Helping a friend who is in a bit of a pickle with her van.
She has a 2005 Grand Caravan witha 3.8l engine and over 135k miles.

The vehicle has no reverse, reverse acts like neutral.
It has limited forward drive, but does not shift. My friend reports that after about 2 blocks it stops driving and she has to put in park, turn off, and then restart in order to get it to drive again.
I have not tested the forward drive myself because i dont want to be stranded.

I changed the transmission fluid and filter, but this did not solve the problem. The fluid did not smell "burnt", but was beyond past due and was very very dirty.

The CEL is on and codes 0700, and 0732 are being reported.
Any help on this would be appreciated. Her van broke down the day after hitting a financial Ice berg.

 

Only thing to do besides throwing parts at it is have a shop pull the transmission codes and go from there. The P0732 code is 2nd gear ratio error qnd has several causes. Any debris in the pan? Sensor connections clean and tight?

 

No "depris" but there was a fair amount of gunk on the magnet. About double the magnet's size worth.

I didnt test out the connections, but will this evening. Thinking of picking up a tranny speed sensor, since they arent expensive, and trying that as well.

Unfortunatley a trip to a mechanic would mean a tow truck on top of the shop cost

 

Could be a solenoid pack, really you need the transmission computer codes to fully diagnose the failure. No bits of metal in the pan is a good sign, and that amount of metal shavings is pretty normal so I'd hold out some home that the failure is electrical and not mechanical.

 

The other guys already mentioned most of the usual suspects, but I'll just ask if you refilled with ATF+4?

 

yes i used ATF +4 when i did the drain and fill.

 

Well i decided to bite the bullet and i swaped out the solonoid, and the speed sensor, and unfortunatley still no reverse. I told my friend she should network with people through her church to see if she can find someone affordable to continue the process.
thanks for all the input guys.

 

So - you never got the codes read from the transmission computer?