Update #2: well, my luck was shortlived. After thinking I had the van fixed, as noted in my previous post, I drove to my friend's place to do the fluid change and it ran perfectly during the 20 mile trip. Shifted through all the gears like it was supposed to ...ran smooth and quiet. Then, when I stopped in front of my friend's place and shifted from drive to neutral and back again, it stalled. Started it up again, shifted to reverse ...it stalleded. It was making a squealing noise when it did this. We let it cool down for about an hour, then it started and ran and we were able to get it into his shop.

We removed the tranny pan, and filter; back-flushed the transmission cooler with compressed air; replaced the shift solenoid unit; replaced the filter and re-installed the pan with a new gasket (had only an RTV gasket before); put in 4 litres of +4 tranny fluid; started it up, warmed it up and checked for leaks (none) ...drove it 20 miles home, stopped and started a few times ...ran it through all the gears a few times ...works perfectly (for now?). So, I guess the problem was the shift solenoid unit ..

 

Wow ....did everyone DIE on this forum? Last posted 3 weeks ago, and not a PEEP from anyone on this thread. ?????????????

 

Well digger, I'm having issues with my van still. I had changed the fluid to ATF-4 with a new filter (added a drain plug to the pan too) to fix a "no-shift" problem. After a couple weeks of driving I noticed the trans would shift 1 to 2 ok, then when cool, shift up to 3rd. Mine is not the overdrive trans, just a simple 3 speed.

Past month, it will shift 1-2 most of the time, 2-3 some times, unless I've driven the vehicle for a few miles. Then I have to kick the shift lever into neutral, back into drive & be careful to not press too hard on the throttle. Or it will drop back into 2nd. I've had it up to 55mph in 2nd thinking the governor was sticky. Nope not that either.

Spoke with the local trans shop (RAMCO, national builders of performance transmissions) & he told me he could check & possibly fix it without a rebuild. Mine has 88K on the rebuild, still shifts without hesitation, so I doubt it needs a rebuild. I think it's a solenoid, but it could be the throttle position sensor too. Battery went dead 2 weeks ago (AZ is hell on batteries), replaced that & the trans started shifting a little bit better.

Still haven't taken it into the trans shop, work demands keep me away from fixing things for myself. But it will get to the shop in a couple months.

I found a shop manual online & downloaded it. It wasn't on scrips, but some other sharing site. It's a pdf, so if you search for it, you might be able to find it.

 

Ah, hah !! There IS life on this forum!!!

I got my PDF manual online ...not too sure where from exactly. (had a friend get it for me). It has a lot of info, but I didn't really find the trouble-shooting tips that helpful. They didn't really describe the exact problem I was having ...and as you can see from this thread, everyone else thought it was a locked-up torque converter, when it ended up being the shift solenoids. I did read someone here, I think, that voltage fluctuations can cause shift problems ..so perhaps your new battery was part of the solution. I can't say for sure that what you're describing would be the shift solenoids, because my 96 Caravan didn't show any symptoms of eratic shifting before it stopped shifting altogether. There was a small indication of hard down-shifting when going up a long steep hill, but it wasn't really that noticeable.

I don't know the history of the tranny in my van. I just got it a few months back. It has 165,000 miles on it (265,000 kms here in Canada) and I don't know if it is the original tranny, or if is has been rebuilt or replaced. The van did have a trailer hitch on it before I bought it, so that could have been part of the problem ....towing can be hard on transmissions. When I changed the fluid and filter, there was a LOT of thick black gum in the pan ...and a fair amount of filings on the magnet. And when I took the old solenoid pack apart, there was fair amount of that same black gummy stuff in there as well.
How did you put a drain plug in the pan? I can't believe there isn't one there! Sure would make changing the fluid a lot simpler. And, with no scheduled maintainence recommended for these transmissions (no fluid and filter changes under "normal" use) it's no wonder there are so many problems!

I got a deal on Ebay for the shift solenoid unit ($63 including shipping), and the filter and pan gasket locally was $18, plus the cost of a 5 litre jug of Plus4 fluid at $34. So, I'm quite happy that I was able to fix it for less than $120. (did the work myself, so "free" labor!) I'm sure it would have cost close to $1,000 in a shop.

If you have the time and place to do a shift solenoid change-out yourself, it would certainly be a cheap "test fix".