[simpyweb]

I have been reading these forums for a while and this is my first post. I appreciate everyone’s information on subjects about the pacificas.

I wanted to add my case to the others as I have run into this similar issue with my 2017 Pacifica Van now throwing a misfire on cylinder 5 code. It has 65K.

Before my warranty expired, I had initially taken my vehicle in because my wife was complaining that there was on and off again gurgling/bubbling noise that could be heard after driving at times. They did some tests and said radiator cap was bad and replaced it. Now they said I have coolant seeping into a cylinders and they need to do a tear down to figure out extent of the damage, which based on what I have heard is not going to end up cheap. I am super dissapointed like others at this point being just outside the warranty period and having such low miles.

Seems like it perhaps wasn’t just a radiator cap as an issue and potentially there was something else happening that ultimately led up to this? The noises have still existed, but now it is ultimately leaking coolant now after my warranty is up.

Not sure if it is worth reaching out to Chrysler about my situation or if that is a waste of time, and they wouldn’t be of any help.

 

[PacificaMinivanFan]

I have been reading these forums for a while and this is my first post. I appreciate everyone’s information on subjects about the pacificas.

I wanted to add my case to the others as I have run into this similar issue with my 2017 Pacifica Van now throwing a misfire on cylinder 5 code. It has 65K.

Before my warranty expired, I had initially taken my vehicle in because my wife was complaining that there was on and off again gurgling/bubbling noise that could be heard after driving at times. They did some tests and said radiator cap was bad and replaced it. Now they said I have coolant seeping into a cylinders and they need to do a tear down to figure out extent of the damage, which based on what I have heard is not going to end up cheap. I am super dissapointed like others at this point being just outside the warranty period and having such low miles.

Seems like it perhaps wasn’t just a radiator cap as an issue and potentially there was something else happening that ultimately led up to this? The noises have still existed, but now it is ultimately leaking coolant now after my warranty is up.

Not sure if it is worth reaching out to Chrysler about my situation or if that is a waste of time, and they wouldn’t be of any help.

I suppose a case could be made that the dealer you took your Pacifica to before the warranty expired deliberately misdiagnosed the issue in order to avoid a warranty claim, but how one proves that is beyond me. One would think the coolant level was down because the gurgling sound is usually an indication of air in the system (due to low coolant), so they should have spotted that and wondered if there might be a blown head gasket.

For now I'd recommend you save all of your paperwork and receipts in the off chance there is a recall or some sort of program down the road where Chrysler will start paying for these repairs (or reimbursing those that have already paid for them).

Thanks for your post @simpyweb. The rest of us can take away that we should check the coolant level often and, if we hear gurgling sounds, we should immediately get it in to be checked, especially if it is still within warranty.

 

[Terenz21]

Adding to the club my 2017 Chrysler Pacifica with 57,000 miles took it to the dealership for P303 cylinder 3 misfire. I pulled the spark plug and it was sweet and milky. I got the response today from the dealership bad cylinder head. Luckily covered under warranty. But my wife is now without a car for the next 10 days and Chrysler will not pay for a rental car or even offer a loaner!!!!! It’s such a scam selling us an overpriced product that is not built too last. I have lost all faith in this company. This will be my first and last Chrysler product!!!!

 

[hawkfan]

Is everyone that's experiencing these failures reporting them to the NTHSA? If not please make sure you do so that there can be visibility on this as it can result in a safety issue to others on the road. This will be how we force a recall or some type of replacement campaign.

 

[Sierrawine]

I'll add my story here and update when I know if it's "just" a head gasket or more...

2017 Touring L Plus
40,000 miles
It was a salvage title, in an accident, had < 5,000 miles when we bought it and so far hasn't had any issues that I don't see all over this forum so I don't think that has contributed to any of our issues.

