Hi,

My Dodge Caravan Minivan (1993) has a problem since yesterday. When cold, the transmission does not shift into the first gear. The rearward gear works fine though most of the time. Shifting from rearward to first gear does not work when the engine is cold and takes a long time (up to 10 seconds) after some minutes as soon as the car is half-warm. But it shifts quicker and it has nearly no problems after about 10-15 minutes. Then the car runs well. The transmission fluid should be fine - it does not really look used or dirty.

I disconnected the battery for tonight as some friend told me that this might help for some reason.

Does this sound like a transmission problem or is it more likely any kind of sensor problem? Why does the car run well as soon as the engine is warm?

Thanks for your help!

 

Make sure the fluid level is up to the "full" mark.These are classic symptoms of low fluid level.

 

For now it seems that this has solved the problem. The gears shift immediately without delay. I hope that nothing has been damaged due to a low fluid level. Thank you very much!