Certainly have the dealer inspect for the condition and keep us posted.

 

Considering how much money you're paying for a brand new vehicle, you should have it looked at. It may eventually go away when something breaks, which is no good. I'm not saying your issue is indicative of impending failure, I'm just saying if you are unsure about it, have it looked at. This is especially true if the vehicle is under warranty.

 

I could only torque to 150 ft lbs due to the limitation of my torque wrench. On the passenger side it barely turned at all. On the driver side where the noise was coming from it moved probably an 1/8th of a turn. Been a few days now and no more clunk. Thank you for your help!

For those wondering, I had an intermittent clunk when driving in a parking lot and in stop and go traffic. Typically when the van is coasting down (no brake or gas) it'll downshift with a loud clunk/clank. It would happen 3-4 times per day to work and another 3-4 times coming home. Torqueing the axle nuts worked. Thanks Master Tech!

 

My 2011 RT wines on downshifts as well. I have also had problems with hard thud when shifted into drive usually after a short drive, like to the store. Dealer has checked it several times and in each case added trans fluid which is odd... there is no leak - dry as can be underneath. I'm at 70k miles. So that fixes the hard shift for a while and then it comes back.

 

3rd and 4th gens can also have these problems.

I have a 2003 right now that has a whine sometimes at startup from the trans, and in reverse. I haven't looked at it yet.

 

Finally took the van back to the dealer to have the transmission checked. Took a service rep for a test ride and he agreed that the transmission was making a noise. The noise sounds like a servo motor engaging for lack of a better description. It is most noticeable between 16 and 29 mph in 4th gear. He stated that he had never encountered the noise that mine was making and he had no idea what was causing it. Unfortunately he said there was nothing they could do unless it got worse. Not the answer I wanted to hear. There is definitely a problem with this transmission as some Journey owners on this forum are experiencing similar problems.

 

I had the same transmission whine on my 2011 Chrysler T&C. I noticed the whine around 70,000 miles and I wasn't sure if it had always been there or not so didn't take it in to get checked until I got a code after I had a misfire under heavy acceleration (not related to the whine). All of the whines described here are similar to mine except for the one heard at 50-60 MPH. Mine was most noticeable when coasting at around 15 to 20 MPH and increased in pitch while accelerating, disappearing around 40 MPH. I also had occasional rough shifts and one incident where I heard a loud clunk and though that I actually hit something and stopped to look for damage to my van. After finding nothing I came to think it might have been the transmission but the van ran fine so I didn't take it in.

The dealership test drove the van and based on the noise tore it apart and found that the compounder failed and parts of it damaged the case and planetary set, all the while running well enough for me to not think there was something seriously wrong with it. I imagine they dropped the pan first and found parts of the compounder inside before taking it apart. So now I have a new transmission at 78,500 miles all covered under warranty. There is zero whine in the new transmission. After I got the diagnosis in writing I did some searching and found other threads on compounder and whining related problems. If I were you I'd take it to another dealer if they won't diagnose it properly or at least take it up with a person higher up the totem pole. I joined the forum just to let you know. Don't let them blow you off. This is my second Chrysler transmission that's failed before 80,000 and there will definitely not be a third. The other was a 1999 Dodge Ram at 65,000 and out of warranty.

The misfire I mentioned earlier might have been due to our engines have a known design flaw in the left head that leads to misfires. Chrysler claims it is a problem in a very small percentage of the engines so there is no recall but they have extended the warranty on the left head to 150,000 miles. I reset my codes before I took it in so they couldn't diagnose it as a bad head so I guess I have to wait til it happens again before I can get it fixed. I was impatient and reset the codes before I took it in to see if it would reoccur but it didn't.

 

Thanks for the information on the compounder. What you described is probably what is going on with my transmission as well. It occurs in the 15 to 25 mph range just like yours. I now have 21000 miles on the van and the noise seems to have gotten a little louder. After contacting Dodge, I was advised to take the van to a different dealer. The second dealership was of no help either. They tried to tell me that the whine was normal and that all new Caravans made the same noise which as you know, is a load of bull. The noise that they were describing is the slight fluid whine that is common with these vehicles. My only hope is that the transmission will completely fail while under warranty. I can then have it taken back to the same dealer and say, I told you so.

 

I have owned 10 Dodge mini vans since 1986. Because of this transmission issue and since Dodge is unwilling to correct the problem this will be my last Dodge product.

 

Two problems I have seen. One on the 2008 thru 2010 is the underdrive compounder bearings and two 2011 thru 2014 has been valve body's. The valve body will cause the transmission to stop moving and give a transmission code p0944 loss of prime code. Pass that along to you dealer techs if you talk to them. tjnc You have a 41TE transmission, The sound you maybe hearing could be planetary gears or the front transmission pump.