Car is currently in getting a new head gasket (and hopefully not more but possibly a new engine, I suppose). It's been losing coolant for quite a whle (like another poster, I could hear gurgling and bubbling for a while before one day the car started to overheat). At that time, the dealership was closed so we bought coolant from AutoZone that matched the criteria from the manual and ever since then we've been buying the expensive ($27/gallon) Mopar coolant from the dealer. I read the post that it could be people using incorrect coolant but in our case it was overheating before we ever added any coolant so the underlying cause already existed. (But I think it's awesome to consider everything so I wanted to add our experience in relation to that possibility.)

The dealer and my local mechanic (who I trust) said they can't find the leak. Had the car in for a recall very recently (that stupid stop/start - and after recall it still only works maybe 60% of the time!) and an oil change with the dealer. Next day, getting engine warning light, code 0305. (No engine warning lights ever before this. I just read another post of someone in the same situation and their engine light came on right after an oil change by the dealer, which was interesting.) A week after the dealer did the recall/oil change and looked at coolant I had to drive in a downpour and the next day my car wouldn't start (push the button and everything lights up but the car doesn't turn over) and I assumed it was due to driving on flooded roads. My local mechanic replaced the starter but that wasn't the issue - the 500 amp fuse had blown and he replaced that. No problems for a few weeks, though still losing coolant (faster and faster) and the engine warning light (0305) is still on most of the time. Ready to bring it back to local mechanic but last Friday the car wouldn't start again. The 500 amp fuse was blown again. My husband speculated that cylinder 5 was in a low position and therefore more coolant was allowed to leak into the cylinder (the coolant leak has progressively gotten faster and faster the last few months) and had enough that the cylinder was locked. He took out spark plug 5 (it was wet), left it out and put a towel over the cylinder. He somehow managed to bypass that 500 amp fuse that's needed to start the car and we started it. Coolant blew out of the cylinder into the towel and there was enough that a few layers of towel were wet and the smell of coolant was very strong, confirming that the coolant was leaking into cylinder 5. We turned it off right away, he replaced the spark plug and then we bypassed the fuse again to start it and drove it right to our mechanic. It's been there for a week while he tries to source parts to replace the head gasket. He'll also send out for compression testing to make sure the head isn't cracked.

I couldn't imagine bringing this to the dealer. I've only had it into the dealer twice for recall work and oil changes that coincided with the recalls as there's no warranty. At the first appointment I told them that I was losing coolant but they didn't even look at it. Also blew off my automatic door that doesn't actually close at least half of the time (pops back open). And they told me there was nothing wrong with my coolant at all - it all checked out. After I explained (again) that we've had to keep buying coolant from them and refilling it every few weeks, they looked again and still couldn't find any problems. I have a hard time imagining that with the number of people with this problem they weren't aware this COULD be the issue! This car has a salvage title but every issue it's had is well-documented on this forum (doors not closing, Stop/Start warning, this coolant/engine issue) so I don't think it's related to the accident it was in. It's lower miles than most people with this issue, though.

 

[M0Par]

I'll add my story here and update when I know if it's "just" a head gasket or more...

2017 Touring L Plus
40,000 miles
It was a salvage title, in an accident, had < 5,000 miles when we bought it and so far hasn't had any issues that I don't see all over this forum so I don't think that has contributed to any of our issues.

Car is currently in getting a new head gasket (and hopefully not more but possibly a new engine, I suppose). It's been losing coolant for quite a whle (like another poster, I could hear gurgling and bubbling for a while before one day the car started to overheat). At that time, the dealership was closed so we bought coolant from AutoZone that matched the criteria from the manual and ever since then we've been buying the expensive ($27/gallon) Mopar coolant from the dealer. I read the post that it could be people using incorrect coolant but in our case it was overheating before we ever added any coolant so the underlying cause already existed. (But I think it's awesome to consider everything so I wanted to add our experience in relation to that possibility.)

