97 dodge caravan trans problems... pls help

You don't need to attach a scanner, and you should try having the bands adjusted before assuming a rebuild is needed.

Ted

Try to find a shop that will read the codes.. in my town it happened to be free. But I understand if they want to charge. I had a problem with my A604 that I was debating between two problems. Took it to the only good tranny shop in my area and they read the code for free. It came up speed sensor and I allowed them to gouge me for $110 to put in the $40 part. Pay to have the code read is my suggestion. If you luck out with a bad sensor diagnosis you can forget the labor charge and it's an easy fix.

Transmission internal problems. Improper band adjustments and/or broken bands, dirt in the valve body and/or governor.

These days, that's a very low price for a transmission overhaul.

RUN away from this guy, he's trying to scam you.

That's correct.

Usually a replacement torque converter is included in the cost of a complete transmission overhaul.

Almost certainly yes.

If you cannot afford or don't want to spend the money for an overhaul, you may want to look into a low mileage, guaranteed used transmission, which you can find via

DS

No codes to read, the man has the *three speed* automatic, which is hydromechanical.

No sensors to go bad in the three-speed.

DS

I have a 97 with the same combo. I already had a rebuild at 75,000 kilometres. It was acting funny again at 130k km/ It was shifting at odd intervals, holding the gear too long or suddenly kicking down hard as I rolled to a stop sign. It didnt do it every time. I thought: "Oh-Oh, not again!." But I took it in to the dealer and asked the service manager to take it for a spin. He quickly identified the problem -- often on these models the mechanical linkage between the throttle and the tranmission gets dirty and seizes up. It develops a kind of false memory syndrome. It cost me less than one hour of labour and it is running like new again. I was so relieved not to be forking over $1600 Cdn again that I went ahead with the flush, fluid and filter change slightly ahead of schedule just to keep the angels on side. You may not get off so easily, but if have learned anything about these vehicles is that it is better to find a decent dealer for the big stuff because they know them.

Sounds like a hangy governor-this model trans doesn't like contamination in the governor-at all. You may get lucky and the crud flushes free and stays that way. However, which is common, the carrier bearing is taking a shit and shedding small pieces of metal into the sump oil. Check yer play in the driver's side half shaft as it enters the trans case, and pull yer trans oil pan and look for fine shiny metal bits-hopefully there will be none. Good luck to you. Respectfully submitted,

Loren Knighton Woodland, CA.

Under the hood since 1964 Member TRNI IATN

Thanks for the advise.

I'm surprised none of the shops looked at this.

How would I check that myslef?

Also, should I just change the oil and filter and see what happens.

To adjust bands, don't you have to open the transmission? If you do, you might as well have this overhauled.

Thanks again for the excellent advise. Mike

Thanks for the advise. Do you know where is this linkage. None of the mechanics looked at it and suggested that. I assume, the dealer cleaned it for you. Can I do it myslef?

And how? What exactly is this?

Thanks again very much for the help

How do I check mechanical linkage between the throttle and the tranmission ??

Can I clean it myself? If not, how do I explain it to a mechanic as they did not suggested it..

Thank everybody for the help!

Where are these bands? Do you have to open transmission to adjust these?

Thanks!

Yes you do. You will need to remove the tranny pan, filter to get access to the adjusting screws for the bands. Get a repair manual for the procedure and torque specs. It is not difficult, but yo need to know what to do. It is best to do this wile yo are doing the tranny fluid and filter change.

You have to open the trans to "just change the oil and filter". If your last mechanic that did the trans fluid change 8 months ago followed the documented service procedure he would have adjusted the bands. Check your service receipt. Also, some people have reported that there is supposedly something in Dexron III fluid that attacks the converter clutch facing causing it to flake off, and the flakes clog the governor. So if the wrong trans fluid was used in the last fluid change, that could have done it as well.

If the correct fluid was used and if the bands were adjusted at that time, then your trans is probably screwed and if you intend on keeping it, you need to get it in for a rebuild now, before things get worse and more damage happens inside the trans. I wouldn't spend the money on a oil/filter change and fluid flush unless the goal is to get it going for long enough so you can sell it off.

If however the last mechanic didn't adjust the bands but used the correct fluid, then drop the pan yourself, it's easy enough to do. Check the pan and if there's no metal in it, adjust the bands, replace the pan and fluid, and cross your fingers. The process has been documented here:

One of the bands in this transmission is adjusted from the outside via a control bolt that goes thru the housing. However, the other band adjustment is only accessable after the bottom transmission pan is dropped. Dropping the bottom pan is relatively easy, just a matter of removing a few bolts. A new pan gasket should be used.

BTW, the recommended service interval in normal useage for the band adjustments on this transmission is every 30,000 miles - at least per my technical manual. If you haven't been doing that, and refilling it with ATF+3 or ATF+4 fluid, the transmission hasn't been properly serviced.

It sounds like you've been going to transmisison shops that don't understand what model of transmission you have. I'd take the car to a Chrysler/Dodge dealer and have them diagnose the problem. You can decide afterwards if you want to go with their estimate.

As other posters have mentioned, this transmission is non-electronic, with no electronic diagnostic codes to read.

Doug

Thanks everyone for the excellent posts. Below is the summary. Now, the question is, Is it possible to avoid transmission overhaul. E.g. if the there is play on driver side axle, then what.

Here is the summary from the replies to my request.

Adjust bands

Often on these models the mechanical linkage between the throttle and the tranmission gets dirty and seizes up. It develops a kind of false memory syndrome.

Transmission internal problems. Improper band adjustments and/or broken bands, dirt in the valve body and/or governor.

Check yer play in the driver's side half shaft as it enters the trans case, and pull yer trans oil pan and look for fine shiny metal bits-hopefully there will be none.

Cheack the play on driver side axle. Prbably a bearing taking a dump in there and the gov. clogged up.

Another q's... I'm going to have torque convertor replaced when transmission is overhauled. I'm told they are all re-manufactured. How good are they?

How would I know it was replaced? I just have take shop's word for it?

How about TCC cellenoid? Should that be changed as well. Some shops are saying, it should and others saying, it does not have to be.

Thanks very much!

Just a word of caution on evaluating the play in the shaft coming out of the transaxle: There may normally be a surprising amount of play due to normal clearances between the shaft itself and the output gear (it may be a spline slip fit). I recently went on a wild goose chase on my Concorde because I was convinced that the carrier gear bearings were shot before discovering that the bearings were fine, and the observed significant play (between shaft and gear) was (apparently) normal. Luckily I discovered the real simple problem external to the tranny that was causing the noise I was hearing before I dumped a couple grand or more into a tranny non-problem.

Now - that having been said - I have never seen a Caravan tranny, and all of my above comments may therefore be non-applicable and FOS. If so, then ignore them. But it may be that my one-time experience on an LH vehicle 42LE tranny is transferable to your van regarding output shaft play - that is assuming that the carrier gear/output shaft design is at least conceptually similar.

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

transmission is

Why are you concerning yourself with this? If your going to have the trans rebuilt, then the shop is going to offer a warranty, right? So let them worry about rebuilding the trans. You need to worry about stuff like the BBB rating on the business, check with other vehicle owners who have used the shop, etc.

If you cannot rebuild the trans yourself, what makes you think that reading a handful of posts in this newsgroup here is going to qualify you to advise the trans shop as to how to go about rebuilding your trans?

If you really want to play Doctor then buy the appropriate service manuals from Chrysler and perhaps one from ATSG and read up on the procedure. Like most auto repair procedures it's not that hard to understand, the problem is it takes a lot of tooling that the garden-variety home mechanic does not have.

Ted