96 intrepid whining squealing transmission

Hi Folks:
I'm working on this Intrepid for a friend. Twice, she says it
won't come out of first gear, and it started whining (maybe at the same
time). It's whining all the time now, except when it's first started
for about 10 minutes. Even when it's hot, if you shut it off for a few
minutes, it will stop whining for a few minutes when started, when I
know it must still be hot. It drives and shifts fine until 'something'
happens and it's either dropping out of gear completely, or just not
coming out of first. It doesn't whine on the idle, but does just coming
off the idle. It whines in gear when power-breaking it, but the tone
changes in reverse. The whine frequency is proportional to the engine
speed, not the vehicle speed.
Does this sound like the pump in the front of the tranny? I think
I can 'feel' the whining in the hoses running to the radiator. Can
this pump be easily changed (outside of pulling the tranny first)?
She has 200,000 good miles on this car and I'm suprised how easy it
looks to work on. She says she'd buy another one.

 

Are you sure the transmission is shifting to1st gear and not 2nd? The
transmission computer is designed to go automatically into "limp home" mode
if it detects and error from any of its sensors. Limp mode is 2nd gear.

I'd take it to a competent transmission service shop that has experience
working on Chrysler transmissions and get the codes read. It could be
something simple, like a vehicle speed sensor, which has failed so needs to
be replaced.

These transmissions are also extremely sensitive to the ATF fluid type. Make
sure that it is full and only use ATF+3 or ATF+4 - nothing else. Also make
sure the trans shop uses this as well since many will try to substitute GM
Dexron and this will appear to work OK for them but will certainly kill the
trans over time.

Also, tell her that trans needs regular maintenance as well. The pan should
be dropped and cleaned and the filter and fluid replaced with genuine
Chrysler about every 30K miles. Also, there is a differential gearbox up
there in that trans axle too. It should be flushed and refilled per the
maintenance schedule as well every so often (I did mine at 60K miles when I
was doing the trans fluid and filter).

Let us know what they find. I have a 1996 Eagle Vision TSI (same as the
Intrepid) and a 2001 Intrepid that both have that transmission.

Bob

 

Hi Bob:
Limp mode? Never heard of it. Yesteday she told me it was
leaking. It turns out the oil filter could be spun off with one
finger. She said the trans oil light came on. (actually the engine
oil). Could this cause Limp Mode?

Harry