How Cars Burn Down! Oops! Dodge Chrysler Grand Caravan 

Former Mopar Tech (former FL LEO) here. On most Mopar V6 engines, the serpentine belt goes on very easy with no effort IF you install it over the "smooth" IDLER Pulley LAST! That way there is no raised pulley edge lip to stretch the belt over. Make a note of that tip!

Ray if we had more guys like you I think a lot more people would be willing to bring their cars in to be worked on. Thanks for showing that some mechanics have class.

Little tip for crimping anything. Get the crimp tool tight on the fitting then insert the wires that way you aren't trying to hold the fitting crimp tool and wires all at once instead the tool holds the fitting and you just have to hold the tool and wire. And with big wires like that they provide enough resistance so you don't really even have to hold them

Ray, as a shipyard electrician for almost 30 years, we always put 2 crimps when putting on butt splices, and terminal ends. Considered it as a safety precaution. As those crimps are made, it actually makes the stranded wire a solid wire. Try crimping one, and cutting one in half.

Nice job on the repair. The only thing is that flair on the crimp is actually a good thing. It's called a bellmouth and it ensures the edge doesn't dip into the conductors. Just a friendly tip.

my family had a grand caravan for like 15 years, oh the memories; funny how you can have an attatchment to a vehicle. wonderful family van, many a vacation.

Old Chrysler tech here. The reason the belt was a pain to slip on was that van was retro fitted with a Gates dual sided belt and pulley system. This was to correct a common problem of the belt coming off these if they get wet on rainy days. Most often I found the cowl drain tubes had been knocked off or left off from previous work. This lets water from that huge windshield run down on the serpentine .belt. I do similar cable repairs with lead marine terminals with the 5/16 stud sticking up and copper lugs because they work great on Asian cars with stud terminals. Your awesome workmanship fixed the problem caused by poor workmanship.

Finally! Someone fixing a car is using quality heatshrink with adhesive. I find when using the hydraulic crimper, it is easier to set the lug in the jaws first by pumping it so it just holds the lug, then put the tool to the wire and start crimping. And yes, I hate those bettery terminals, but at least you crimped a lug on and didn't place the exposed strands in the terminal and tighten.

My favorite feature or Rainman Ray is the hunches he gets. Things are not as they seem. Then he comes up with the Solution. He is a Magician.

Pro Tip for you Ray --- Put the connector in the crimp tool first and get a semi-snug fit, then put the wire in the connector, then crimp. That way you juggle less items while adjusting the tool.

As little sister to a big brother, I watched his friends and him repair a lot of cars. You made this interesting and just about as entertaining as they did in the mid to late 1950s. It may have been a while, but oh the memories came flooding back. And yes, before you ask, little hands did come in very handy back then too. LOL Thanks for sharing your skills. Stay safe.

Never can kill a Grand Caravan. My Dad hit a flying piece of concrete that popped up out of the road and the thing still drives like a champ!

44:00 "delivering the value I think they're paying for." Good Job Ray! glad to see honest mechanics taking pride in doing good work. Another great, entertaining video. Thanks for being one of the Good Guys.

I was a Snap-On-Tools dealer for many decades before retiring. I always considered my guys and girls Family. Still friends with them all these years latter. One thing I did see when in the business. A set of tools no matter what brand , mix or dollar amount did not make a mechanic. Caring and dedication did make a mechanic /Technician. You my friend are a MECHANIC/ TECHNICIAN ! You seem to care about what you do for a living. Its hard work ! Hot in the summer cold in the winter, Bruises, wounds, crushed hands, fingernails, cuts ,loss of limbs, heat strokes, etc. Next time you are in your local shop all who read this. Thank your mechanic and shop personal. They deserve it !! I would have been proud to have you as a customer and to have you work on my own vehicles !! Thank you for caring !!