The dealer and my local mechanic (who I trust) said they can't find the leak. Had the car in for a recall very recently (that stupid stop/start - and after recall it still only works maybe 60% of the time!) and an oil change with the dealer. Next day, getting engine warning light, code 0305. (No engine warning lights ever before this. I just read another post of someone in the same situation and their engine light came on right after an oil change by the dealer, which was interesting.) A week after the dealer did the recall/oil change and looked at coolant I had to drive in a downpour and the next day my car wouldn't start (push the button and everything lights up but the car doesn't turn over) and I assumed it was due to driving on flooded roads. My local mechanic replaced the starter but that wasn't the issue - the 500 amp fuse had blown and he replaced that. No problems for a few weeks, though still losing coolant (faster and faster) and the engine warning light (0305) is still on most of the time. Ready to bring it back to local mechanic but last Friday the car wouldn't start again. The 500 amp fuse was blown again. My husband speculated that cylinder 5 was in a low position and therefore more coolant was allowed to leak into the cylinder (the coolant leak has progressively gotten faster and faster the last few months) and had enough that the cylinder was locked. He took out spark plug 5 (it was wet), left it out and put a towel over the cylinder. He somehow managed to bypass that 500 amp fuse that's needed to start the car and we started it. Coolant blew out of the cylinder into the towel and there was enough that a few layers of towel were wet and the smell of coolant was very strong, confirming that the coolant was leaking into cylinder 5. We turned it off right away, he replaced the spark plug and then we bypassed the fuse again to start it and drove it right to our mechanic. It's been there for a week while he tries to source parts to replace the head gasket. He'll also send out for compression testing to make sure the head isn't cracked.

I couldn't imagine bringing this to the dealer. I've only had it into the dealer twice for recall work and oil changes that coincided with the recalls as there's no warranty. At the first appointment I told them that I was losing coolant but they didn't even look at it. Also blew off my automatic door that doesn't actually close at least half of the time (pops back open). And they told me there was nothing wrong with my coolant at all - it all checked out. After I explained (again) that we've had to keep buying coolant from them and refilling it every few weeks, they looked again and still couldn't find any problems. I have a hard time imagining that with the number of people with this problem they weren't aware this COULD be the issue! This car has a salvage title but every issue it's had is well-documented on this forum (doors not closing, Stop/Start warning, this coolant/engine issue) so I don't think it's related to the accident it was in. It's lower miles than most people with this issue, though.

Here's the part that I'm wondering about. If your mechanic is replacing the head gasket then that's the leak. Why would he replace it otherwise?

Unless that's a result of a leak which caused the overheating that damaged the head gasket.

 

[PacificaMinivanFan]

2017 Touring L Plus
40,000 miles
It was a salvage title, in an accident, had < 5,000 miles when we bought it and so far hasn't had any issues that I don't see all over this forum so I don't think that has contributed to any of our issues.

I read the post that it could be people using incorrect coolant but in our case it was overheating before we ever added any coolant so the underlying cause already existed.

If the radiator was replaced/repaired after the accident, there's a good chance the coolant was replaced, but with what?

 

[Dcrossen87]

Similar/Same Issue here and after advice.
2017, 3.6 - Mopar Maxcare 100K Extended Warranty.

Purchased @ ~45K Mileage 15 months ago, oil changes every 6 months myself, with store receipt, and text log of date it was accomplished (NOT mileage... my mistake)
~77K Now.

Idle'd rough / starter froze next AM - Took to dealer replaced starter, ran (occasionally rough idle) ok after.

Had code of Cylinder 2 misfire.
Replaced spark plugs myself out of caution - no improvement.

Started Using coolant, and 30 days later, no start again (was trying to figure out where coolant was going in the interim).


Took back to dealership who claim the oil has not been changed regularly based on what the oil looks like, and my receipts aren't proof of an oil change to claim warranty.
They will do me a favor and potentially reassemble it so I can tow it.

