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Vans & Minivans Chrysler Town & Country/Dodge Grand Caravan Chrysler Minivan Transmission Problems
1833 messages, Last post on Nov 10, 2009 at 3:54 AM
You are in the Chrysler Town & Country/Dodge Grand Caravan Forum. Your Host is Karens
| At risk of arousing the ...uh, dissatisfied, my wife has been quite pleased with our 2 years of ownership of a '95 Caravan 3.3L, 4 speed. We have driven it from 48K to 66K with few problems- a battery replacement, new front brake pads (lifetime warranty-$30 and an hours work), plugs(not an easy job), and other preventive care. I have been to the dealer one time for an ignition/air bag safety recall. I put a transmission cooler on for $30 and 1 1/2 hours work. I have towed a 1700# boat+trailer about 2000 miles. Last month I sent in a transmission fluid sample for analysis and it was normal for wear metals and elevated for silicone (dirty) so I changed it as recommended. For the do-it-yourselfers, I found a 6' plastic tube, 7/16"OD-5/16"ID easily inserted down the filler tube 25" and siphoned 3 3/4 quart. In another 15K I'll have my mechanic drop the pan and change the filter as well. I will save about $35 a year less the $6.50 for oil analysis and I know it got the right fluid. | |
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Well I don't know of ANYBODY, personally, who have ever had to replace the transmission in their Chrysler minivan. I have owned 4, two 89 Grand voyagers, a 93 Caravan sport all with 3.0 and 4 speed autos and now a 2000 3.8 AWD. My brother owns a 96 Grand Voyager CDN model with the 3.8. My brother in law has had two, a 89 and a 90 Grand Caravan. And my father is on his third a 94 Grand Caravan with a 3.3 and 4 speed auto. All of these vans have had the 4 speed auto and have a combined total of almost 1 million miles without ever a transmission failure. One of my dad's vans, and my brother in law's both started developing a slipping transmission but both were cured with a fluid and filter change and have over 10,000 miles on each of them with no further problems. It has been said here before that ALL of these vans have transmission problems, this is a complete lie. Like I was never alone with that woman, or it depends on what the definition of what is, is. The fact is there are millions of these things on the road so sure some will fail, but at no higher rate then any other similar car. They are heavy, FWD, high powered, and often asked to carry heavy loads all while riding like a luxury car. Now that Honda has put something in the same league as the Chrysler we see an even greater rate of transmission failures at even lower mileages, I guess it's better because their failures are occurring under warranty. I bet when all these vans are pushing 100K miles and 75% of them are still on the road (the side of it that is) Honda will be beating down the 3rd owners door offering free repairs and loaner cars while they do it. I'm not saying all these vans have been flawless but that 10 vans that I am very familiar with have had no transmission problems. Also worth noting is that in those million miles the vans have never stranded any of my family. I would whole heartedly recommend the Chrysler line of minivans to anyone. Ever since the start they have easily been the best. |
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Another little slam on the Honda vans; they are on the 400th post of the seventh topic of Honda Odyssey problems. That's like 3400 posts on a van that has only sold a little over 100,000 units, and are not even 2 years old. How do you like them odds?
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Why would an Odyssey owner be cruising the Caravan boards? Welcome to Troll Hall my friends. My point is the Caravan suffers no greater increased rate of transmission failures then any other comparable minivan out there. People always assume Honda is the most reliable so if I could show them the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence the Honda makes for the best comparison. I'm sure if Chrysler was only making 150,000 vans a year they would be in even higher demand then the 150,000 Honda's made. Sorry, I don't feel much better, I just sometimes forget how touchy the Honda crowd has gotten now that they have real life reliability numbers to deal with not "expected reliability" |
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It is true that the Chrysler's transmission problems have decreased dramatically over the last couple of years. However, I was speaking to someone who handles the warranty claims for Chryslers dealerships, and even he did say that the tranmission problem/failure rate used to be 15% several years ago. It's down to about 1% nowadays. Also mentioned was the fact that if you're not in the affected group, then your van's transmission is fine. However, if you're in the affected group, you could experience mild to severe problems. Fortunately, my '94 Grand Voyager LE AWD seems to be in the unaffected group. It has 92K kms and is still running on its first transmission. Keep it civil guys! No name calling or personal attacks, please. Thanks, Drew Host Vans, SUVs, and Aftermarket and Accessories message boards |
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So many of the "helpful" responses here are from the list of usual suspects that frequently troll all of the Chrysler forums. Check out chrydodjeep1's response above, Mr. Azz clearly doesn't know what he's talking about and is just trying to stir things up. Talking about Chrysler transmissions with no problems on a Chrysler transmission problem board seems to be right on topic. Maybe I could help people acheive the same kind of reliability in their vans as I have in mine. I guess people don't want that, they just want to vent. For those of you who may really be looking for good advice check out www.allpar.com Try and keep the transmission together the fist time, once you have it torn apart and rebuilt you are looking for more frequent problems. Think about it, who is going to be able to assemble transmissions the best? The techs at the factory doing many a day in a clean enviroment with only transmissions, or the guy down at the dealer who has to tear it out spread it out on the bench, throw a couple of new parts in it and put it all back together? The fluid thing posted (and quickly blown off) above is the key here. If your not going to service the transmission correctly then don't do it at all, you will be better off. |
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| hers bird: While I agree with you that timely service with the correct fluid is quite important I would not discount the owners reports of 1. failures in spite of doing this and 2. failures in less mileage than 15K- especially on '89-'93 models. This leads to these conclusions 1. there were design problems that were slowly corrected over a period of 4 or 5 years(maybe more) and 2. that overheating is an equally important problem, especially on the "Grand" versions that get bigger loads, trailers, etc. So I recommend an auxiliary cooler if you drive under conditions that elevates the engine coolant above the mid point on the temp gage which involves higher loads, summer temps with AC, long up hill grades and trailers. In addition one needs to avoid 1. shifting into drive while rolling backward 2. excessive wheel spin on ice and 3. excessive shifting in and out of OD in city driving by turning it off. | |
| my sister in law purchased new an early 90s caravan and only just recently had any problems at all. It was not tranny related and cost only $500.00 to repair, also they love this van and I have ridden in it several times and find it quite comfortable. It seems some people think only one van fits all, while I feel there are lots of vans to fit all of us. We own an oddy which works for us and someone else owns their choice which works for them. Hum freedom of choice what a concept. | |
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