WOW... 70 reads and no responses
Maybe this is the wrong place to ask this question...



1998 Grand Caravan

Hi all...

3.0 motor. About 180k miles.
Throwing no codes.
First, what tranny is in this vehicle?

I have owned this van for about 5 years and the tranny has had a whining noise the whole time. Never effected performance. Always preformed flawlessly.

A couple of years ago it developed a main seal leak and I have just been putting fluid in it so that I did not have to deal with it.

OK... I'm a great motor guy... rebuilt many motors including a couple of 3.0's. I just love that motor. However, I know NOTHING about trannys.

I admit that I had no idea that the tranny fluid was THAT important. I've always just put in the cheapest fluid from Wal Mart. Because I have a pretty good leak, I had not wanted to buy the expensive +4 (or is it 3) stuff.

Problem...

Two days ago it started slipping. Only from stop. Once going, it seems OK. Also seems to take too long to shift from 2nd. to 3rd.

When I take off... if I do not let off the gas to try to let the tranny engage, it will give me a bit of a "slam" into gear effect. I think I also get a lite down-shift slam as well.

Then again, sometimes it goes right into gear.

So... am I looking at a rebuild here or possibly a speed sensor or shift sensor issue?

Thank you for your kind help,
John

 

well kind-a sounds like my issue, going to take mine to have it checked for stored codes. Then for ****s and grins going to pull sensor to see if there are any metal shavings on it. Hoping that the codes (if any) will help narrow down my problem.

 

No sensor replacement is going to fix your problem. Low levels and the wrong fluid will fry the clutch bands over time. That means a comlete tear down or replacement.

 

If that's the original tranmission its great that it survived this long. I have a 98 3.3L. I take good care of it and the trans failed (disintegrated) at 115k. Had it rebuilt at a competent shop and now have 170k. This is a weak design point on an otherwise great vehicle. I suggest you DO NOT TOW anything. Service (flush) it every 12-24 months. Fix any leaks immediately.

BTW - Ours started to slip like this before it failed. In my case the clutches were failing. To Dodge's credit, even though it tore itself up internally on the highway while my wife was driving it, it went into "limp" mode and she made it home at 25mph. I saw the unit after disassembly and it was destroyed. I found a local shop in the our area who did a complete rebuild for $1100. Needless to say he told me he sees a lot of these.

 

After haveing my TCM scan found that the LR CVIs way out of spec, no fix but a total rebuild. My whole down fault was from not addressing the bump-shift when it first started. It would down-shift harsh into 1st gear when i would come to a stop. My dumb butt keep driving it like that for almost 6 months, now a $150 job turned into 10 X that. The TCM scan was free at my local trans shop.

 

I rebuilt my A604 last year and found the rear planet assembly was toast.
I dropped the pan last night after about 5K miles to find very little fuzz on the magnets, but the parking pawl is jammed so it rolls when in Park. Gonna pull the valve body today and fix it.

 

Mine rolled in Park once after I had it rebuilt, but now its been working fine for over a year. Is this a problem? Can the pawl bind then free itself up?

 

I guess it is possible for it to free itself; BUT after removing the valve body on mine: the plug that limits the the pawl finger pin came out and was lodged behind the end of the parking pawl. In my case it would not free itself. I took out the plug and peened the case to limit the travel of the pin. Works now.