Replacing Cylinder Head Gasket - 2002 Dodge Caravan 3.3 - P4

This is the final in a series of four videos where I show the steps I took to replace the head gaskets in a 2002 Dodge Caravan with a 3.3 engine. I ended up replacing both of the heads. I tried to show all of the steps from disassembly through cleaning and reassembly.
I hope you find it helpful. If you have any questions about the steps I took you can post a comment and I will answer as soon as I can.

[@jeandyriveron1575]

Awesome job you did best than a lot of mechanics

[@nate956]

Nice. I'm in the middle of a 3.8 town and country. Very similar. I pulled the windshield wiper assembly. That made everything extremely reachable. You might annotate at 10:30 your radiator cap is off. It bubbled a bit about the time you checked for fluids :) I appreciate the time you put into this.

[@scottouimet2865]

great videos man, I just bought a 93', but still felt compelled to watch... great job

[@kaa522]

Great job and great video, I've had four of the 3.3 chrysler engines. None of the engines have required anything other than routine maintenance. Now if only the 41TE transmissions were as reliable...

[@SladesVWBeetle]

Howard Bee That’s good news! I just bought a 2003 with a 3.3, at 113,000, and I was hoping head gasket were not a common issue. Seems to run very smooth! Just need to get a spark plug out that is stuck. 🙄

[@ozzylozada9653]

Thank you very much for documenting your ordeal. I certainly learned a lot from watching it.

[@davidbradley3982]

nice job. i have the 3.8 AWD LWB 2001. peace from nz.

[@genesmith2355]

I'm a mechanic of 30 years and you did a pretty good job a little confused about why you didn't drain the oil first thing, main concern being the probability of water being in the oil , only thing that really concerned me. good job other wies

[@Alan_Edwards]

Yeh in retrospect that would have been the thing to do. Starting it with the original oil was a risk for sure. Could have been a real problem if the oil got contaminate during the rebuild. If I had to do it over again, which I hope never happens, I would drain the oil first thing. Thanks for the comment. AE

[@brucepaz7933]

Great video i'm thinking about doing this for my friend van but i'll have to run some test first comp. and leak down. thanks awesome.

[@KOLODNY95]

I bought a 2002 T&C 3.3l with 237k miles on it. (Owner cooked it one time so bad the engine seized, so she was about to junk it.) It definitely has a bad head gasket or cracked head leaking hot gases into the cooling system. I have been driving it for a mile or two and the bottom end seems to be OK. It has plenty of power and is a wonderful old urban assault vehicle I have tooled on before. Is it worth it doing the head job you did here, Alan? I know I can do this, having watched your excellent series of videos. Thanks in advance.

[@Alan_Edwards]

Hey Jimmy. Sorry for not getting back sooner. Yeh I think it's worth it. The more I hear from others the more I am convinced it's a factory defect. I'm starting to think now it's a bad or miss-torqued head bolt, can't remember the number but it's on the bottom of the front head second from the left. So it appears to be a head gasket, but it's just a bolt that is lose or possibly over-tightened. So it ends up leaking into the exhaust side where it just burns off the coolant so none shows up in the oil. When I disassembled mine there was no evidence the head gasket was bad. Weird. Anyway, since I did the work mine has run like a champ. No issues with the engine at all. Now other stuff has been a pain in the butt, but the engine is great. I think it's worth doing for sure. If you run into any trouble feel free to contact me. Good luck.

[@oscarcapo9900]

Great Job, I am planning to fix my car, a lot of white smoke , question, no need to do the engine valve lash?

[@Alan_Edwards]

Nope not on a Chrysler....at least not this model engine. I have had engines with independent rocker arms where you needed to do that, but it's not necessary on this model. Just torque down the rocker arm assembly and as long as the lifters and push rods are in good shape, you should be all set. Which is a much better design IMO.

[@xle5363]

enjoyed the videos i was wondering how many miles is on that vehicle?