Nice job. As an electrician I normally pinch the crimp lugs in the crimp tool prior to pushing the cable end in. That way the crimp jaw alignment is locked-in prior to crimping which makes things easier. Also, a little crimp lug flare is a good thing as it allows the crimped cable end to flex a little without case hardening the copper which can make it brittle. Thanks for posting.

The belt looked like it was on backwards. Or upside down. As for the slow windows, could you lube the rails that the window slides in?

You do not have to pull the intake off to replace that PCV hose. You can fish a hose underneath that upper plenum quite easily. I have done it several times on those vehicles.

For added insurance I always scrape any corrosion from the ends of the stranded wires plus put dialectic grease on the bare wires & on battery terminal’s. Doing this insures a better electrical connection & prevents future corrosion,higher resistance & failure down the road.

Hey Ray, just a suggestion. When crimping the connector or barrel, gently squeeze it to hold it in place then insert wire then finish crimping. Let the tool act like a third hand for you. Great video keep'em comming. Have a great day.

What is up with the belt? It looked like the ribs were up.

I own a 1997 Plymouth Grand Voyager SE that has the same problem and this video just saved me a whole lot of grief and frustration

I could almost smell the sweat from that mini-van. Flashbacks to my Dodge dealer mechanic days. Nice serpentine belt too.

Lovin the Gen Lee in the background.

Back in the late 80's I was in a group home in pleasant hill ca I have a lot of respect for how sturdy/durable our dodge caravan was close to250k with tons of heavy traffic hours I loved that dodge

Flare of crimp is “Strain relief” and over crimping on plastic jacket can actually cause the copper to extrude & break under the crimp zone. ;-)

That crimper takes 3 people to operate: 1 person to hold the wires, 1 person to hold the dies, 1 person to operate the crimper... Did this stress anyone else out? It did me, UUUGGG! Nice job Ray... I like how well the wires turned out 👍🏻

Not too many shop mechanics would take the extra step to add a length to the ground cable. You repair cars as if you were in your own shop needing customers to return. Watching later you even used a terminal spreader tool instead of pounding it on the battery stud. Well done.

I have that same Hydraulic crimping tool! I love it, makes a perfect crimp every time!! The best way to use it though in my opinion, is to set the connector in the Crimper and Crimp it down until it just grabs hold of the connector, then you can force the cables in and crimp without having to fight with the wires or the attachments moving. :)

Ray it is possible the window tracks are dragging from being dirty and dry. You can use silicone spray on all the window trim and often the window will move without drag. If it happens to not make a difference because of another problem no harm done.

I have always loved when engineer design wire harnesses with the shortest wires and no slack to fix it when it goes wrong

A tip for using crimpers like that.. tighten it up onto the splice just enough to be snug, but not start crimping. Then put the wire in. Then you’re not trying to keep the wire in the splice and the dies on the splice at the same time.

People need to appreciate the effort it takes to do jobs like this. I was lucky enough to work on late sixties and early seventies cars avoiding aggravating stuff like this. Thanks for the great vid!

I always use some spray silicone on the window tracks when they get slow. Works pretty good. Awesome vids.

The flare prevents the the lug from cutting the cable and/or wire strands.

I'm happy you covered that RED cable with black heat shrink. Someone messed up the battery cables on the used Class C Motorhome I bought. I had 2 black cables. When I replaced the battery, I couldn't remember which one was the + cable. When I figured it out, I wrapped it in RED electrical tape. On your + cable, I would have wrapped some RED tape around the black heat shrink.

Got to love the “Crim Ping Tool”, sounds like some sort of Christmas table tennis!

usually most polyolefin will shrink down to 1/2 size, but you can get some "super shrink" that will drop to 1/3 it's original size. Even has hot snot glue in it for moisture ingress protection. I have found the slightly more expensive stuff is worth it, a lot of my work winds up in or on ground and a good heat shrink is critical to keeping those wires carrying current. Great job on the terminals, no ree's from me!

