First I would like to say hi and im new to this forum. Heres what i got and what she is doing to me. Its a 01 grand caravan es with a 3.8 and 130xxx miles on her. Ive been having a problem with it down shifting hard as i come to a stop for about 4 months now. Checked the tranny fluid often and good to go. Now last night backed out of my driveway no problem but when i put it in drive didnt want to go, after going through the gears and had it in 1st (low) and a few revs she went on as normal. Went to the store was there for say 15 mins. and when i started her an went to leave the same thing happens again. Checked tranny fluid again today (after she warmed-up a little) and its good to go.The lady i bought this from had the tranny rebuilt around 80xxx miles and had a flush on all the fluids about 3 months before i bought it.There are no trouble lites popping up so really not sure where to start. Thanks for any info yous can give me.

 

well upon reading through many pages of post on here Ive come to the conclusion that a great starting point would be input and output sensors. It hasnt went into limp mode, in which I have no reason why it hasnt, but I am leaning towards the input sensor is the reason it wont engage into drive gear without revving the engine and is why it is down shifting prematurely when I come to a stop. By no means am I a true mech. but have lots of exp. turning wrenches. Just not into these computerized cars these days.Will post again after a few sensor changes.And by all means let me know if you might have a few tips, open for any info , THANKS

 

Are you seeing a check engine light? Can you confirm the fluid in it is ATF+4 fluid?

um - Happy New Year.

 

yeah has the rite fluid its at the proper levels,color look fine, no off odors.As for engine lights havent seen any come on.Did the self dign. by holding the trip reset for 10 sec. no codes given. Just seems weird that it goes in reverse fine but i have to rev it up a lil to engage to drive but then does well except for the hard down shift to 1st when i stop. Goes though all shifts when driven in town.

 

Sensors? It's not fitting the typical limp mode scenario but they are cheap and easy to replace. Got a hunch you need to have a shop read the tranny codes to get anywhere on this. MasterTech is a tranny expert on this forum. If he doesn't jump in here send him a PM.

BTW - The trip button trick checks for instrument cluster and data bus codes. Probably not your issue. To read some tranny codes cycle the key from off to on x3 leaving it at on. Now read the codes off the odometer. A descent scanner will give you any pending codes. A tranny specific scanner will give you all possible tranny codes.

 

yeah really not looking to spend any money on parts I dont need. Ill try and chat with him in a few . Thanks for your time

 

cycled the key x3 and nothing happens

 

You're not alone. Many have problems with this. At the risk of getting annoying, here's a video of how it works. It depicts the test on a Dakota but your van should work the same. If you read down in the comments (click You Tube at top) someone got it to work on his 2003 caravan - same generation:
If there are no codes it will read "done".

 

all i get is done , so no codes present there. Going to have the tcm checked for stored codes and looked them up, theres got to be something there. Must of looked through 300 pages of post here in the caravans posts and be-leave it or not, havent came across one with the same symptoms, close but not the same. I see that bump shift alot but not my problem with it not wanting to engage into drive without a lil revving. Just seems a little strange to me that went its engaged does likes its been doing til i go back to park. Reverse is fine and trying it cold or warmed-up makes no difference. Oh well, will have codes tomorrow(I hope) and we'll go from there.I'll keep posting more info when it come along.

 

O.K. After a trip to a well trusted trans shop here in my town, bad news. They did a scan to check for stored codes and there was none. The problem is internal with clutches. The CVIs where all with-in spec with the exception of the LR (1st-reverse), it had a reading of 241. I think I remember him saying like 85 was the high-end of spec so Im way out of that range. Telling me $1600 will be the cost for a rebuild. Ive talked to another shop and got a quote of $1400 to $1700, dont know why the wide range but the way he talked about how Dodge as made alot of updates and mods the make it a more reliable tranny and that they upgrade all the parts installed makes me lean more towards them getting the job. There shop has a good rep in town as well.