1997 Dodge Caravan coil pack keeps melting/cracking open

KEVINAINS

MEMBER
1997 DODGE CARAVAN

Electrical problem
1997 Dodge Caravan 6 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic 150k miles

My car started having the coil packs split open, like and earthquake fracture, in the back. Two cylinders then quit running. It only takes about 10 minutes of the engine running to have this happen to a new coil pack. I have heard 4 different explanations from people who claim to know, all different of course. From bad spark plug wires, to a missing ground, to a short, to a bad computer. Is there anyone who has really seen this exact problem before who knows what is really is? A possible hint is that this problem developed soon after I had a transmission replacement.

1 Reply

RACEFAN966

MECHANIC
5,029 POSTS

Ok no I do not have an instant answer and no I have never had a vehicle with this problem. Anyway you said that you didn't have this problem until the trans was replaced leads me to believe that there is a wire somewhere that is pinched between the engine and trans causing a direct short. So I would look this over very carefully and make sure of that. Now if there is nothing pinched then there may be a ground wire that didn't hooked backed up so I would also look for any loose wires with eyelets on the end that look like they should be grounded. If all that is good then you will need a digital multi meter and I can walk you through some test to see what we can find. Look over the wire pinched or missing ground really good though as you did say there never this problem before the trany was replaced. Get back to me and we will go from there.