Hi all,

I have a auto '92 Grand Caravan 3.3L.

A few hours ago i lost reverse gear.
Now i have also lost 2nd gear... i can drive around in "L" perfectly well, but when it tries to shift into second, i loose drive.
If i then stop, shift back into "L", i also get no drive.
If i turn off the engine, restart, ill then get "L" back again.

Any ideas on what this problem would be?
Im hopeing its electrical?

Im stuck in a small town in Colorado, with very little $$s to get this fixed.
If i cant fix this for a few hundred, my traveling days are over and ill have to fly back to Australia

 

Ok, to get it anywhere it now has to be in "L" and i cant drive above say 5mph otherwise i loose drive until i restart the engine.

 

So what does the transmission do when going through "L" that would cause it to loose drive?
Anyone know?

 

Is the fluid level where it should be? If it is what does the fluid look like and smell like? It should be red and not smell burnt. for $35 you could replace the filter and replace 4-5 qts fluid as a tranny service. WHat you see in the pan, on the magnet and the condition of the filter can tell you a lot. All you need to do that procedure is a 10mm socket on a 3"extension to pull the 14 tranny pan bolts and drain the fluid. Let me know what you find. How many miles are on the van and has the tranny been workied on ever to your knowledge? Good luck

 

If you do a "service" , use ATF+4 or at the least ATF +3. DO NOT.... DO NOT let anyone tell you dex/merc III is just as good!! I've been there and done that and paid and paid and paid for it afterwards.

 

Well the tranfer case blew ~4months ago, so they did a flush, etc.
They said they knew it needed special ATF, so they used some fluid (dont know what type) and an additive.
The fact they used an additive sugests that it was DEXRON or something similar

I have pretty much worked out it is an internal problem in the trans, and since its a AWD caravan will cost a lot more in labor to fix.
So, the van is going to the scrap heap.

One less Dodge Caravan on the roads... its a good thing.

 

I have a 94 awd and ya know what? I had what sounds like a similar thing that i mentioned last week in one of the forums here. I had an apply piston inside of the tranny sheer . I could do the same for a short while too, put it in L and get it to move a bit (5mph) and then it would quit. SOunds like it might be a similar problem. Good news is, probably very little metal went through your tranny as a result. Bad news is it is a HARD part and those can get expensive. All hard parts are the same whether it is an awd drive or not for that era tranny, so if you can get a junk one for someone to swap out the parts you need, you might be in luck. And for reference sake, don't use the additive, it isn't the same, buy the +3 or +4 for them to use and that way you know. Good Luck and I can honestly comiserate with you on your woes :-(.

 

Thanks for that info floorslayer.

What do you mean by HARD part?
You mean its hard to get a replacement?

Also, did the trans have to be dropped out of the van to fix this?

 

Hard parts refers to major Metal parts like differential gears, and housings: Soft parts are seals and such. The apply pistons house clutch packs in the tranny and yes you have to drop the tranny. ANother option for you is to replace the tranny with a 2wd one instead of an 4wd. I was lucky to snag hard parts I needed from a 2wd tranny (they are mostly the same inside) and get mine back together for the cost of a seal kit and labor (beer and vodka as I remember). Good luck

 

Thanks for the info.

The van is maybe worth $4000 running, i have already spent ~$5000 on fixing it since i bought it 6 months ago.
Even if its an easy thing to fix when the trans is out, the labor to get the trans out is the killer.
So basically if i need to drop the trans to fix it, its not worth doing

Hrm.