2013 Chrysler Town & Country Problems & Issues

On the 2008-2016 Chrysler Town & Country, the TIPM central fuse/relay box controls nearly all vehicle electrical functions. Internal relays, especially the fuel pump relay, fail due to solder joint cracking from thermal cycling. Causes random activation of lights, wipers, horn, sliding doors losing power, battery drain, and no-start conditions. Class-action lawsuit filed. Most severe in 2008 and 2010-2011 model years.

On the 2010-2014 Chrysler Town & Country, fCA recalled roughly 780,000 2010-2014 Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan vans built 25 August 2010 through 31 October 2013 because the vent window switch in the driver's door armrest can overheat. The switch draws current through an undersized path and can melt, char the armrest and start a fire in the door panel - fires were reported with the vehicle parked as well as running. Owners typically notice a hot or discolored switch, a melted-plastic smell in the cabin, or a vent window that stops working before anything worse happens.

On the 2008-2016 Chrysler Town & Country, the ignition switch and SKREEM (Sentry Key Remote Entry Module) fail, preventing the vehicle from starting or causing intermittent no-start conditions. The SKREEM module reads the transponder in the key and communicates with the PCM. Failure causes 'no bus' communication errors.

On the 2011-2016 Chrysler Town & Country 3.6L Pentastar V6 (ERB), the 3.6L Pentastar carries its oil filter, oil cooler and both oil and coolant passages in one molded plastic housing that sits in the valley of the V under the intake manifold. Heat cycling makes the plastic brittle and the integral seals flatten, so the housing cracks or weeps. Because the assembly carries coolant as well as oil, a failure can present as an external oil leak down the back of the block, an external coolant leak, or - in the worst case - internal oil/coolant mixing that turns the coolant reservoir milky. Owners often first see it as oil dripping onto the exhaust and a burning smell, and the location under the intake makes it look like a rear main seal leak. Over-torquing the plastic oil filter cap during oil changes is a documented accelerant. This is a Pentastar-specific part and does not apply to the 3.3L/3.8L vans.

On the 2011-2013 Chrysler Town & Country 3.6L Pentastar V6 (ERB), early-build 3.6L Pentastar V6 engines suffer accelerated valve guide and valve seat wear on the LEFT (driver's side) cylinder head, producing a persistent misfire on one of the left-bank cylinders and an illuminated MIL. It is frequently accompanied by the 'Pentastar tick.' The defect is specific to the left head - the right head is not affected - and to early Pentastar production, which is why FCA issued a warranty extension rather than a recall. Owners on the Chrysler minivan forums report repeat failures where a replacement head was installed with the same early casting. Some owners with matching symptoms and matching engine build dates were told their VIN falls outside the extension, which produced a class-action claim covering 3.6L vehicles excluded from the extension.

On the 2008-2016 Chrysler Town & Country, the 62TE 6-speed automatic transmission experiences solenoid pack failures causing hard shifting, slipping, limp mode (stuck in 3rd gear), and complete transmission failure. The solenoid pack contains 6 shift solenoids, 1 line-pressure solenoid, a temperature sensor, and 5 pressure switches. Most frequent in 2012 and 2014 models.

On the 2011-2016 Chrysler Town & Country 3.6L Pentastar V6 (ERB), the 3.6L Pentastar's water pump is a recognized wear item on 2011-2016 vans. The internal shaft seal fails first and coolant escapes from the weep hole at the front of the pump; if it is ignored the bearing follows and the pump can shed its drive, producing rapid overheating. Owners report the leak between roughly 80,000 and 120,000 miles. A very common misdiagnosis on these vans is a leaking plastic thermostat housing, which drips into the same area and looks identical from above - replacing the pump without checking the housing leaves the van still leaking. Note this is the Pentastar pump; the 3.3L/3.8L vans have an entirely different cooling-system failure pattern.

On the 2013 Chrysler Town & Country, fCA issued two 2013 campaigns against the Occupant Restraint Control module on 2013 Town & Country vans built roughly 10 May 2012 through 7 June 2013. Incorrect ORC software could cause the side airbags and curtains on the wrong side of the vehicle to deploy in a side impact, leaving the occupants at the actual point of impact unprotected. One campaign was remedied by reflashing the module; the other required physically replacing the ORC. This is a calibration/module defect specific to that build window and is unrelated to the water-intrusion ORC problem on the 2008-2010 vans.

On the 2008-2016 Chrysler Town & Country, power sliding doors fail to open or close automatically, open partially and stop, or operate intermittently. The drive cable, motor, and lock actuator are common failure points. Insulation wear in wiring harness causes shorts. Chrysler issued a campaign for harness chafing on 2008-2009 builds. Class-action lawsuit covers 2013-2016 models.

On the 2008-2016 Chrysler Town & Country, two related liftgate failures dominate owner reports on the 2008-2016 vans. First, the gas struts lose their charge - the seals wear and the gas escapes, so the liftgate will not stay up and drops on whoever is loading the van; this is strongly temperature-sensitive and owners report it appearing first on cold mornings. Second, on power-liftgate vans the liftgate control module itself fails, leaving the gate dead to the key fob and dash switch or reversing part-way through a cycle. On a power gate a weak strut also makes the module think it has hit an obstruction, so the gate reverses and beeps - which sends owners chasing electrical faults when the actual cause is a mechanical strut. FCA also recalled a small March-2012 build window for a defective right-side liftgate pinch sensor (NHTSA 12V-191) that could let the gate close on a limb.

On the 2005-2016 Chrysler Town & Country, the Stow 'n Go system uses a plastic pull-ring latch in the floor panel ahead of each second-row seat; the ring tugs a cable that releases the heavy floor bin lid so the seat can fold in. The rings sit where every passenger steps and are pulled hard to lift a heavy lid, so they crack and break off - forum owners describe it as near-universal on high-mileage vans, with at least one broken ring on almost every example. Separately, the seat's own release cable stretches, unclips or snaps at the crimp, which leaves the second-row seat locked upright or, worse, stuck part-way down and unable to latch back into the floor strikers. A seat that is not latched to the floor is a restraint problem, not just an inconvenience.

On the 2008-2016 Chrysler Town & Country, the plastic-geared HVAC door actuators behind the dash strip their teeth and lose position, which is why so many of these vans blow hot on one side and cold on the other, or lose recirculation entirely. The classic tell is a repetitive clicking or grinding tick from behind the dash that changes when the temperature setting is changed. Because the van has separate driver, passenger and (on tri-zone vans) rear actuators plus mode and recirculation actuators, the same symptom points to several different motors. FCA also addressed a related binding condition on the right-side blend door with a customer satisfaction notification and TSB 24-006-15 for 2014-2015 vehicles, where the fix begins with reprogramming the HVAC control module rather than replacing hardware.