2003 Gr Caravan 3.3 trasmission question

Not normal, and the two problems are probably related. Get it to a competent transmission diagnostician. Probably a small/inexpensive fix if you address it *now*, probably a bigger/more expensive fix if you wait.

First thing to try is AT fluid change with the right fluid. Many places use the wrong fluid for Chrysler AT's or the use the right CHrysler fluid with a

3rd party additive. Insist on Chrysler fluid per your manual with no other additives.

Have you double checked the fluid level?

Heh heh!. On the 300M Enthusiasts Club forums, the opinion was occasionally expressed that the "learned" condition eventualy becomes sluggish and strange-behaving under certain driving conditions. A year or two ago, a "how to" was posted on adding a relay in the power center in the 300M to cut power to the TCM when the ignition was off to revert back to the unlearned state each and every time time the vehicle was started. I thought about doing that on my Concorde.

The OP might try pulling the fuse for 20 minutes to see if accummulated and confused learning is the problem. Occassionally resetting by pulling the correct fuse might be a solution.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')

Which may be why he removed the "how to" from his link.

I'm glad you mentioned that though. When I had my Concord's TCM reflashed a couple of years ago due to a firmware update, after the tech finished that, they told me it would be a few minutes more for him to do a "calibration" (that's the word they used). I asked them what that was, and they said that it did things like calibrate the cup volumes (maybe they said clutch volumes, but I thought they said cup volumes). Anyway - I was left wondering if that was some special operation they performed in addition to the firmware upgrade and the resetting of the TCM, or if it was in fact an inherent result of them resetting the TCM.

Can you shed some light on that?

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet > I don't think that's a good idea as it not only learns shift patterns but

Thanks for the explanation

One more thing about that - you said in the previous post that "it not only learns shift patterns but clutch volumes etc." (referring to what happens after resetting the TCM). Would it be correct to say, as far as the clutch volume calibration, that the DRB "quick learn" and the learning that would otherwise occur after resetting the TCM are the same (again, I'm asking only in regards to clutch volume calibration)? IOW - the DRB quick learn just gets that part of the learning out of the way.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet > Basically it's a function performed with the DRB called "quick learn" and it