I am having a problem with my van. It happened last night on the way home from work. I stopped at a stop sign, and my van stalled as soon as I came to a complete stop. I could start it back up, and it would idle just fine. As soon as I put it into gear, it would stall.

I managed to get it to my friends house a block away by putting it all the way down into 1st gear. It would move, but barely. Once I got it moving, I was able to shift up into Drive. I pulled in his driveway, and it died again.

I checked the trans fluid, and it is good to go. Nice and red, and does not smell burned. Disconnected the battery for a few minutes to reset the PCM, but it didn't make any difference.

I really have no idea where to start on this problem. I bought a Haynes manual today, but I really don't see anything in there that helps.

I plan on going back over there tomorrow and trying to get it going, but I could use some direction, please.

Thanks in advance. Josh

 

Internet guess !

 

Sounds like a torque converter problem but not sure how to prove it.

 

I most case's, when you take the shifter out of park and drop the tramission in ether reverse or 1st gear from an idle and the engine dies. Thats the torque converter. There are two ways of test this problem, one use a scanner and two remove all four torque converter bolts. This way the converter is not turnning, but van won't move either.

 

Thank you, everyone. Now I have an idea where to start.

I am going to try to remove the torque converter bolts and see what that does. I was really hoping it was something simple, (and cheap) but I'm guessing not.

Do the Caravans have a check valve in the trans lines like the trucks?

 

Well, I decided to let the pro's handle this. I towed it to a local garage. After talking to my wife about it, we figured paying $75 to have it diagnosed was worth it.

Hopefully it won't be something extremely expensive. I should know in a day or so. Keep you all posted.

 

Let us know what you find out?

 

Sorry it has been a while since I last posted. I ended up taking it to a second garage because I forgot the first place only likes to replace with Jasper instead of repair the old. I am having the trans rebuilt to the tune of about $1600. Includes new torque converter and solenoid pack.

They found a lot of metal in the pan when they removed it.

On a side note, have any of you ever installed a remote trans filter on a Caravan? I put one on my truck in place of the check valve, and really like having it. I am thinking about doing the same thing on the van, especially since it will have a rebuilt trans in it.

 

No help on the remote filter but just want to add make sure the shop flushes the cooler. Metal shavings can get trapped in there and trash a new tranny if not flushed.

 

The shop that rebuilt it didn't recommend the remote trans filter, because they were told it can cause a drop in line pressure. They didn't say who told them, though.

Anybody ever hear of this? It seems to be working fine on my truck.