Tranny acting up again 2000 caravan

I had rough transmission shifting up and down after a shop that replaced the
solenoid pack put 4 qt of the wrong fluid in there. I dropped the pan
changed the filter replaced the fluid then pulled a cooler line and pumped
out another 4 quarts of fluid and replaced it. I think it got 7 to 8 quarts
of new fluid overall doing this. The tranny operated like brand new
immediately.

That was about a month ago. After a week of smooth shifting, it started to
get rough again up and down and now it is like before but not quite as bad.

Question; would this be caused by the new fluid mixing with old fluid left
in the converter (and any other areas I couldn't drain)?

If so what is the remedy? Remove the pan again and do the same procedure
over (less the filter), or should I just pump some more fluid out of the
cooler hose?

Thanks for input in advance.

Gary

 

I don't know which tranny that is, but the 42LE tranny holds 10 qts. of
fluid. My understanding is that pumping out of the cooler line *is*
circulating fluid thru the TC - you just didn't do it enough. To get a
good 95+% changeout, you would need to use 12 or 14 qts. of fluid
(again, with the 42LE).

There could be something else going on, but I'd try another fluid
changeout first.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

I believe it is the A604 now renamed the 41TE.

Should I drop the pan again or can I just pump out a cooler line?

About how many quarts should I pump out and replace now?

Thanks Bill,
Gary

PS why don't they put a drain plug on the tranny pan?

 

You don't need to replace the filter since you recently did it, so just
pump out of the cooler line.

As I said before, I don't know your tranny. Someone here should be able
to tell you the capacity. But it's probably close to 10 or 12 qts.

'Cause that would cost them 78.345296703850379¢ more per vehicle for
something that not everyone would use - and it would tempt too many
shops to not replace the filter and say they did. 8^)

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Thanks for the info Bill. I think I'll swap out another 8 quarts and see
how it goes. ($7CADx8=cheaper than a new tranny) LOL. I will post my
results here......

Gary

 

I would just spend the money and flush out the 14qt of fluid to be as sure
as possible I got most of the wrong fluid out. Better spend it now then
spend 10 to 20 times as much later.
Just an opinion

 

Good opinion and thanks for it Mike. I decided to do just that and got it
done at a dealer on Friday. They reset the transmission and updated the
software too. They told me it will shift rough for about a week and a half,
but so far it is shifting smoothly again.

Odd what a different fluid can do in the tranny when to the human eye Dexron
and ATF4+ look the same.

Thanks all.

Gary

 

hmmm sounds like a pile of crap you were told since reflashing the trans
controller does rest the transmission learned parameters
bet it does it again

 

I bet it don't since I don't think he flushed all the old fluid out. He
said in the
OP that he:

"pumped out another 4 quarts of fluid and replaced it. I think it got 7 to 8
quarts of new fluid overall doing this"

That isn't enough for a complete flush, since he gave the fluid a chance to
mix the two fluids together. The trans itself holds 8 quarts. As Bill
said,
12-14 quarts of fluid flushed out would be the minimum for a complete
flush, not the 4 he did initially, or the 8 he said he was going to do
later.

Ted

 

I was shifting roughly. I had the pan dropped, new filter, and flashed
the module with new software to prevent rough shifting. And it's worked
so far.

I was tempted to go with "flushing" but was concerned with a minivan
with 200,000 miles, almost, on it. The wrong flush could kill it - I
was afraid. Which was is truly a gentle flush? The ones using the
cooler lines?

The dealer wrote up the wrong flush - the very one I did not want, a
power flush. Fortunately, an older mechanic came out and questioned
doing a high-tech flush. He caught the mistake. I wanted a simple drop
the pan, look, and redo the computer. Start off simple. I also wanted
the pan dropped to look at the metal detritus and you need to do that
for the filter change.

I guess if you go with the cooler lines, it should be the same as
regular operation. But the dealer's ticket writers were getting the
various types of transmission maintenances all screwed up.

 

Read this:

http://www.allpar.com/fix/trans.html

Unfortunately that page doesen't talk much about post-1995 computer flashes.
The
computer in the 1996-and onward is different than the pre-1996 computers
that are covered by the TSB-18-24-95 that is talked about on that page.
However I have been told that there's been many flash revisions for the
96-and-later
transmission computers. Some of them also increase fuel economy so
your flash will possibly pay for itself this way.

at least 12 or more quarts done the way I wrote it up here:

http://www.allpar.com/eek/atf.html

I would never put anything other than ATF+3 or ATF+4 into these
transmissions and that includes any sort of transmission "flushing fluid".

They like those power flushes because the money they charge for doing
them helps pay for the expensive flushing machine. But if you do have
metal particles in the transmission that haven't been caught by the filter,
doing anything like referse flushing or forcing fluid around, or using
some sort of solvent or soap or some such, is bound to stir them up
and they could migrate somewhere worse.

Ted

 

I'm the OP. So far so good. The cost was $200.37CAD inc tax. I should have
let the dealer do it right in the 1st place. They did say the L/R & U/D
CVI's were very high but under maximum. (???).

Gary

 

From the Chrysler transmission book:

CVI = Clutch Volume Index

L-R cvi is updated when doing a 2-1 or 3-1 coast down shift it should
be between 20 and 77

The UD cvi is updated when doing a 4-3 or 4-2 shift. It should be
between 24 and 70

Learned clutch fill volumes represent the volume of fluid that is required
to
stroke a clutch piston to the point where zero pack clearance is obtained,
without stroking the accumulator or picking up any torque load on the
clutch. This learned fill volume is updated for each clutch elements as it
wears
and clutch pack clearance increases.

Basically what they are saying is the clutches in your transmission are
pretty worn but not to the point that they need replacement. Assuming that
the shuddering stops (because the shuddering tends to wear clutches
out rather fast) you should have a few more years of life out of the
transmission before the clutches are completely worn and the transmission
has to be torn down and rebuilt. So I guess that means if your thinking
you would rather sell it and buy a new van to replace it, instead of putting
a couple grand into a transmission, you should perhaps look into the
2005 models a little later this year when all the sales are. ;-)

I am pretty sure I recall reading that one of the firmware changes to the
transmission computer particularly on the newer transmissions is to
get better shift performance when the clutches are worn.

Ted

 

Thanks Ted,

Great info...

I'm on holidays for a week so the van will be sitting. I will keep the
group informed on how it shifts in the future.

Thx
Gary