1996 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.3 V6 Transmission Problem

June 8, 2015 6:25 PM

Transmission is not running right for the freeway. It will be OK then after stopping a few times, the ignition needs to be turned off and back on then it will be OK for a short time. Is this a mechanical problem with the transmission or can something else be causing this?
posted by millerizer to Travel & Transportation (3 answers total)

This is delving waaay back in my memory, but I had a '95 Grand Caravan with the 3.3 that would randomly drop into "limp mode." For a while I could shut it off and restart & it would go away, then I had to disconnect the battery & it would reset. After a while it wouldn't work right at all. Having established to my satisfaction that it was an electrical problem & not mechanical I cleaned every transmission related electrical connection and cleaned the ground connection from the battery at the frame. Fixed! I put 300,000 miles on that thing before the timing chain broke.
God I loved that van.
posted by Floydd at 8:12 PM on June 8, 2015

My 1989 Dodge Spirit had a similar problem where the transmission would randomly go in to safe mode. It would only reset after the engine had time to cool down which meant I sat by the side of the road with the hood up. This would happen randomly with no to little warning at random intervals. Sometimes I could drive for hours, other times I could barely get out of a parking lot. I loved the car but got rid of it since I could not fix the issue and it was not worth paying to replace the parts when the car was 16 years old.
posted by Nackt at 5:45 AM on June 9, 2015

I can't comment at all on the fault because 'not running right' is zero information, frankly, but of the issue is fixed temporarily by recycling the ignition then it is an electrical issue- either a sensor, gcu/ecu or other wiring issue.

But beyond that it is impossible to say.
posted by Brockles at 5:45 AM on June 9, 2015 [1 favorite]