Hey All,

I have a 2007 dodge caliber (I bought in Dec '06) it has about 80K miles on it. I have been having problems with it recently where it makes a whining sound if I go over a mountain here in West Texas. The engine will start to whine when going up (which I think is normal) and then when I come down and start driving on the freeway (65-70MPH) it has a whining sound to it. The RPM is showing 3-4K RPM when pressing down on the gas and slowing down to 50MPH still leads to whining when I am using the gas.

Now I took it to a shop to have them look at the engine thinking that it was the problem. They said everything was fine when they did their test drive around for a while. I told them to take it over the mountain and they called me back and said they heard it and it was strange that they were sending the car to a transmission shop.

Once the car got to the transmission shop they reported for 2 days that the computer couldn't talk to the car and they were looking into it. They later came back and said that the senors where reporting things differently and needed to be replaced but that this guy knew nothing about my transmission but was going to a seminar on it this weekend and would know what to do with it on Monday.

I am curious has anyone had this type of problem and if so how bad am I screwed on the transmission. The dealership said they can't do anything with it that it would have to be replaced if I brought it into them. Help?

 

Maximus,

Sorry to hear that you are having problems with your Caliber. You mention in your last sentence that the dealership indicated that the transmission would have to be replaced if you brought it to them. Has the dealership diagnosed the problem with your vehicle from you having brought the vehicle in to them or was that just their opinion over the phone? Private message me with your VIN and let me at least take a look and see if there is any Technical Service Bulletins or recalls for your specific vehicle.

If a Dodge dealer has not yet looked at the vehicle I would suggest that first as a diagnosis without inspecting the vehicle is sometimes tricky. While having to pay a diagnostic fee at the dealer may not be the ideal scenario, from your post it sounds like the cause of the problem may not have been identified yet. Let me know.

 

Hello :-)

Yeah the dealership was going off what I said when I was calling to determine if I had the extended warranty because everyone was telling me I had 100K warranty on the power train. But I think my car was the one year before Dodge took care of that. Given my financial situation (I was laid off 2 years ago and haven't been able to find work yet with complete exhausted unemployment) the last thing I can pay for is a new transmission. Though I would love too!

I am still waiting on the first transmission shop to return the car. I just need to know what is going on and get the car repaired as cost effectively as possible given whats going on. The car is sadly the last of my possessions.

I will send you the PM here shortly. I thank you for taking your time to respond to my thread. I feel bad because when it comes to cars I have no knowledge about them. I am a computer guy more than anything. Again thank you!

 

I can tell you that in most cases, these transmissions are replaced and not repaired other than a fluid change. Very few shops know anything about the CVT2 transmission so beware of someone who doesn't have experience with them.

 

Max,

I researched your vehicle and did not find any recalls on it. There were no service bulletins having to do with transmission noise. The only warranty left on the vehicle at this time is the 8/80 federal emissions. The warranty start date on your vehicle, often called the in-service-date, is 12/16/2006. This is when the vehicle was purchased by the original owner.(not sure if you are original owner) Lifetime Powertrain Warranties on the 2007 models apply to vehicles with in-service-dates of 7/26/2007 and newer only and only to the original owner.

I agree with the comments from lxman1 who indicated to be careful when allowing non-Chrysler techs to work on this transmission. While I know that going to a dealer may cost more money, in the case of diagnosis on this model of transmission it may be worth it. PM me if you need any other information on your vehicle.

 

The challenge on this is that I am not sure if it is a transmission needing to be fixed. The dealership Chris is going to charge me more than an outside shop. While I know this isn't Chrysler's fault it does raise an issue that even though they know our vehicles pretty well we are faced with costs that are not something most can afford. Once dealerships get to the point of competing with other repair shops in the area instead of being floated by the dealership sales and their prices become somewhat reasonable then I will look into them. Sadly as I stated I am unemployed. I don't want to lose my car but at the same point I don't want to pay 5K to repair something that may or may not need it.

It's beyond disappointing that the lifetime powertrain warranties came in so late on the year. My family and I have been rather loyal to the Dodge/Mopar family for a long time (My Dad had a Dodge Dakota Sport for years and a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500, My Mom had a Dodge Durango 02, My Brother has Dodge Durango the newest model and Dodge 1500) and I personally have owned 2 Dodge Neon's and the Dodge caliber (and yes I am the caliber original owner).

I was curious if this could be something other than the transmission. Sounds like I am out of luck on that one. Could this be related to a fluid issue? When I drive normally without going up a steep incline it is fine I don't notice any problems. Just when I go up the mountain and back down do I notice the noise and I notice if I use the car after a short amount of time after that.

 

Changing Fluid and Filter on that trans may cost u like $200-300, it is not really a "try and see if it work" option.
The Drive Belt inside the trans is probably slipping, since u said noise only occurs when you work it hard. Dealership is probably ur best bet, Unless you want to try a Used trans. There are plenty of them in salvage yard.

If it drives fine like this, you could wait until it completely fail on u.
It is not just this Transmission, almost everything in cars changed so much compare to 10 yrs ago, remember how independent shop mechanic dreads German made vehicle? Domestic and Asian vehicle are getting there. And German cars got even worse. and New cars are ridiculously expensive, it is just the trend of the Automotive world.

How much do they charge for Diagnostic? $100-$125? the dealership I work at only charge $56 for inspection on noise, assuming it is easily duplicated.

U r very unlucky, I only seen 2 CVT trans being replaced in the past 2 yrs, these are atually fairly reliable trans.

 

The guy that looked at the car and the transmission shop didn't charge me a penny to look at what is going on. They both said nothing was wrong at first until I had them go over the mountain and they then heard what I was talking about.

I guess my question is if the drive belt is slipping does that require the dealership to replace the entire transmission? I truly appreciate everyone's thoughts on this.

 

Yes it does. If they are certain the noise is from the trans. pretty sure it is the problem.
This is not a rubber belt, it is a steel plated kevlar belt that is strong enough to haul a 3000lb car. It is either the belt or something with the hydraulic system not giving enough pressure to clamp the belt tight.

If you have a mechanic you can trust, u do not necassarily need to use the dealership, get one from salvage yard. tho, you might need to find a shop with the equipment to re-calibrate the computer.
Why we recommend dealership for this type of work is because you get a better piece of mind and gurantee on the work. and that always cost extra. Yes, there are parts and repair manual to rebuild this trans, but we Know these trans are so ridiuclous, trying to rebuild it will just cause you nothing be headache down the road.

 

I can tell you that I had a similar problem early on in the life of my 07 Caliber sxt, and I took it to the dealer and within 2 hours I had a new transmission. Mind you this was back when it was on warranty. This CVT automatic transmission if that is what you have and not a standar shift, is like an industrial variable speed belt drive not a hydaulic labrynth of valves like the old automatic transmissions. There is *******ly nothing to be gained by opening it up aparently, because it is so simple to replace. But, you have to take it to a Dodge dealer who is familiar with the unit. Other wise as you have found, the average mechanic has never worked on one of these because they are new, and only a few other makes use them ie the Nissan Rogue and it's big brother the Murano I think are two, and there may be others. As far as I am concerned they are great transmissions, much higher percentage of the engine HP gets to the drive wheels so my 2 L caliber is a real rocket if need be especially at high speeds. It is amazing what acceleration I have at highway speeds. The only drawback is they sound like outboard motors because of the lack of shift points like in the old transmissions.

Good Luck