Poor winter beater...

[JaMichaels]

I purchased what became my favorite vehicle ever 4 years ago. My 1998 Town & Country LXi with the uncommon AWD cost me a sizzling $250. Loaded with heated leather, front and rear a/c, memory seats etc, this thing was deluxe for its day. It had 4 brand new hankooks and assisted many stuck people out on pewaukee lake. I was deeply saddened today to find this...

http://i45.tinypic.com/34h8mdw.jpg


http://i48.tinypic.com/2iargye.jpg

Its been slowly decaying and I tried to slow it down, but the split 4"s for, the top is not trust worthy.

192k miles and runs drives stops like a top and now it's just useless... Anyone know of anything that can be done?

[loud91rs]

I am almost positive Chrysler makes a repair piece of metal for the strut tower on those vans. My uncle had the same one with the same problem.

[03Seville]

I am almost positive Chrysler makes a repair piece of metal for the strut tower on those vans. My uncle had the same one with the same problem.


Here ya go, I knew their was something since it was such a common problem

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/accessories/Miscellaneous-Repair-Parts/Strut-Tower-Repair-Cap/_/N-26nt

[Car Guy]

There is a replacement piece available for that section but the labor involved is not worth performing on that van. Be glad you noticed the problem before something worse happened. I saw a couple examples where the strut tower literally busted through and shattered the wiper cowl piece. Scary stuff!

[JaMichaels]

How on earth would that small cap do anything to help? Look about 4" down from the strut mount bolts, there's a split going half way around the tower... That cap is useless at this point lol..

[Moparjim]

yeah or just weld any old stuff in there.... and i believe the issue is the hood i think there is a fix for it that stops water from getting and collecting there

[Moparjim]

On a funny side note, old Mopars would rust the trunk through up here and the leaf spring would come through the trunk eventually.

A 68 Super Bee I had I welded the bumper jack base and the jack itself into the trunk and rocked that for another 6 months lol

[Prince Valiant]

basically it looks like your strut has effectively "popped thru" already.

Here's the instructions to fix the problem:
http://home.comcast.net/~NSminivan/forAllpar/MOPAR-StrutTowerCorrosionRepair-withComments.pdf


What does the other side look like?

As far as a winter beater goes, that's actually a pretty cool little set-up...

[Moparjim]

"Glue.....really strong stuff."

(Blues Brothers lol)

[JaMichaels]

Sold it, got $1143.. Lol

[bikedad]

My 98 Caravan did the same thing.
It had 280,000 miles on it. I sold it for $1000. I showed the guy what was happening and he just shrugged his shoulders and said I'm not worried about that.
He just wanted it for that one winter.