97 3.0 Caravan 210,000 miles, original motor/tranny

Ok, few questions for y'all. When I have to slow down, but not stop, (like if someone in front of me slows to turn) and I speed up again, the tranny whines and hesitates when going back into an upper gear. I have learned to really baby it, and if I have a clear road behind me, I will completely stop. Is this the beginning of tranny hell? I never get a CEL. Also, I realized lately that I never feel the tranny drop into 4th gear. I can easily tell when it goes into 2 and 3. Could it be that mine is a 3 speed? How would I know? It goes into 2nd around 15-20 mph, and 3rd around 25-30. Is that normal? The van doesn't have a tachometer, so I don't know what the RPM's are at any speed. Fluid is nice and red, not burnt, no funny smell, yadda yadda yadda.

 

I would go to a reputable tranny shop and have the transmission diagnosed.This is not normal and with the amount of miles on the vehicle a transmission check would be a good idea.It's a lot cheaper to rebuild a transmission if you do it before it destroys itself.
AVOID the shops that just remove and replace transmissions.Thes places can quote you a flat price to replace your transmission but will be generally more expensive than your friendly neighborhood tranny man.The national chains are usually this kind of shop.Find a place that actually fixes your transmission because just replacing the bad parts vs. a complete rebuild will be cheaper.
The shop that does my transmission work is very proud of their work and insists on showing you the parts that were replaced.They just love to show you how close you came to disaster.Look for a well organized shop with a friendly service manager.They are more likely to be like the shop I use if they will talk to you like a human being.Try to learn something about automatic transmissions before you go looking for a shop,if you go to a bad shop they will know as soon as you walk in that they can have their way with you.
Here's a link.
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/automa...ansmission.htm

 

Thanks Chopper. I actually did read that page (actually 3 pages I think) a few days ago. I still can't make heads or tails about how the tranny actually works lol. My only problem is to fins a tranny shop, I'd have to drive about 75 miles, there are none here. I've talked to a couple local mechanics that I'm friends with, and they've both recommended a shop in Little Rock. Thing is, we don't have a second vehicle to use while this ones in the shop. I guess I need to start looking for another vehicle and hope this tranny lasts long enough for me to find one. I guess I shouldn't complain though, I think I've gotten the most mileage from this tranny as anyone here!

 

The 604 transmission that bolts up to the 3.0 used to have a throttle linkage(partial kickdown I think) that ran through a tube in the tranny. I'm not sure if they ever changed this, but it was infamous for binding up and causing similar symptoms. It would act as if it was between gears and eventually could cause slippage. I've never had a 3.0, but afriend told me this cable linkage can be sprayed up to keep it operating smoothly. Good Luck with this.