I don't feel I'm in the wrong in that this is enough proof for warranty, but they haven't even submitted to Mopar to review, I confirmed this today (8/17)

Where do I go from here, either on working to identify this myself since the dealership has washed their hands of it, or getting them to honor the warranty purchased?

Just after some outside input here, and as a first time poster and seeing the similar issues - thought this would be a good place to get it.

My next step is to ask the dealership I purchased it from for their advice, they are an hour away though, this other dealer is closer.


I appreciate your time whoever can offer advice.

DC

 

[M0Par]

Similar/Same Issue here and after advice.
2017, 3.6 - Mopar Maxcare 100K Extended Warranty.

Purchased @ ~45K Mileage 15 months ago, oil changes every 6 months myself, with store receipt, and text log of date it was accomplished (NOT mileage... my mistake)
~77K Now.

Idle'd rough / starter froze next AM - Took to dealer replaced starter, ran (occasionally rough idle) ok after.

Had code of Cylinder 2 misfire.
Replaced spark plugs myself out of caution - no improvement.

Started Using coolant, and 30 days later, no start again (was trying to figure out where coolant was going in the interim).


Took back to dealership who claim the oil has not been changed regularly based on what the oil looks like, and my receipts aren't proof of an oil change to claim warranty.
They will do me a favor and potentially reassemble it so I can tow it.

I don't feel I'm in the wrong in that this is enough proof for warranty, but they haven't even submitted to Mopar to review, I confirmed this today (8/17)

Where do I go from here, either on working to identify this myself since the dealership has washed their hands of it, or getting them to honor the warranty purchased?

Just after some outside input here, and as a first time poster and seeing the similar issues - thought this would be a good place to get it.

My next step is to ask the dealership I purchased it from for their advice, they are an hour away though, this other dealer is closer.


I appreciate your time whoever can offer advice.

DC

What do the terms of your warranty state regarding maintenance and oil changes? If you can post a copy that would help.

 

[Dcrossen87]

What do the terms of your warranty state regarding maintenance and oil changes? If you can post a copy that would help.

PDF Link below this excerpt.


Trying to do this - here is full link of what I was sent today calling Mopar - it really doesn't specify that I can find beyond -

"YOUR ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES: It is your responsibility to properly operate, care for and maintain the Vehicle as prescribed in the owner’s manual supplied by the manufacturer. If you fail to properly operate, care for and maintain the Vehicle as prescribed in the owner’s manual supplied by the manufacturer, we may deny your claim under the Plan. You should retain all maintenance records and receipts to avoid any misunderstanding as to whether or not the maintenance services were performed as required."

https://myplanprovisions.com/pdfGeneration.do?requestID=13119298&key=auEySNt4fGm5sbKLW5ASJA%3D%3D

 

[M0Par]

PDF Link below this excerpt.


Trying to do this - here is full link of what I was sent today calling Mopar - it really doesn't specify that I can find beyond -

"YOUR ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES: It is your responsibility to properly operate, care for and maintain the Vehicle as prescribed in the owner’s manual supplied by the manufacturer. If you fail to properly operate, care for and maintain the Vehicle as prescribed in the owner’s manual supplied by the manufacturer, we may deny your claim under the Plan. You should retain all maintenance records and receipts to avoid any misunderstanding as to whether or not the maintenance services were performed as required."

https://myplanprovisions.com/pdfGeneration.do?requestID=13119298&key=auEySNt4fGm5sbKLW5ASJA%3D%3D

As long as you have all receipts and an oil change spreadsheet you should be good.

What's interesting is the definition of "we" in the plan. It says FCA, not your dealer. Who authorized the dealer to administer the plan and make plan benefit determinations?

 

[peterweb]

Similar/Same Issue here and after advice.
2017, 3.6 - Mopar Maxcare 100K Extended Warranty.

Purchased @ ~45K Mileage 15 months ago, oil changes every 6 months myself, with store receipt, and text log of date it was accomplished (NOT mileage... my mistake)
~77K Now.