For the torn insulation, I've used metal speed tape to bond it back together, then put the edge onto the metal of the car to hold it back. It doesn't look pretty, but the metal surface cleans up the insulation mess while keeping it there to hopefully still provide some insulation, and taping it to the car will likely hold for years with no further issues.

From my experience, I would suspect that the nut was cross threaded and had actually been torqued but wasn't clamping the ring terminal. Which is why you always do a good wiggle test, especially on high current wires.

ive got my son watching your vids as he just started his first year as apprentice mechanic and im proud that he is following in his dads footsteps even though im retired his quest for automotive knowledge and working towards his own business and mechanics such as yourself shows my son that care and attention too detail is not a lost cause and will only inspire him further in the trade ,CLICKAGE .

Gen 3 (1996-2000) Mopar (Dodge/Chrysler/Plymouth) minivan. The condition of those battery cable ends is very typical, and most people repair them cheaply and poorly. The serpentine belt on these is ALWAYS a challenge, and yes, the belt is guaranteed to come off the bottom pulley darn near every time. Getting enough throw on the bar to move the tensioner is also a challenge. I'm surprised at how good a condition this one is in, especially with 196k miles. The tops of the strut towers are notorious for rotting out, as are the lower rockers between the sliding doors and rear wheels. If you REALLY want to have fun, swap out the entire tensioner on one of these!!! I did that, because the tensioner broke as I pulled into the neighborhood. The van was still under warranty (less than 3 years and less then 36,000 miles), but the part was $30. I did it, in the driveway, in the dark (not that it really matters, because you have to look/feel up inside the engine bay, from underneath, so you can't see anything anyway. It NOT a fun time because your other hand has to hold the bolt on the "outside" as well. The only job worse, is swapping out the "octopus" of heater tubes on the firewall that feed the rear heater. You have to take off the hood, cowl, intake, alternator, and a bunch of other STUFF. It is a good time to change out your rear plugs and wires though. (LOL) Before doing this, I always thought it was crazy when people would say "the dealership/mechanic charged me $700 to fix my rear heater." - Once I did that job I would tell people "Been there, did that.... it is worth every penny."

Had a few Grand Caravans and used them for hauling tools and carpenter supplies, they are cheap to purchase and when maintained drive quite nice but they are basically crap.

TY Mate enjoyed this repair of a repair, also favourite bit was the "Ray isn't here right now" part loved it. Ty as always for the dedication and hard work mate. Keep Safe Keep Strong 🦘🦘🦘🦘🚗🚗🚗🚗

Not a single cuss word left his mouth, this is amazing for any mechanic working on a Dodge. I salute this guy for correcting the bad done by the previous guy and hope this shop stood behind the work and didn't soak the customer for the work done by another guy in the same shop.

Ray,the only suggestion I have was to reroute the one red cable around the green one to give you a little more length and looks better to boot. Great channel! I wish I had someone like you in Utah!!👍👍

You are spitting out videos faster as a bollywood production company Ray. Keep them coming,you help me cope ti get trough the days 💪🙂

I like the way you did the positive terminal. Better than how its designed to be used and easily replaceable in future.

Is the belt up side down ????????

Really appreciate the fact that you care about the value people get from the service you provide, if you were local, I would definitely send you all my work

Nice Ray! You go the extra mile, to do things right. Nice to see👍

If you had some aluminum foil tape (A/C duct tape) you could have taped it down. That stuff is awesome. I've used it to tape down the sound deadening in my motorhome engine compartment. The insulation failed before the tape.

Really satisfying watching ray fix cars, treats every one like his own, well do man, keep up the good work.

@13:45 very impressed you were able to get both hands back there and still provide room for the camera.

Had a '93 Dodge Grand Caravan where a wire caught on fire and it killed my engine. Never found out what the wire went to. It was next to the battery. Had a short in the system where my license plate lights got so hot they burst and the clear covers melted. No one listened to me at the dealership about any possibilities. After +$600 for just a diagnostic I had to stop. I loved my van despite a few problems. What happened to mine seemed to be a more common issue.

