Mechanic needed 96 Dodge caravan trans.
Friend's van wont upshift normally. You have to race the engine and ease off the pedal and then it may or may not decide to upshift. Once in high gear it drives normally. It only appears to have two speeds; low and high.
Also, the car sometimes shudders when slowing to make a turn.
This woman hasn't a pot to pee in so we'd like to get her the best advice on her problem and how to proceed.
Also, the car sometimes shudders when slowing to make a turn.
This woman hasn't a pot to pee in so we'd like to get her the best advice on her problem and how to proceed.
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The transmission is controlled by the computer. I had a 92 that decided to not shift anymore. I unplugged the computer and left it unplugged for a while. When I plugged it back in, the transmission shifted like it should. Hope that helps. Don 0 -
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my buddies cost him 2 grand to fix.
he figured it out, why they called it a GRAND caravan.
it cost him a grand every time he had problems.0 -
does it slam into gears or hesitate (revving high) before it shifts?
3 possible things: 1) dirty filter. change the filter and fluid
2) upper valve body assemble. a bad shift
solenoid can stick open or shut. the only way to fix it is to have a certified mechanic rebuild it.
3) neutral saftey switch. a malfunctioning switch will tell the computer that the transmission is either still in park or in neutral and will not allow the computer to send the signals to shift at the proper intervals. cheapest and easiest to replace.
hope this helps.0 -
The problem happened suddenly.
It will bang into lower gear when you downshift and ease into high gear if you race the engine and ease back on the gas gently.
It seems to skip an intermediate gear when goimg either up or down.
The car has 123k miles and has had a trans replacement already.
Where is the neutral safety switch located? Maybe I can check it for function.0 -
does it also bang into reverse? 0 -
I recommend you get the trouble code out of it before you do anything else. This is more than likely a computer controlled transmission, and would be easy to diagnose if you can get me the trouble codes. It would be real nice if you can get me the CVIs too. If it's the three speed variety then you'll more than likely need to get it to a shop. Changing the fluid at this point may make the symptoms more noticeable, IE...worse. Does the speedometer work? does it fluctuate? These transmission were plagued with control problems. The solenoid assemblies can be changed, they don't have to be rebuilt (common problem #1). They also love to leak from the solenoid assembly and the cooler hoses, not to mention the pan (common problem #2) They also has a tendency to fail mechanically in the front differential section (common problem #3). The wiring between the computer and the solenoid assembly also are a weak link (#4), and then the computer was a crap shoot too (#6). One thing good about the damn thing was that it would go to fail safe for any one of the problems. That of course made it a real pain for shade tree mechanics to successfully diagnose these money pits. Forgot about the dang sppeed sensors, both the input and ouput (#7 & 8). 0 -
It's too late to call her. T'll get an answer tomorrow. 0 -
gin, true to everything you just said. the only thing that i may refute is that the trouble codes are not always programmed into the computer. i have personally run diagnostics on same year make and model vehicles with the exact same problem with one code showing up and no code on the other. for instance, when the tranny started acting up on my 97 saturn sl-2, absolutely no codes came up. tranny shop ran diagnostics 6 times, no codes, then one day i get the call, "we got a code, do you have the cruise control switch available?" (i worked at autozone at the time as commercial specialist) my response..."uhmmm...no. the car doesn't have cruise control. no switch, no module." i got it back and noticed the backup lights worked intermittently. did a little toying and found that the neutral safety switch was bad. i had the part in stock for $36, changed it that night, haven't had a single problem since.
i will agree on many of your probable causes for said problems, especially the speed sensors. one bad sensor, whole house of problems.0 -
friends van did the same thing, he dropped all kinds of money into it, computer said nothing wrong, so they changed fluid and filter, didnt fix, then they ran diagnostic again, still nothing, (except for a charge for the diagnostic) then they replaced guts to the thing, still not fixed. finally after replacing a couple of switches and or sensors, they replaced this large box on top of tranny, problem fixed. 200 dollar part, plus labor and all the other crap it didnt need, for a grand total of right at 1700 dollars. 0 -
Google dodge caravan transmission problem and you can see just how much trouble they have.
My wife had one and I had to have it rebuilt.
Mechanic said to sell it while I could.
I sold it because I didn't want to keep putting money down a rat hole.
My wife's started out with a bad output sensor and just kept getting worse and worse.0 -
One of Chrysler's biggest nightmares.
See this:
http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?scid=100&did=5630 -
Adjust the bands. There are two of them.
Total cost....a chiltons manual.0 -
Chrysler vans do not have transmissions.
Instead they have a thingy behind the engine that prevents them from moving about 25% of the time.
Most commonly known as a POS.
[:D]barto[:D]0 -
Thanks for the help. I forwarded it to her. 0
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