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has dodge corrected their transmission problems in the new vans

golinowrgolinowr Member Posts: 2
edited March 2014 in Dodge
We own a 1996 grand caravan and have a bad transmission but otherwise love the vehicle. we are looking at getting a new van and are wondering if Dodge has figured out and corrected the notorious problems with their transmissions??
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  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,675
    ...but Chrysler has been improving their transmissions yearly (sometimes making several running changes per year, even). I think the biggest improvement came in 1997, but they've continued to improve them since then.

    I have a 2000 Intrepid with a 2.7 and 76K miles, and no problems yet. Supposedly the LH cars and the minivans were the most troublesome Chrysler products when it came to trannies.

    At what mileage did your Caravan's tranny go out?
  • golinowrgolinowr Member Posts: 2
    My problems started around 70K. I now have 112K. The transmission leaks like a sieve. but my mechanic said just keeping adding fluid, because he feels like the whole trans may go at any day so why bother fixing a leak now. A friend of mine with the same van had to replace his trans at 91k. My sister has same van with over 100k and no problems at all
  • gslevegsleve Member Posts: 183
    http://www.allpar.com/ There is also a product called autorx that might help with the transmission leak if the seal is not cracked or torn, after the cleaning affect of the product it is design to clean the varnish off of the seals and rexpose them to oil and allow for the seal to reswell closing off the leak.
  • jimmyg3jimmyg3 Member Posts: 1
    transmission,,gets stuck in gear,,,,i think secound or third gear,,,,,,,,it seems only in the hot weather,,,i have to turn off engine and wait about 20 mins., trans cools down and its great until next time,,,,i changed the fuse in the black bow under the hood/ left side,,,changed the module/side of tranie,,,and it just started again,,otherwise the tranie works and shifts well,,,do i need a new transmission???? who some one can help............thanks jimmy
  • pluto5pluto5 Member Posts: 618
    Have you considered adding an auxillary trans cooler? That and not using the overdrive around town seem to be among the best strategies for preserving these puppies.
  • truckgirl2truckgirl2 Member Posts: 5
    I have a 99 gr caravan with 87k miles on it. Yesterday as i was getting off the highway, it downshifted to third, the speedometer stopped working and the check engine light came on. We have not been able to get it to shift higher than 3rd. HELP! Am i looking at a whole new tranny? We checked the trans fluid and it looked good.
  • alcanalcan Member Posts: 2,550
    Get the trouble codes retrieved. My first guess would be an output speed sensor.
  • vjclvjcl Member Posts: 3
    I had similar problem last week, first dealer replaced the output speed sensor, and it happened again after a week, and dealer replaced input speed sensor.

    Question: What cause these speed sensor to fail? Are they related? do you supposed to check other speed when one is failed.
  • swschradswschrad Member Posts: 2,171
    I would expect the technology used at that point to be either a spinning generator driven by a gear, or a hall-effect sensor picking up a magnet spinning on a tranny shaft end. the generator would put out a voltage, but it will have a commutator and sliding contacts, both of which will wear out in use. a hall-effect could fail by heat, fluid leaks damaging the epoxy case of the sensor chip, or road chips flung by tires hitting it.

    I will also bet it was not too expensive to replace the sensors, although one fail and then another a week later kind of stinks.
  • alcanalcan Member Posts: 2,550
    They're permanent magnet AC signal generators. Each tooth of the reluctor ring disrupts the magnetic field surrounding a magnetic core in the sensor, generating an AC pulse into the windings around the core. No contacting parts. Failures are usually open or shorted windings.
  • vjclvjcl Member Posts: 3
    Thanks. Both were shorted. this is frist time I used extended warrentee. Like swshrad said, "it stinks"
  • bguesmanbguesman Member Posts: 1
    I have a 97 Grand Sport with 138k miles on it. I replaced the transmittion at 85k miles and it's worked great ever since. I'm told that 2000's and above have had the transmittion problem addressed.

    I've looked at other minivans but bang for the buck Chrysler products are way ahead of the pack.
  • veej371veej371 Member Posts: 1
    How different are they from the regular V6 engine. Is it more expensive to maintain. If I have to buy one, would you advice so. A Dodge Grand Caravan.
    Veej
  • weim2weim2 Member Posts: 1
    I have a 99 Grand Caravan with AWD. At 55,000 miles the transmission had to be rebuilt. Then, less than 1 year later, it went again. Another rebuild, then 6 mths later another rebuild. 3 mths later, again. It now has 97,000 miles, just picked up from the 4th rebuild. Now it's leaking fluid. I don't think Chrysler has fixed their transmission problems......
  • feldmanbdfeldmanbd Member Posts: 12
    I can agree with you that 55,000 miles is a little early for a transmission failure... ok, so admittedly Chrysler has a few bad ones out there. There are also lots of us that have gone well over 100,000 with these. But I wouldn't blame Chrysler for your subsequent transmission failures. Rebuilds are generally done by a shop, which may or may not have any affiliation with Chrysler. In any case, a rebuild is not a new transmission from the factory. Perhaps whoever rebuilt your transmissions tried to save a few bucks by reusing old seals and clutches, using cheaper parts, or maybe just plain didn't know how to put something together properly. If you just picked it up from the 4th rebuild and it's already leaking fluid then obviously the people rebuilding your transmission(s) are not doing something right. Or (gasp) used the wrong tranny fluid. Did they replace the automatic transmission fluid cooler? There could be some junk in there from the previous failures. Did they even bother to determine why the first one failed? Did you ever check the level of the transmission fluid or give it fluid and filter changes? If it's leaking fluid and you're not adding fluid to compensate for the loss, then it'll definitely fail in a very short time. Most reputable transmission shops will give you at least a 1 year 12000 mile warranty, so I hope those rebuilds were all free... One of my friends at work had a 93 Town & Country, and his case sounded very similar to yours. The first transmission lasted 125,000, the next 2 both lasted less than a year, and then he had it rebuilt somewhere else (correctly) the third time. I hate to see someone having such bad problems with such a good product, but please at least do this for yourself:

    1. Find a reputable shop to rebuild your transmissions. I'm sure someone out there knows how to properly rebuild one of these. Rebuilding these is not uncommon.

    2. Tell all your friends that the shop you previously went to can't rebuild a transmission that will last longer than a year.

    3. Enjoy your van once they rebuild your transmission correctly! :-)
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