[@KOLODNY95]

Same question here. I have a T&C with 237k miles on it, but wonder if the transmission and bottom end will be good for another 100k miles-- if I do the heads like they were done here. Great video, btw!

[@georgeparsons1758]

Well then good job , I have a problem with are van I think the same problem my daughter was coming home from work and it died on the freeway exit ramp when I showed up to help her the water temp gage was pegged hot so I put water in it got it cooled down and got it home so I checked the thermostat and it was stuck closed I replaced it and drove it around the block and the check engine light came on so I pulled the code PO300 random misfire so I replaced spark plugs plug wires and coils then dove it around and again it threw another code PO304 which is the middle front cylinder so I did a wet and dry compression test dry it was 145 and wet it dropped to 120 then didn’t hold pressure at all went straight to 0 , it doesn’t have water in the oil or oil in the water it does not smoke so I believe it’s the same problem with a loose head bolt or warped head causing the problem . It still runs ok but idles bad and my daughter has to put antifreeze in every day , thinking of tearing the motor down

[@Alan_Edwards]

Sure sounds very similar. I added water every day for a while too and tried a lot of different sealants which helped a little then it would go back to the same state. I think the leak was just too big for the sealant to hold plus it was on the exhaust port side where it gets pretty hot. It leaked slow enough where it did not show up in the exhaust gases. I did get some moisture on the ground though, but it was cold out so I kind of discarded that. Ends up that was probably an indication of the leaking. Thanks for the comment and good luck. AE

[@Haidarsattar]

Hi Alan, You did a great job. I am living in Ontario, looks like I have a head leak with my 03 Dodge Grand Caravan, I feel the upper hose is pressurized and not good circulation of coolant..How do I narrow down that I really have a leak head gasket? Do you think your fuel economy has been increased when you did this job? Thanks

[@Alan_Edwards]

Sorry for not getting back sooner. I did a video on using a combustion leak tester which could confirm a head gasket leak. It did not for me since mine ended up being a cracked head. If you know a good repair shop they should be able to check for a bad head gasket. I really haven't noticed an increase in gas mileage, but it runs a lot better so I do suspect it's operating more efficiently. Hope that helps. AE

[@georgeparsons1758]

I would like to know how that 3.3 came out if it ran fine and still runs and your original problem was solved

[@Alan_Edwards]

Hey George, Well I am happy to report it's have been running fine....for the most part. I ended up having another leak in the radiator which I had also replaced when I purchased the van, and Rock Auto sent me a replacement. I should have done a video on that job I suppose. But the engine is strong and runs within specs no problem. Good heat and AC. After it's all said and done, I think the problem was a loose head bolt. When I went to torque them in as part of the assembly, the 2nd bolt on the bottom left, near the exhaust port, would not take full torque. So I think what happened is the water was leaking into the exhaust port so it never showed up in the oil and no oil in the coolant. Probably a manufacture defect. I swapped the bolts around until I got one to get pretty tight. But I do not think it was a blown head gasket and saw no evidence of that either. Other than that, I have had issues with the blower resistor. Replaced it a few times. Keeps burning up. I ended up having to jury rig the wiring to keep it working. Just a winter van though so not a big deal. Hope that helps. AE

[@jmacintosh071521]

Hey did u mess with the timing at all

[@Alan_Edwards]

Nope there was no need too and I am not even sure how to adjust it to be honest.

[@jmacintosh071521]

@@Alan_Edwards I finished today but I have a little white smoke in the engine

[@markfothebeast]

What kind of head gasket did you install? Composite or MLS?

[@Alan_Edwards]

I believe they were MLS gaskets. A two ply metal. Hope that answers the question.

[@markfothebeast]

Ok. I am in the process of installing a 3 piece MLS gasket. The outer metal gaskets are covered in Viton on both sides. I can't find any information on how clean the deck surfaces of an engine are supposed to be for this type of gasket.

[@marcsmith3881]

Damn crossover pipe bolts are not releasing. I am trying not to break them.