Other engine problem on the 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan
1 crash 2 fires 3 of the 72 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan report other engine problem at a median of 100,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 72,500 miles and a quarter after 127,500 miles, from 59 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 40,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 155,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 115,996 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
8% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39,204 miles | 71,500 miles | 100,000 miles | 127,545 miles | 155,200 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a crash and 2 a fire are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 24 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2004, at a median of 40,000 miles, and latest on the 2003 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 1996 carries the most reports, with 127; the 2012 has 72. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Driving in a small town, my check engine light came on. I was on the lookout for this. I am a medical courier and we have 4, maybe 5, grand caravans operating out of our facility. Two have had to have the heads replaced, both with the pentastar v-6. I have this engine in mine as well . I was told by the drivers of those to watch for the check engine light to come on, and last night it did. So now, it seems I may be number three. I would consider my driving habits in the dodge "easy", probably 90% of the time I am driving rural two lane highways and interstate. The workday is about 380 miles driven. I drive very little stop and go. I can get 90k miles out of original brakes and tires. I do use a variety of brands of gas, but I would consider them all "brand name". We service our vehicles at proper intervals, all caravans are ordered to the same spec, but this can differ slightly with model year. While searching the net, I've read where chrysler is quietly replacing heads with problems. One of my fellow couriers recently had the head work done at 80k+ on his dodge. You can see I am now at a similar mileage. Our fleet man told me…
Engine runs very rough, idles low almost dies at intersections. Does not have power when gas pedal is pushed down, looses power while driving as well. These vans have something majorly wrong with the engines and transmissions. Dodge needs to investigate and recall/repair these vans. They are hazardous. I cannot wait to be rid of mine before something happens to me and my four children. Doesn't sound like I'm the only one with the problems either. Maybe dodge/chrysler is going to be like gm and let people die before repair a minor part. Very disappointed in this vehicle. It will be my last dodge purchase. *js
When idling, a rattling sound came from engine, it was continuous with any speed. Took vehicle to dodge dealer in ventura, ca for repair. They stated it was some type of plate in engine and was ordering part. Was supposed to get my van back within 3 days but "part was still being tracked" after 3 days of calling for status. Around june 27th we finally asked for a rental. Dodge said they would pay for rental and I would pay for gas. Was supposed to have rental for about 3 days. Around july 1st we were told still working on vehicle, they would call us if it was finished that night, no call back. It is now july 8th and they still have our vehicle. Over the weekend we received a letter from chrysler stating our warranty was extended to 10 years, 100,000 miles due to engine heads. We were never told anything about engine heads by dodge, and still have not heard back, still have rental. Shouldn't this be a recall, instead of just extension of warrant? Sounds fishy to us... Thank you for your time. *tr updated 3/17/2015 *js
Also reported on the 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan
Other electrical problem
Fuel pump failure
No-start or intermittent start failure
Stalling while driving
Other powertrain problem
Alternator or charging system failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 72 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other engine problem happen on the 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan?
Across 59 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 100,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 72,500 miles and a quarter after 127,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan?
72 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.7 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed