Replacing front wheel bearing

My condolensces on the tranny and (now) the bearings. I'm afraid I bit the bullet and replaced the whole hub/bearling assembly after being told the bearings were unservicable. One would think the hubs would be servicable if they required your old worn units be traded in to be remanufactured, but they do not. Perhaps someone else knows better.

My curse in life has been to fall in love with Chrysler vans and Panasonic phones, the former's transmissions break early and often while the latter's keypads go dead with only moderate use. My '96 Gr. Caravan has seen 3 transmissions in it's day and, on my grandparent's grave, I swear I won't pay for another.

I hope those Downunder dollars are worth less than Uncle Sam's, because $7k for a tranny is well over twice what one might expect to pay here. Also the hubs (which are quite easy to replace) can be obtained in the US for around $150, though the dealer's parts desk wants over $200.

I keep wondering what it is I do to cause this otherwise wonderful piece of machinery to self destruct... not once but twice. Maybe one can do the tranny service too often. Every 15k is about once a year. Heaven knows the tranny's just getting used to the new fluid when it's suddenly drained and replaced!

Maybe it's the abuse exacted by the dealer's technicians. They never have the same tender loving care of an owner's hands.

Maybe it's the "too normal" type of driving we do... you know... driving the kids to school, grocery shopping and the like.

Ok, so I'm a little defensive here. I just don't buy that our '96 Gr. Caravan has finally discovered the thing that all our other cars and vans couldn't... that we're abusive, tranny busting drivers!

David,

Sounds like you have the dealer technicians do the trans service. Are they actually dropping the pan and replacing the filter every 15K miles as you suggest in your post or are they doing something else, like the transmission "backflush" through the trans cooler lines?

(I've never heard of anyone before who drops the pan, cleans it/magnet, replaces the filter, and fluid every 15K miles! I do mine every 30-36K miles and people thought I was obsessive...)

Bob S.

Every 15k, the pan is dropped, the fluid drained and the filter replaced. It's refilled with Mopar ATF+3. At least that's what I thought I was paying for. I never actually watched them do it. I've never heard of a transmission service that was anything other than that (backflushing??)... well band adjustments, but that doesn't apply to the 4 speed..

I've done it every 15k because that's what the maintenance schedule specifies! For me, that's about once a year.

transmission

I've always thought your experience was the abnormal one! You've had great luck with your 4 speeds and poor luck with your 3 speeds. My 3 speed lasted

225k miles before it self destructed and I was less regular with maintenance on it.

I don't think I know a single owner of a minivan with the 4 speed transmission from the early to mid 90's who's transmission hasn't been replaced or rebuilt at least once with less than 100k miles (except for you!). The 2nd gen. minivans have a better record. I know quite a number of owners who haven't had transmission trouble and some who have. Don't know about the latest Caravans.

My lastest thinking on this is from the mgr. of the tranny shop I went to the last time around. He said the 4 speed was a fine transmission IN A CAR, but inadequate for the heavier minivans (especially the extended version). I also live in San Diego which is choc-full of hills and mesa's versus a more easy going flat plain. That might explain more stress on the transmission (and on my poor brakes).

(backflushing??)...

My 93 when traded was fine at 136k miles and our 95 (we still have at 144k is still working fine. I also have many friends with never a problem on their 4 speeds either.

Terrain is no worse (actually easier) than New Yorks Adirondacks and the Blue Ridge of Virginia where my homes are. I also would have to disagree with your mechanic regarding the tranny being over stressed in a van vs sedan. Now some of the smaller engines in the vans I would agree with.

I personally think a lot of the issue is that owners often assume they are getting a certain product/service when they are not. Many (and I have dealt with several over the years) dealers do NOT use the ATF+3 that is required unless you are sure to point it out to them. This is the first sure thing to cause problems. I also know of a few cases where those that had problems got the trannies replaced at the dealers recommendation only to have the problem come right back. Turned out in both cases that it was the control module and not the tranny at all. Now if you are on number 4 you are either driving the hell out of it, or need to find a competent service center!

No doubt, but I don't think the bad reputation is ill deserved. The experiences of ourselves and friends can't be the basis of proof, but I've been in this newsgroup for a long time and the problems that consistently pop up in this ng have statistical weight. One can list quite reliably the common problems: 3.0 oil leaking, valve guide leaking, bendix-10 troubles,

4-speed tranny rebuilds and replacements, clocksprings, phantom wipers, fan relays, etc. These are a small number compared to the things that could go wrong and don't. These are the problems we see year in and year out here.

I can see that happening periodically, but I have a harder time believing that the bad reputation is based on incorrect diagnosis or incorrect fluid (by dealers???)nationwide! Maybe I'm wrong, but it requires one to believe in massive and widespread incompetance.

Now if you are on number 4 you are either driving the

My van is on it's 3rd tranny. The original and two replacments. The first time around was at 84k miles and it started dripping LOTS of fluid. It drove ok, so I took it to the dealer and they pulled the codes and took it for a road test. They said there were tranny fault codes and that the tech heard bad things going on during the road test. They said they could tear it apart, but that the tech was very certain of his diagnosis and it would just be wasting money. They recommended a remaned mopar tranny.

I don't know a lot about trannies and having the van out of service was a problem so I took their word. I paid about $2400 after begging for a little relief on the price.

The second time was at about 145k and my wife got stranded 50 miles from home. It was bucking and slipping so she stopped and called me for help. We towed it to an independent shop and they opened it up. He showed me what they found, it looked like one part had self destructed and caused additional damage to numerous other parts and it would be cheaper to buy a reman that to rebuild it. That was $2700. He told me that in his experience that it wasn't just Chrysler minivans he's see's a lot of, but also Toyatas and Hondas. In fact he had an Odyssey parked out front at that moment. Both replacements came with Mopar 3/36 warranties.

Did I get ripped off? Who knows. It certainly wasn't that I didn't maintain the tranny (or the van) or that I abused it.

Here in the states, you can get most any hub/bearing assembly in the aftermarket. This means Chrysler has to lower their prices here to some reasonable level compared to their competitor's costs + profit. But maybe not over there. The bearings are not constructed in an expensive way at all. $100 U.S. is more than they cost to manufacture. I haven't priced one at Chrysler so I don't know what they sell for here. I just know I wouldn't have to buy one at the dealer, I could buy it at a regular auto parts store.

Joe

Can you point me to any web sites or links to such? For the cost, it's maybe worth my while to explore shipping them over myself if need be.