You did just what I would have, only in a slightly different order, but it doesn't matter because the conclusion is the same. I'm amazed that this minivan is in such good shape, given how old it is! As for slow windows, don't worry about it. My 2007 T&C windows are the same speed. Also, what a PAIN Chrysler made for working on that thing!!! They really improved it in the next generation of minivans. Great job

Not only you're a Great Technician and honest dude, You have amazing camera skills!

Hello Ray. While I agree the repair to the alternator battery lug is acceptable, I would have liked to have seen the lug replaced. As far as the repairs to the cables at the battery go, I agree with your comment that the positive battery cable should have been repaired in the same way as you did the negative cable, or by using a battery clamp with a stud designed to accept a lug, more for appearance than anything.

I wonder if the missing PCV hose was removed to get it out of the way when the last guy replaced the alternator, and someone forgot to put it back on. If I was the car owner, I'd want that fixed; that could be why it stalls when started..

streighten it! Dont sand it when you take that tin layer off the copper it will corrode quickly and heat up again and possibly melt again. the right way would be to go above and beyond and replace the ring lug with a new one and yes a propper crimping tool would fit in that tight space

FYI, Dodge/Jeep/Chrysler vehicles from that era don't typically charge at 14.3, they usually run about 13.7- 14.0 at 75F. They only charge at 14.3 when it's -40F or so... They were really worried about over-charging the battery back then...

Was that ribbed belt on backwards? I have never seen a belt wrap around an alternator pulley with the smooth side against the ribbed pulley. Something seemed off about it.

the positive cable for my 09 GMC Sierra was a little buggered. It felt like a loose connection and some of the wires were discolored. I repaired the connection the same way you did in this video. Couldn’t have done it without you man

Toward the end of the video you mention the method you used to replace the battery terminals. Your way as opposed to getting a new wire/terminal which would cost more. This is one major thing I like about the way you do things. Here's an experience I just had. Just down the street from me is a garage 5 bays. I take the car in for inspection. 2010 ford fusion sel v6. I bought the car new. I want a maintenance/inspection performed and gave the list. The owner is a very good mechanic and his lead guy. He had it all day at his leisure to work on. I get there and there is a new shiny inspection sticker. He goes through the list and completes all except trans fluid change. I was satisfied. But when we get to the trans fluid change he says I need a new line it's leaking. He say he'll change it when new lines are installed. I say where is it leaking. The lines are two attached together. There is one rubber connection below the radiator. It's leaking at the rubber connection. He says $485 to install. I fall out of bed. I say hold off on the line. Pay the bill then leave. I go down the street to another garage equally as good. But they operate differently. I tell him the issue. He get his led headlamp comes out and looks at it and says; Oh I can just splice the rubber and make a solid connection that will last as long as you have this car and more. How much? $80. I laugh then tell the story of the last place. Conclusion: one place does things to the original spec.-very costly. Another place does things to fix it as well but has the customers wallet in mind. I tell him I want the car to last hopefully two more years then it's a Lexus replacement. He smiles. I say is there any other real car other then Toyota with proven reliability worldwide? The way they operate is there are multiple ways to repair. He had me in mind that its a 12 year old car and not 2 yrs. He understood the situation. The other guy has a protocol of OEM-period, no modifications. Both are very good but there is more than one way to skin the cat! They won all my business into the future.

Hi Ray. You have shown to be handy in other videos so I will make a recommendation. You can install guide pins between the pairs of crimping dies one side press fit the other a slip fit and they will always stay in proper orientation. If you're not able to get a proper press fit you can red locktite one side leaving the other to slip. Looks like 3/32" to 1/8" dowel pins might work well, but things are not always what they appear on video so smaller , say 1/16" might be better. I suggest using s proper reamer but being extra careful with a drill can work. I realize it wasn't an expensive tool so you might not want to put the effort into it. And, you might also want to come up with a spring return for the handle. With those mods that will be a great and easy tool for the job.

