Tranny acting up again 2000 caravan

I had rough transmission shifting up and down after a shop that replaced the solenoid pack put 4 qt of the wrong fluid in there. I dropped the pan changed the filter replaced the fluid then pulled a cooler line and pumped out another 4 quarts of fluid and replaced it. I think it got 7 to 8 quarts of new fluid overall doing this. The tranny operated like brand new immediately.

That was about a month ago. After a week of smooth shifting, it started to get rough again up and down and now it is like before but not quite as bad.

Question; would this be caused by the new fluid mixing with old fluid left in the converter (and any other areas I couldn't drain)?

If so what is the remedy? Remove the pan again and do the same procedure over (less the filter), or should I just pump some more fluid out of the cooler hose?

Thanks for input in advance.

Gary

Reply to
gary
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I don't know which tranny that is, but the 42LE tranny holds 10 qts. of fluid. My understanding is that pumping out of the cooler line *is* circulating fluid thru the TC - you just didn't do it enough. To get a good 95+% changeout, you would need to use 12 or 14 qts. of fluid (again, with the 42LE).

There could be something else going on, but I'd try another fluid changeout first.

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

Reply to
Bill Putney

I believe it is the A604 now renamed the 41TE.

Should I drop the pan again or can I just pump out a cooler line?

About how many quarts should I pump out and replace now?

Thanks Bill, Gary

PS why don't they put a drain plug on the tranny pan?

Reply to
gary

You don't need to replace the filter since you recently did it, so just pump out of the cooler line.

As I said before, I don't know your tranny. Someone here should be able to tell you the capacity. But it's probably close to 10 or 12 qts.

'Cause that would cost them 78.345296703850379¢ more per vehicle for something that not everyone would use - and it would tempt too many shops to not replace the filter and say they did. 8^)

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

Reply to
Bill Putney

Thanks for the info Bill. I think I'll swap out another 8 quarts and see how it goes. ($7CADx8=cheaper than a new tranny) LOL. I will post my results here......

Gary

Reply to
gary

I would just spend the money and flush out the 14qt of fluid to be as sure as possible I got most of the wrong fluid out. Better spend it now then spend 10 to 20 times as much later. Just an opinion

Reply to
Mike Bowden

Good opinion and thanks for it Mike. I decided to do just that and got it done at a dealer on Friday. They reset the transmission and updated the software too. They told me it will shift rough for about a week and a half, but so far it is shifting smoothly again.

Odd what a different fluid can do in the tranny when to the human eye Dexron and ATF4+ look the same.

Thanks all.

Gary

Reply to
gary

Reply to
tim bur

I bet it don't since I don't think he flushed all the old fluid out. He said in the OP that he:

"pumped out another 4 quarts of fluid and replaced it. I think it got 7 to 8 quarts of new fluid overall doing this"

That isn't enough for a complete flush, since he gave the fluid a chance to mix the two fluids together. The trans itself holds 8 quarts. As Bill said,

12-14 quarts of fluid flushed out would be the minimum for a complete flush, not the 4 he did initially, or the 8 he said he was going to do later.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Mittelstaedt

I was shifting roughly. I had the pan dropped, new filter, and flashed the module with new software to prevent rough shifting. And it's worked so far.

I was tempted to go with "flushing" but was concerned with a minivan with 200,000 miles, almost, on it. The wrong flush could kill it - I was afraid. Which was is truly a gentle flush? The ones using the cooler lines?

The dealer wrote up the wrong flush - the very one I did not want, a power flush. Fortunately, an older mechanic came out and questioned doing a high-tech flush. He caught the mistake. I wanted a simple drop the pan, look, and redo the computer. Start off simple. I also wanted the pan dropped to look at the metal detritus and you need to do that for the filter change.

I guess if you go with the cooler lines, it should be the same as regular operation. But the dealer's ticket writers were getting the various types of transmission maintenances all screwed up.

Reply to
treeline12345

Read this:

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Unfortunately that page doesen't talk much about post-1995 computer flashes. The computer in the 1996-and onward is different than the pre-1996 computers that are covered by the TSB-18-24-95 that is talked about on that page. However I have been told that there's been many flash revisions for the

96-and-later transmission computers. Some of them also increase fuel economy so your flash will possibly pay for itself this way.

at least 12 or more quarts done the way I wrote it up here:

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I would never put anything other than ATF+3 or ATF+4 into these transmissions and that includes any sort of transmission "flushing fluid".

They like those power flushes because the money they charge for doing them helps pay for the expensive flushing machine. But if you do have metal particles in the transmission that haven't been caught by the filter, doing anything like referse flushing or forcing fluid around, or using some sort of solvent or soap or some such, is bound to stir them up and they could migrate somewhere worse.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Mittelstaedt

I'm the OP. So far so good. The cost was $200.37CAD inc tax. I should have let the dealer do it right in the 1st place. They did say the L/R & U/D CVI's were very high but under maximum. (???).

Gary

Reply to
gary

From the Chrysler transmission book:

CVI = Clutch Volume Index

L-R cvi is updated when doing a 2-1 or 3-1 coast down shift it should be between 20 and 77

The UD cvi is updated when doing a 4-3 or 4-2 shift. It should be between 24 and 70

Learned clutch fill volumes represent the volume of fluid that is required to stroke a clutch piston to the point where zero pack clearance is obtained, without stroking the accumulator or picking up any torque load on the clutch. This learned fill volume is updated for each clutch elements as it wears and clutch pack clearance increases.

Basically what they are saying is the clutches in your transmission are pretty worn but not to the point that they need replacement. Assuming that the shuddering stops (because the shuddering tends to wear clutches out rather fast) you should have a few more years of life out of the transmission before the clutches are completely worn and the transmission has to be torn down and rebuilt. So I guess that means if your thinking you would rather sell it and buy a new van to replace it, instead of putting a couple grand into a transmission, you should perhaps look into the

2005 models a little later this year when all the sales are. ;-)

I am pretty sure I recall reading that one of the firmware changes to the transmission computer particularly on the newer transmissions is to get better shift performance when the clutches are worn.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Mittelstaedt

Thanks Ted,

Great info...

I'm on holidays for a week so the van will be sitting. I will keep the group informed on how it shifts in the future.

Thx Gary

Reply to
gary

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