2001 Caravan w/ Transmission Issues

[Version3]

Well, I know little about these, and not much about Automatics in general, but I can understand a few things, and like MANY people I'm on a super tight budget (so I have to do what I can here, with what I have if possible at all). Our only car (the previously mentioned '01 Caravan) gave me some trouble the other morning that went south quickly. I was driving normal, made a right turn and pressed the gas to find it rev'ing as if in neutral. Some light feather of the gas pedal, and I got it to engage, but clearly it was giving me 2nd gear only. I would speed up some and it would slip, then back down to feathering and so on. This continued as I limped the van home where it seems to have given up. Later that day, and the next day it wouldn't go into a gear at all. I waited a few days, and started the van. With a bit of feathering it engaged, but I got a whining noise along withy my crippled feeling reverse. It wanted to move the van, just not with a fully engaged feeling. I maneuvered it around the driveway a bit using reverse and drive with this same kind of feather to engage, non-committed gear experience. All the while the whine noise continued. I shifted into park, and the noise still continued. It continued until I shut it off about 20 seconds later. Starting it back up, gave me a somewhat normal sounding engine. Engaging it, the whine came back. I could smell it (smelled like clutches or torque converter or something) and a bit of whitish smoke was in the air around the van (it was kinda dark though). I've looked at the fluid, and it still appears red in color. Smells a little, but not what I've smelled as "burnt" in the past (I had to put my nose on top of it to smell it). In park (and cold) it measures a little high on the dipstick (in the hot range), and it still behaves as before. I'd like some information on where I can start basic diagnosis here in the driveway, and what the likely scenarios are on it. Basically, is it worth fixing it? It's a semi-beat down base model Caravan, with a few other issues... so a $3K transmission is not an option for it's future. Thanks in Advance!

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[chopper]

This sounds like the tranny's dying.Not going into gear hot is surely a very bad sign.The fluid doesn't have to smell burnt or even be discolored.

You might go to a shop that actually rebuilds dead transmissions instead of replacing them with one from a rebuild factory.This is because you are only paying for the parts that need to be replaced instead of a whole new (rebuilt) transmission.This is only true IF you get a reputable shop.Ask around and see what you can find out about local shops.

[master tech]

You could have the same problem I have seen in the past 4 weeks. I had 4 transmissions with no reverse and loss forward gears. The fluid was red and not burnt. All 4 transmissions had snapped off the rear planetary gear set. This could be the problem you are having.