Dodge Caravan won't shift by itself but will force shift. Thinking it is the governor valves stuck. I dropped the pan and attempted to remove the valve body. I removed the park/neutral switch and the rod inside that attached with a clip to the valve body. Undid the 7 bolts and removed them. I pulled the plug on the TCC and then I tried to rock it out. No luck, thinking it was the tcc not wanting to come out, I used a large towel and put it on top of the tcc and tapped lightly with a rubber mallet. It did go down flush but still could not rock the valve body off. Am I missing something else that needs to come off. Any help would be appreciated. Also, what would be a good cleaner to use on the valves? Thanks a lot. I am not a mechanic but I have rebuilt several engines succesfully and try to do my own maintenance as I am retired and need stuff to do.

 

http://transmissiontechnologies.com/...-chrysler.aspx

If you were near me, I have a 1999 31th trans laying around I'd sell cheap.

 

I am in Florida. Thanks for the link. Can you tell by my description of what I have done if I am missing something that is holding the valve body from coming out?

 

Did you remove the governor tubes?

 

Yes, the governor tubes were loose. It seemed to be still connected to something at the front of the valve body (nearest the front of the vehicle)just to the driver side of the TCC solenoid. Can't find anything else in the diagrams that would be keeping it in place

 

shifter shaft? I know those can be really stiff to pull out.

 

Bet that is what it is. Should it pull off or is there amechanical connection. I put it all back together and put new filter and fluid ATF+4, could not find ATF+3. I am gaining on it as it will nowupshift through all three gears by itself, although it is shifting into 3rd too soon. It still will not downshift automatically on the fly, have to do it with the shift lever. I have a service engine soon light on so I will take it to Autozone in the morning to see what that is. I was under the impression that the 3 speed did not throw codes as it is hydraulic, not electrical. It acts like the torque convertor lockout solenoid is not working properly, like it is locking it into gear and not unlocking. There is a speed sensor on the back of the unit underneath but it doesn't seem like that is a problem on these from what i Have read. I appreciate the time you spent trying to help me. This is my daughters van that had been handed down to her when she got her license and she had recently ran into the back of a pickup truck at about 50 mph with it so I just finished putting it back together and thought I would try to fix this also. Seems like the airbag should have deployed. Didn't when my older daughter did the same thing to it about five years ago either. THIS IS THE VAN THAT WON'T DIE. Gave it to my older daughter when I was done with it and then passed it on to my younger daughter when she was done with it. 186,000 miles and still runs like top, burns no oil and never fails to start.

 

The pickup was stationary and she struck it at 50mph?

 

I don't know if this will help your issue or not, but here's what I did when my 97 Voyager 3.3ltr started experiencing similar symptoms at about 100K. First I bought a case of ATF-4. I then flushed the fluid through the transmission cooler -there are other threads explaining how to do this, but it sounds like you have good abilities and may not need them. Next, I changed the filter. I suppose you could reuse the fluid removed during the filter change as it would be new, but I just put new fluid into it. After a few miles the shifting improved immensely. I flushed the fluid again in about 3 months because the new fluid changed color quickly due to it "cleaning" the transmission; I didn't change the filter this time though. I have now been driving it for over a year with no transmission issues. Hope this helps.

 

Both cars were moving at the time, she didn't ever have time to hit her brakes so it could have been bad, naturally she was not wearing her seat belt. She is only 5 ft and about 100 lbs so maybe it was a good thing the air bag did not deply, it might have killed her.

Back to the original problem. Driving it this morning for an extended time. Van does upshift by itself, but maybe shifting into 3rd gear a bit early, about 30 mph. Will not downshift automatically when slowing down, but stalls when it lugs like a standard in too high a gear. If you drop it down into 2 while slowing down it seems to work. Once you are a complete stop, pop it back into D while stopped and it upshifts auto. Took it to Advance Auto to hook up scanner for Engine Light that is on, said stored code was Torque Converter Solenoid, as I had guessed.

Original question, how do I get valve body to come loose without damaging it. All seven bolts are out, TCC Solenoid is unhooked, Park Neutral Switch is removed. Governor tubes are loose. Is there anything else I am missing and if not how do I get it to come loose without prying it out and damging it.

Thanks for all the great replies. Finding this forum was a good day for me.