As the title says, I own a 1996 Grand Caravan with the 3.3 engine. I bought it in 1997 and it now has just shy of 301,000 miles. At 193K, the transmission was rebuilt (not by the dealer) and it is now having issues again. About a month ago, it developed a wobble while accelerating, much like a tire out of balance. I haven't driven it much since, but the other night I had to use it and when I got off the freeway, the wobble was gone, but it began slipping while trying to accelerate from a stop. I was able to limp it to my destination and had it towed home the next morning.

Since then, I have driven it around my property and at first it acts like normal, but then slips out of gear and has a hard time moving under acceleration. I then put it in reverse and it worked as it should. I put it back into drive and again, it worked like normal, but then started slipping again before I parked it. Prior to driving it, I had let it warm up and found that the fluid level was normal and did not have a burnt smell to it. Borrowed a friends OBDII code reader and no codes were found.

I hate to just scrap the van, as I have put a lot of effort into keeping it maintained and it would make a good second vehicle.

Any thoughts on what to look for, or is the transmission fried? Thanks.

 

You could try dropping the pan and look for debris. If there then you have a decision to make. If it looks good replace the filter and fluid (ATF+4 only).

Could have a shop read the CVI numbers. They may narrow the possibilities. They could check for transmission codes - not the powertrain codes you read with a standard scanner.

 

Just thought I would update. Ended up pulling the transmission pan and found that the magnet had quite a bit of metal material on it. Also found metal debris in the pan, including about six pieces of what looked to be roller bearings. The total amount of debris was about the size of a nickel to a quarter. Ended up putting the pan back with new gasket (after cleaning the debris and magnet) and filling oil level back with ATF+4.

Transmission still acts the same. Drives normal while in low, but in drive it begans slipping when shifting to second. Reverse works just fine.