulder. I had to start it over and over, and it seemed to stay on if we kept it under 30mph while being VERY light on the accelerator, driving entirely on the freeway shoulder, finally made it to an offramp and parked at an auto parts store in a tiny town.

We got the codes read:
P0A43 - Drive Motor A Position Sensor Circuit Intermittent
and
P0A3F - Drive Motor A Position Sensor Circuit

The code reader was very old, so not sure how accurate those descriptions were, but those were the codes.

Once in the parking lot of the auto parts store the van would no longer stay on. Push the start button, it turns on then immediately off. It was towed from here to a dealership (closest one!) about 75 miles away. Thank you very much AAA!

7 weeks later and the van is 'repaired' and back in our garage. However it's already started to have other issues. The first day we drove it we had an issue where the van felt like it was seeking between EV mode and ICE/hybrid mode (flipping back and forth) which could also be felt through the accelerator pedal when it switched (i.e. not a smooth transition). Also, when parked and on (in EV mode) there is an absolutely obnoxiously loud sound coming from the engine bay. It sounds like a fan or some vibration (and I'll assume it's something related to the cooling system for the EV/battery, but who knows). It's so loud that two people standing next to the van cannot have a conversation with each other, literally can't hear each other.

So now we've set up an appointment with our local dealership (where we bought it), but they are so incredibly busy the soonest they could see it is early August, although they
said if we needed it towed to the dealership for any reason they would try to look at it sooner.

I'm not going to fault the dealership/service that worked on it for the new issues. We'll get them properly diagnosed with our local dealership and go from there I suppose.

Anyway, that's the story so far. Obviously not the best situation to be in, we love the van...when it works. Not sure what to do next, but definitely not feeling super confident about this particular van's reliability considering it's our family hauler.


Below is what is on the service record that we got from the dealership that worked on it. I've just copy/pasted straight from the service notes:

A RRT 10 [2020 RU PHEV ELECTRONIC BRAKE BOOSTER MODULE (EBBM **] CAUSE:
. 18197790 Module, Electronic Brake Booster (EBBM) - Reprogram Module, Electronic Brake Booster (EBBM) - Reprogram (0 - Low Skilled) 9247 WF1 (N/C) 6662 REQUIRES FLASH REPROGRAMMED THE EBBM WITH THE LATEST AVAILABLE SOFTWARE
****
B CUSTOMER REPORTS ENGINE LOST POWER WHILE DRIVING; CK & ADVISE
CAUSE:
. DIAG DIAGNOSIS 9002 WF1 (N/C)
9247 WF1 (N/C)
DIAG DIAGNOSIS 9002 WF1 (N/C)
DIAG DIAGNOSIS 9002 WF1 (N/C)
DIAG DIAGNOSIS 9002 WF1 (N/C)
09254410 Flexplate/Driveplate, Automatic Transmission - Replace 3.6 liter engine - PHEV (2 - Skilled) 9247 WF1 (N/C)
07FF0150 Coolant, Engine Drain and fill 9247 WF1 (N/C)
1 68490840AB .8MM PART (N/C)
9 68382486AA BOLT-HEX FLANGE HEAD (N/C)
1 68163848AB ANTIFREEZ-COOLANT (N/C)

Verify vehicle turns on but will not move. Test circuit with scan tool. Found P0A3F-00 drive motor A position sensor 1 circuit fault. Inspect and test circuit per fault. Fault Pin out circuits between PIM and trans for sensor A. Test results rec trans replacement. Generate star case. Star agent requested number measurements of all ohm readings and to drain trans fluid for inspection. Push vehicle back in shop. R+R eng air cleaner to access and disconnect PIM connector C1 and trans connector. Pin out trans connector 26 way and PIM C1 65 way connectors. Found wiring between PIM and trans circuits T372, T374, T371, T373, T370, and T375 to be all under 1 ohm resistance. Measured circuits internal to trans to be open resulting in trans replacement diag. Fluid was not burned but some metal flakes were seen. Sent all gathered data including images to star agent.// TECH 9247- Replaced transmission assembly, verified trans came pre-filled. evac'd the hybrid battery coolant system. Cleared dtcs, road test verified normal vehicle performance.

08080110 Battery - Test Charge Retest and Replace All Others (0 - Low Skilled)
9247 WF1 (N/C)
1 BBH6A001AA BATTERY-STORAGE (N/C)
6662 TESTED THE BATTERY WITH THE GR8 TESTER. BATTERY FAILED REC NEW BATTERY // REPLACED BATTERY. VEHICLE STARTS OK AT THIS TIME.
***
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