97 Grand Caravan - The Transmission Eater..HELP!!
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97 Grand Caravan - The Transmission Eater..HELP!!
Please bare with me on my descriptions of everything as I am a nursing student and my knowledge about the working of vehicles is limited.
I have a 1997 Grand Caravan LE with the 3.3L engine and 182,000 miles on it. I bought this van in Jan 2012 from a man who worked for the dodge dealership. When I bought it, I was told that the transmission had been rebuilt that month. Test drove the van. Feel in love with it (hey with kids, who wouldnt).
7 days after I purchased the vehicle, the transmission went out. While driving down the road, I lost all forward motion and pressing on the gas pedal only made the rpm go up. If you pushed the RPM up to about 3500, the van would shift into 1st gear but quickly lose 1st gear after about 30 feet or so. Had the van towed to our mechanic. He suggested replacing the whole transmission with one from a salvage yard to save me some money vs rebuilding the transmission that was already there.
Waited 4 very long weeks for the transmission to be shipped to my mechanic and installed. Upon receiving my van back, I took it for a test drive and noticed that it seem to jerk into 3rd gear. Bought a thing of lucas transmission fix and poured in into the van hoping it would help. Later that week I took it back to the mechanic and had the transmission flushed again and a new filter put on it. It still jerked in 3rd gear. My mechanic drove it and seemed to think it was fine.
So I drove it home, not happy about my results but broke for the moment.
7 weeks after the salvage transmission was put in (the whole time having the 3rd gear jerk and a CEL that would come and go), we are going 70 down the hwy and BAMN...no transmission. No forward motion, nothing. Had it towed to the shop.
Salvage agrees to cut me a deal on another transmission. Replace transmission again with another one. This transmission jerks in 1st. I park the van at my house. Drive it 4 times in 5 weeks. Last drive out, the transmission craps out on me.
The van now refuses to run right(right before it just gave out on me, I notice a high pitched whining noise that seemed to grow lower as you accelerated) . I have lost all faith in my mechanic..who I have known all my life.
Van is currently sitting at my parents house in their garage. It will barely shift into 1st gear and runs like trash if you try to get it to go forward any. The CEL is now back on as well. It came on 0.5 seconds before it decided to run like crap. Since buying this van in Jan, it has sent more time not running than running for my family.
What do I do? Are all transmissions for these vans crap? Do I wait and save to rebuild the transmission that is in there? Is there some part on this van that is causing these transmission failures.
I will state that as much as the friend of the family mechanic has done for me over the years, I dont believe I will be letting him touch the van again.
I have a 1997 Grand Caravan LE with the 3.3L engine and 182,000 miles on it. I bought this van in Jan 2012 from a man who worked for the dodge dealership. When I bought it, I was told that the transmission had been rebuilt that month. Test drove the van. Feel in love with it (hey with kids, who wouldnt).
7 days after I purchased the vehicle, the transmission went out. While driving down the road, I lost all forward motion and pressing on the gas pedal only made the rpm go up. If you pushed the RPM up to about 3500, the van would shift into 1st gear but quickly lose 1st gear after about 30 feet or so. Had the van towed to our mechanic. He suggested replacing the whole transmission with one from a salvage yard to save me some money vs rebuilding the transmission that was already there.
Waited 4 very long weeks for the transmission to be shipped to my mechanic and installed. Upon receiving my van back, I took it for a test drive and noticed that it seem to jerk into 3rd gear. Bought a thing of lucas transmission fix and poured in into the van hoping it would help. Later that week I took it back to the mechanic and had the transmission flushed again and a new filter put on it. It still jerked in 3rd gear. My mechanic drove it and seemed to think it was fine.
So I drove it home, not happy about my results but broke for the moment. 7 weeks after the salvage transmission was put in (the whole time having the 3rd gear jerk and a CEL that would come and go), we are going 70 down the hwy and BAMN...no transmission. No forward motion, nothing. Had it towed to the shop.
Salvage agrees to cut me a deal on another transmission. Replace transmission again with another one. This transmission jerks in 1st. I park the van at my house. Drive it 4 times in 5 weeks. Last drive out, the transmission craps out on me.
The van now refuses to run right(right before it just gave out on me, I notice a high pitched whining noise that seemed to grow lower as you accelerated) . I have lost all faith in my mechanic..who I have known all my life.
Van is currently sitting at my parents house in their garage. It will barely shift into 1st gear and runs like trash if you try to get it to go forward any. The CEL is now back on as well. It came on 0.5 seconds before it decided to run like crap. Since buying this van in Jan, it has sent more time not running than running for my family.
What do I do? Are all transmissions for these vans crap? Do I wait and save to rebuild the transmission that is in there? Is there some part on this van that is causing these transmission failures.
I will state that as much as the friend of the family mechanic has done for me over the years, I dont believe I will be letting him touch the van again.
Record Breaker
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 2,256
Likes: 2
From: SoCal
That's the trouble with junkyard transmissions. You never truly know what you're getting. I wouldn't be too hard on your family mechanic. Many times vans are handed over to junkyards because the transmission has problems and the owner doesn't want to sink money into an older van. The new owner of the transmission can only install it and hope.
Was there ever any talk of debris in the fluid pan and flushing the transmission cooler? If there is any sign of metal shavings/particles in the pan, flushing the tranny cooler is a must. So is flushing the torque converter if it's not going to be replaced. If no flushing was done, metal particles left in the cooler or torque converter can migrate back into the new tranny and trash it.
At this point based on your circumstances I would recommend cutting your losses and selling the van as is. There are plenty of good used cars out there. If you insist on sticking with it get a rebuilt tranny from a reputable rebuilder. Bigger bucks but cheaper in the long run.
FYI - My 96 still has the original tranny at 210K miles. It leaks but shifts like the day I drove it off the dealers lot. They do make transmissions that work as designed for years.
Was there ever any talk of debris in the fluid pan and flushing the transmission cooler? If there is any sign of metal shavings/particles in the pan, flushing the tranny cooler is a must. So is flushing the torque converter if it's not going to be replaced. If no flushing was done, metal particles left in the cooler or torque converter can migrate back into the new tranny and trash it.
At this point based on your circumstances I would recommend cutting your losses and selling the van as is. There are plenty of good used cars out there. If you insist on sticking with it get a rebuilt tranny from a reputable rebuilder. Bigger bucks but cheaper in the long run.
FYI - My 96 still has the original tranny at 210K miles. It leaks but shifts like the day I drove it off the dealers lot. They do make transmissions that work as designed for years.
Last edited by Cougar41; Jun 2, 2012 at 03:39 AM.
Record Breaker
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,497
Likes: 0
From: North Plains, Oregon
Did they use the Correct trans fluid? I know of trans problems in Dodge vans that was related to the use of the wrong trans fluid. FYI All Dodge trans use ATF+4 and do not let anyone use Dexron ATF & additive in your trans claiming its as good as AFT+4 its not.
