I've got a 2000 Plymouth Voyager, which as I've read is almost exactly the same as the 2000 Grand Caravans. Its a 3.3L engine, and has about 168k miles on it, and is having trouble shifting from park into drive or reverse when cold. Sometimes once you get into drive, it seem to jump out of drive, and jump back in. Once its warmed up it shifts better. I took it to a tranny shop, and after a test drive he checked the fluid, which was brown and said that he would not replace the filter/fluid because it was burned. He said that chances are its the transmission seals going, and new fluid will clean any varnish left by the burned fluid off the seals causing the problem to amplify x10. He quoted us $1000 to pull the tranny and do the seals, but also said that he couldn't be 100% positive until he was actually able to look inside and see what was going on. Any thoughts on this? Could I just put new fluid and a filter in, or are seals a common issue in these older, high mileage vans? This van has not had regular transmission service, but the fluid and filter were both changed about 20k miles ago.

Brian

 

Yup. Probably bad lip seals along with a weak fluid pump. Been there. Not much else to say. As long as your pulling it you might as well overhaul it. Or better yet find a low mileage replacement. If it has 168k and the fluid is burnt after 20k you can be pretty sure the clutches are on their way out.

 

Thanks for the reply. I just wanted to get some other opinions, I know alot about cars but not transmissions, so when he quoted $1000 and told me the problem by just looking at the fluid, I was a bit skeptical. The van is only worth about $2-$3k so I'm probably going to sell it.

 

Unfortunately there is no happy ending. For some reason it's not building enough pressure to engage reverse until things get warm and seal better. It's sort of an "as long as your in there" situation. Either bite the bullet with a newer or reman tranny or start backing into your driveway haha. As far as not changing the fluid I would say the mechanic just doesn't want to take on the liability that it may get worse. Good luck.