Hello Everyone,
I've been battling a small tranni issue with my 03 Grand Caravan ever since I bought it. I've already had the tranny fluid changed out of it since purchased and had a TSB (or so my dealer says it was a TSB) done concerning a 2nd to 1st downshift knock. However, when going from 1st to 2nd the tranni will 60% to 70% of the time shift hard.
It's a symptom that can happen regardless of how I drive the van, regardless of the weather temp/conditions or if the van is cold or has been driven all day. Sometimes the tranni will even seem to have a hard time engaging into 2nd until I let off the gas (not under hard accel either).
One of my co-workers says it's the electrical control module for the tranni that is to blame as he suposedly has a similar problem with his
99 LHS. He says that every once in a while he forces the tranni to shift at higher RPMs to have the unit relearn to shift at a higher RPM and less close to 2K RPM and that corrects the problem until the next time.My wife also somewhat confirmed the tranni control module theory via one of her co-workers (who has an 04 GC) who's sister supposedly works for Dodge. Her friend said she waited until the 04 were out because Chrysler supposedly took corrected the tranni control module problems with a module taken from Mercedes. I have no clue if any of this is true or not, just looking for clarification.
Every time I see my dealer (for oil change or other) I ask him to look into my tranny problem and he comes back to me saying the tranni codes (CVI I think?) are all normal and nothing is wrong with the van, however I just don't accept this because the van can work days at a time where I can't even tell when it's shifting it's so smooth, but other times its simply too obvious as my seat gets bucked around.
Would anyone have some insight into all this?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Stefan