Very much appreciate the excellent camera work and good, diffused, wide-area lighting. This is professional tutorial quality. Equally important, you explain every judgment or decision you make. For example, the decision (and reasoning) to leave the partially-damaged alternator lead in-place, resurfacing it, rather replacing it. We may not own a Dodge Caravan, but the lessons apply everywhere.

the amount of compassion this guy has for old cars is impressive

If they're willing to sacrifice the time, cleaning out the old window track grease and relubing it yields great results. Also cleaning out the seals around the window and graphite lube. Takes a lot of stress of the regulators, and if you do it you can get more life out of near done regulators.

Brings back memories of working on the family Dodge Caravan. That crimp tool looks aggravating to use. When hydraulic hose fittings are crimped, they leave the flare to minimize any stress concentration in that area when the hose flexes or is subject to vibration in service. Copper wire can be subject to similar conditions and copper flexing back and forth work hardens and becomes brittle, leading to strands breaking resulting in reduced current carrying capacity in the wire.

I've seen the wiring between the drivers door and the body break before causing slow window operation (there may be 4 of the 20 or so strands still connected). Severe voltage drop due to the reduced wire size. All the windows are fed from the drivers master control. Or they use to be. I think they come from the BCM or TIPM nowadays. I've been out of the field for a while now.

The flared edges of a crimped crimp prevent chafing between crimp's edge and the outer copper strands of the wire. The crimped part of a crimp that was crimped only once should provide enough static clamping force to ensure a good bonding between crimped crimp and wire. If not, then the wire and crimp sizes are not properly matched/prepared or the crimping tool is improperly operated and/or faulty. IMHO, double-crimping in order to crimp a crimp sufficiently to properly bond wires of slightly different sizes is a valid repair, provided that the repair passes a tug test and and it is covered with multiple layers of properly shrunk heat shrink. New alternator seems to be good. Its voltage did not cave in during load test. But if the alternator can just barely push the battery past 14V, one cell of the battery might be shorted. Or maybe it just needs some more time charging. Further investigation is indeed advised. So, did this battery recover, or did you end up replacing it?

hi, to hold the crimp on electrical terminal onto the wires while crimping, place a small wrap of electrical tape on both the wire insulation and the terminal. When done you can even leave the tape on. Great school video. Thank you for your time.

It blows my mind seeing that body style not rusted out beyond belief. You don't see that generation van here in Indiana unless it's rusted out all over

Excellent work, Ray. I love the electrical repairs you do. You truly do deliver excellent value to the customer. I would love to find a mechanic that has your work ethic in my area.

Belt is inside out. Grooves in belt ride in grooves on alternator.

Ray, just a TIP, something I use in the Fire Truck building business (making battery connection cables from #6 to 4/0 GA in some cases... once crimped, use a propane torch to "backfill" the lugs full of solder.. it not only keeps corrosion from entering the rear of the lug n causing problems where you might not see it.. but it "wicks" up the wire alittle under the insulation also in the other direction to help with corrsion that way also--then heat shrink. ) (3 notes: 1-You do not want to do that obviously with open flame around that discharged/or charging battery needless to say (boom).. LOL 2- (being we offer a 10 year 60K mi. as I recall ,electrical warranty on our trucks and I have NEVER had a battery cable corrode out or go bad doing this in 10+ years in the business on these trucks!!.. Just something I do for longevity reasons.. :) 3-It solidifys the connection with better than just a crimp... I only mention it b/c I see you are a guy who's about "doing it right" for your customers as I am.. Godspeed brother!!

I just wanted to ask do you ever check the water condition/ hydrometer test non sealed battery's? Just asking, Nice retro on the cables. Thanks for sharing.

