caravan tranny question

Bought my 93 Caravan used 5 years ago and have been quite happy with
it. Two years ago, while driving along at about 60 mph it popped out of
gear. As I slowed down, it suddenly CLUNKED back into gear when I hit
30 mph. At that point it would not shift out of 1st gear unless I
turned off the engine (to clear the computer). This solution seems to
work sometimes but not always, sometimes I woukd need to restart the
van 4 - 8 times before it would shift out of 1st.
The problem used to be very intermitant, often going a month between
occurances, Now of course it is getting annoying as it occurs almost
daily (I've also gotten quite good at restarting on the fly, shfting to
neutral, restarting and then shifting back into gear, while maintaining
a speed over 30mph).
The question remains, were it a physical problem with the tranny, it
should have crapped out long ago, I've put on over 60,000 miles since
the onset ( I have about 200,000 miles on the van total). The local
tranny shops want to rebuild it, for about $1600.00 and the van is
just not worth putting that much money into.
The codes I get on the scanner cite a solenoid failure and a pressure
drop
Any suggestions?

 

Find a competant tranny shop! Obviously all they want to do is
shot-gun things. Now, it is quite possible that you tranny may need
rebuilding in the not too distant future. However, it does NOT sound
like that is your existing problem.

If I had to guess, based on my recent experiences, I would say
solenoid pack is a possibility - but it could also be your wiring
harness as well!!

You need a tranny shop that will take the time to read the codes and
diagnose the problem, rather than just rebuild your tranny out of
hand. As I said, it MAY need it, but wouldn't you be pissed right off
if they rebuilt it to the tune of $1600 and it did not fix the
problem? Or worse, they get half way through the rebuild and then tell
you "ohh your widget needs to be replaced too! That'll be an
additional $600.....".

I live in the lower mainland of BC. If you are in the lawermainland /
Fraser Valley area, I can recomend an excellent shop. If not, then
look for a shop which is CAA / AAA approved. Also check with the
Better Business Bureau (BBB) to see who NOT to go to!

hth

 

Nothing that'll do you any good. If you let off the gas when it shifts it
may be able to complete its shifts more quickly, and it detects that. You
may be doing that already. That won't help on the solenoid failure, though.