First. I know nothing about working on vehicles. Today, my daughter was driving my 2000 Durango R/T. She stopped at a stop sign. When she turned right, she lost all power. The vehicle was still running, but it was like it was in neutral. After letting it sit for a couple of minutes, she restarted it. It went about 10 yards before losing all power. Does that sound like a transmission problem? A neighbor came by and put it in reverse then to drive. It went about 1 or 2 mph, then drifted, then tried to go into gear, then drifted again. Fortunately, it drifted into our driveway.
It cranks, but will not go into reverse or drive at this point. We are going to have it towed tomorrow. We can't afford to be ripped off and since we are women....we would like to have an idea about what might be the problem and how much the cost would be. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The D only has 71,000 miles on it. Seems like it shouldn't be having transmission problems.

 

it is a trans problem. it sounds like your low reverse band or drum. please let me know if you take it to a tranny shop, and what they say is the problem. i'll let you know if its to much, or if there is a better place to get it done.

 

Definitely sounds like the tranny. You got twice as far as me without a rebuild. 1 at 35K miles then 2 more at 45K miles since the first and 2nd rebuilds were crap.

 

TGI:

First off, if you know how check your trans fluid level and verify that it is ok.

The D'S tranny should be serviced every 30k. Have you guys done that? How long have you had it??

Could be something fairly simple, and could also be in need of a tranny rebuild in the $2500-3000.00 range.

Whatever you do, if the shop says they will need to "remove and tear it down" to diagnose it, I would get a second opinion before you do that.

Lots of times tranny fixes are easily misdiagnosed resulting in lots of money spent in error.

Don

 

$2500-$3500 at a reputable dealer.

Reputable aftermarket tranny shop about $1200-$1700

As Mean green says, the tranny's on these durangos don't last long. It's the main achille's heel for the 1st generation durangos. My tranny was replaced at 85k. Started almost with the same problems you had. My reverse gear completed went out so luckily I was able to forward myself out of the parking garage to the dealership. They wanted $3700 and I told them that was highway robbery and later after more negotiations, they dropped it to $2900. Still thought it was a little high, and then went to fastman and bought his bulletproof heavy duty built tranny for nearly 2k and paid my mechanic $400 to install it. Total price $2400 for a performace tranny. But I hear from other D owners that just get a basic oem rebuild on their tranny's that ran for around $1500 at their local reputable tranny repair shop.

 

Ok. So, I'm trying to get the appropriate terminology...but, local tranny shop says something about a ??broken torque converter..also caused problem with clutch. Estimates $2000 to fix.
Since message was left with teenage daughter who didn't write it down, I left a message for them to call me back.
What exactly does rebuild mean? Is there any such thing as a partial rebuild?

 

When it comes to the tranny, I would not do anything less than a complete rebuild. Partial rebuild is like a band-aid fix and may not address other possible issue that may one day pop up and put you back to square one.

Normally, a complete tranny rebuild should come with a rebuilt/new torque converter if you have it done at a local shop. But check to make sure a replacement torque converter comes with the price of a complete tranny rebuild.

 

Sounds right to me.

Make sure they install a new torque convertor and not just rebuilt.

Second, make sure they flush the system very good to get all metal fragments out.

But let me ask,
Did you check your fluid level?
To do this you must run the vehical for at least 15 minutes, place the shifter in all area's one at a time for 5 seconds each from park all the way down to low 1, then all the way back up to park, 5 seconds in each gearthen slowly return it to the neutral position, engage the parking brake, then check the fluid level while the truck is running. You will need to wipe and check it a couple of times to get the acual level.

Low fluid or a plugged filter in the trans can do this. The trans needs to be fully seviced every 30,000 miles. This includes a fluid and filter change and adjustment of the tranmission bands not just a power flush.