Idle'd rough / starter froze next AM - Took to dealer replaced starter, ran (occasionally rough idle) ok after.

Had code of Cylinder 2 misfire.
Replaced spark plugs myself out of caution - no improvement.

Started Using coolant, and 30 days later, no start again (was trying to figure out where coolant was going in the interim).


Took back to dealership who claim the oil has not been changed regularly based on what the oil looks like, and my receipts aren't proof of an oil change to claim warranty.
They will do me a favor and potentially reassemble it so I can tow it.

I don't feel I'm in the wrong in that this is enough proof for warranty, but they haven't even submitted to Mopar to review, I confirmed this today (8/17)

Where do I go from here, either on working to identify this myself since the dealership has washed their hands of it, or getting them to honor the warranty purchased?

Just after some outside input here, and as a first time poster and seeing the similar issues - thought this would be a good place to get it.

My next step is to ask the dealership I purchased it from for their advice, they are an hour away though, this other dealer is closer.


I appreciate your time whoever can offer advice.

DC

Dealer is just visually looking at the oil. Might be worth getting an oil analysis done to see if there is coolant in the oil. That might satisfy your dealer.

Also, if you have not already done so, send a forum PM to @ChryslerCares to see what help they might be able to provide.

 

[PacificaMinivanFan]

As long as you have all receipts and an oil change spreadsheet you should be good.

Well, a dealer might say the info on a spreadsheet was just recently made up. He would need something more. I've had good luck taking date/time-stamped pics of my work, including a pic of odometer reading and a pic of the new filter and the 5-qt bottle of MS-6395 certified oil. I then upload the pics to Costco's photo department where they are developed and shipped to my home, and from there they go into a saved Costco photo shipping envelope with holes punched in it so it can be filed in my 3-ring binder. Also upload receipts and pics (up to 4 images max) to my CarFax garage for each vehicle.

 

[Dcrossen87]

Update: I went and looked at my oil filter - it's tar.

Also on original post, I forgot to list that It did overheat leaving the dealership after starter replacement (as in...2 miles away... not days later) - took it back there, they filled it and pressure tested no leaks. That's when I started parking in different spots trying to spot a leak.



Dealer here won't do anything with it (even contact mopar at all) because I didn't change my oil (have receipts as stated above...)

Towed it to Dealer I purchased it from about 30 miles away per their request - TBD From here. Hoping they will at least discuss/work with me - rather than tell me it's junk tow it out please.

Hopefully more.

 

[PacificaMinivanFan]

Update: I went and looked at my oil filter - it's tar.

The condition of the oil filter as described above might very well be the reason the dealer believed the oil had not been changed.

 

[Sierrawine]

If the radiator was replaced/repaired after the accident, there's a good chance the coolant was replaced, but with what?

This is a great question!!!! Our mechanic (after > $4,000 worth of repairs, which included replacing the head gasket but an "OK" block test) said that they thought at some point the car may have overheated because the top was warped, which may have led to the gasket being compromised as it was not sitting on a flat surface.

The people who did the salvage repair seemed amazing, honestly, despite my super nervous worry. The car was sold to us in immaculate condition. (Shortly after that awesome experience we bought another car with a salvage title from different people that was NOT the same experience!) So you make a good point - maybe our failure was related to the salvage title? I assume it was going to happen but possibly this sped it up? Or maybe not at all. Great perspective - thanks for posting!

I see discussion related to the oil filter on this thread and and I posted long before picking my car back up from our mechanic. (We didn't get the car back before the end of August, 2022.) Before I read the posts after mine, I'd already written this:
I will say that our mechanic was HORRIFIED by the state of my oil filter. He'd rarely seen anything like it and said that it's similar to filters that haven't been replaced in 10,000-15,000+ miles. My car had been to the dealer about 2 months before (with < 3,000 miles and synthetic oil replaced) so he really felt we should challenge the dealer - did they really replace that filter??? It's interesting that previous posters had concerns about the tar in their filters. Our mechanic was just horrified by the state of the filter and couldn't believe that the deal had done the oil a couple of months before. He saved the filter to show us and so we could take it to the dealer.