I had the same issue on my ski boat and had to go MacGyver on it. I cleaned up the melted end then sandwiched a new in between. Two drops of gorilla glue and let it cure overnight. It wasn't until two years later (same lake) I remembered having to do it. It was still working fine. Funny part, I had to fight the c-clamp off holding them together. Just enough glue came out and nearly glued it all together

To clean up oxidized copper wire, you can apply solder flux, the brown paste, and heat it up with a soldering iron. As it smokes up, the oxidation flows off (at least, that's the objective). Very clean job with the extra heat shrink on top of the crimp!

26 secs in and you don't say anything about "The General Lee"? Come on man???

Thanks for your quality work ! Your helping to rebuild my faith in mankind ! The World needs more repairmen like you ! Hopefully you don't get burnt out ! Hope your Boss appreciates your work ethic ! Great Job ! BTW....The window speed looked about normal to me !

Looks like the insulation was probably messed up by the previous tech when the alternator was replaced. Looks like the tab on the alternator would be very easy to catch on it if it was being forced in.

Belt looked upside down. Never seen a double sided belt before. Interesting

Full compliments to Ray's good work here. Just one comment on possible battery terminal post internal breakage inside the battery itself. Have seen some mechanics use two wrenches on both sides of terminal to minimize torquing battery post off center.

To make the power windows slide better use a silicone spay in the slider/ tracks. It work's wonders done plenty and success

Back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth a friend replaced the alternator on a 1970 Dodge A108. From Grand Auto, (if you remember them), the charging post was loose in the alternator. Eventually was visibly arcing, parked it & the next day the van was full of smoke, the wiring harness burned up. (not fun). Kudos Ray...

Absolutely top notch! Excellent beginning to end explanation.

Just wondering do you guys ever solder on battery ends ? I never fully trusted those bolt the wire to the connector terminals. Probably 140 or 150 amps going thru there. Also I learned the hard way not to wear rings while doing mechanic work.

My parents bought a Plymouth grand voyager “ espresso” in 98’ and it lasted 19 years of “family” driving. It had a lot of problems but my father kept it going.

I too have a hydraulic crimper. I needed it to make battery cables for my travel trailer. It works so slick. The dies in mine don't rotate like yours did. That made it a bit troublesome for you. It does make a nice clean and professional looking cable end.

A little Silicone Spray in Window Slides once or twice a year will keep window motors healthy--windows will slide easily...

53:07. For over twenty years, I bought and sold many items on eBay. It is amazing how poorly some sellers package their items, and are obviously clueless as to what can happen to a package just through normal handling by USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc..

This explains the evap codes I get in my used car. I bet the purge valves are damaged from the previous owner doing this. Thank you for the explanation. The parts to repair my car cost $800! I’m not repairing it because I don’t need the system, but now I know how it likely was damaged.

Heck with the General Lee..... What I want to know where is Daisy Duke?

Ray, I applaud you for using heat-shrink and the proper pneumatic tool for crimping those cables! However you should be aware that that "flared out end" is required to prevent the strands of the wire rubbing on the sharp end of the connector, the radius is there to provide some protection to the wire.

I've been a mechanic for 41 years you're the only one I've seen that goes extra mile you do a great job being a mechanic takes patience keep up the good work you're excellent mechanic thank you for your services

Looks like the belt was installed wrong with the groove facing away from the groove on the nater

The belt has v-groves on both sides! It not on upside down.

Amazing to see this van with no rust and so original! that alternator was easy to remove. 2008 models and up have to come from bellow the car so you need a lift. If they were still making them I would buy one for sure. And yes you are supposed to make only one crimp per connection and you have to have the correct size crimping tool. I learned this doing my garage door cable . Your video quality was awesome. However, i wonder if there is a better way to connect the wires w/o using the metal crimp connection?

When you tested the windows at the beginning, it was on the charger. With a dead alternator, the windows would have been a lot slower than what you showed on video. I'm sure the customer would say the windows are a lot faster now.

The only thing I would have done differently is use a marine terminal.