 

[Rabbit47]

Well I'm going to add to my situation to the list. 2018 Chrysler Pacifica Tour L Plus with just a tick over 80,000 miles. Started running rough a few months ago and then threw a P0304 DTC. MAYBE 2,000 miles out of warranty. So I decide to replace the spark plugs and throw in new coils as well just to eliminate that as a possible cause as well. Get them changed out and everything seems to be working ok for the test drive and the following day but then the rough idle and CEL come back the day after. I decide to take it to the dealership since while I'm comfortable working on cars, I'm not an auto mechanic and will let the professionals do the job. The dealership had it for a week and I hadn't heard from them, so I give them a call. They hadn't even touched it. They promise to get it in the shop that day and will call me with what they find. They call me at about 5:20pm and say they can't start troubleshooting it because my aux battery is dead and I will have to have that replaced before they can do anything. I then ask them what the aux battery has to do with starting the car and why not just jump it and worry about the aux battery at a later point? They can't tell my why the car won't start and that the aux battery shouldn't be preventing it from starting. They keep it for another week and end up replacing the MIDI fuse and the entire fuse box and finally get the car running. So I take home with the intention of taking it to another, non-dealership affiliated shop in the morning. I try and start it and nothing. Car will not start again. I get it towed to the shop and they troubleshoot it as the MIDI fuse blew again. So they actually look into way it keeps blowing and discover the starter is shot. Chrysler has ZERO starters available as they were all on backorder, so they reluctantly put in an aftermarket starter from NAPA. That starter failed after 8 starts while it was still in the shop. They decide to wait until they can get an OEM starter but continue troubleshooting it. They pressure check the head and it passes. They find a little bit of coolant coming out of the exhaust manifold going into the catalytic converter. They believe the issue is from a small hole from casting of the engine that wasn't fully present when it was first built, but eventually worked through and was letting the coolant through, into cylinder #4 which was causing the mis-fire. Then the unburnt fuel and coolant where making there way to the cat, which was causing it to run much hotter than normal. The starter is pressed up right next to the cat. They think this caused the starter to fail prematurely. So they recommend that I use some stop leak. I have them add it, finally got the van back thursday, van was still running rough but no CEL, that is until sunday. I checked the coolant and it was a little low again. i top it off and decide to take it back to the shop today when sure enough, the van won't start again and now I'm waiting for a tow truck to get it towed to the shop. Again.

 

[Dcrossen87]

I feel for you Rabbit - all of this feels familiar - all of my issues still remain still at dealership, still paying on a car that's been out of commission since June with a "maybe warranty but we don't know until it's apart" routine...

I'm just waiting on an update on my situation and will provide maybe it will be useful for you or others... but we all know why they are running out of starters - it's the first part the dealership is throwing at this issue.

 

[Raquelzinha]

Just shared my engine nightmare (coolant intrusion and head gasket replaced last year....this year same error code and engine needs replacing). Still under Certified PreOwned warranty and they won't pay. It's been in the shop for 3 months and I am waiting for them to respond to my lawyer. Details and other complaints on this thread. Warped Engine Block?!

 

[willysp]

I think I will have the same fate. P0303. 2017 pacifica with 100k. Roughy idle in the morning for 2-3 seconds. Out of warranty. My trusted mechanic replaced the spark plugs (they were due) swapped the ignition coil, and the intake plenum gasket. Cleared the codes but they are back. Last week I noticed the coolant was a little bit low. I contacted the dealership where I do all the service and was told that only labor to replace a cylinder head is almost 4K. That’s insane even for busy dealerships. How much are you paying for that work at the dealership?