Hi All,

I just purchased a 2001 T&C LXi with 167K on it. When my dad test drove it (it was over 150 miles from my home) he did not experience anything odd other than the noise that was expected to be sway bar end links and sway bar bushings. I have since replaced the links (bushings looked like a bear to get to with the plate holding in the power steering cooler so I waited on those). The end link replacement eliminated 85% or more of the front end rattle.

I will try and be brief with my symptoms/issues and get some opinions. The first thing that happened after my dad dropped off the van was the ABS/Brake Trac Off lights came on. The only codes I get are ECU Internal Failure and on occasion Hydraulic Pump Circuit "issue" or something like that. So when that happened I asked around and it looks like a new ABS ECU would fix this problem (Thanks Chrysler Tech for the reply on that one). After driving it around a few more days I noticed occassional hard shifts into second and even worse,sometimes a random shudder when shifting into second gear (shudder I believe only happens from 1st into 2nd, the hard shifts can come occassionally from punching it and a downshift from 3rd to 2nd. I immedialty had the transmission filter changed and TCM reprogrammed at the local Dodge/Chrysler dealership. This made me feel better, but did nothing for the symptoms. After a lot of web research, I found a lot of evidence that the seemingly random issue with hard shifts and shuddering into second "could" be one of many things, a few of which were bad input speed sensor/bad output speed sensor/faulty transmission solenoid. I had no codes to indicate any had gone bad, but I figured I enjoy working on cars, I could get the parts relatively inexpensively and with 167K it probably isn't a bad deal to change them out regardless. So I bought the input/output sensors first, no change. I then bought the solenoid and again, no change.

At this point I am a bit perplexed for two reasons. One this does not happen everytime. I would say you get hard shifts 50% or less of the time into second and you get the shuddering a lot less than that, say maybe 1% of driving. It doesn't happen everyday and again seems to be random (don't think it's tied to temperature of the trans fluid, it has happened at least once after the van sat for about 90 minutes after being driven only 8 miles to get that 90 minute rest. I would imagine the fluid was not near top operating temp after an 8 mile trip and then 90 minutes of cool down. The second reason I am perplexed is I get no codes whatsoever on this. The engine light has not come on one time. I went ahead from some reviews I had read on the web, drained 10 oz of fluid and put in lubegard yesterday. I drove it around for almost an hour last night giving it various types of driving patters to see if the lubegard would circulate and help. I noticed the hard shift was still there but did not get a shudder. This didn't mean anything because I don't always get the shudder. Unfortunately, while my wife was driving the car today, she got the shudder and immediately turned around and swapped cars.

I have one more part I may chase ($30) due to one thing that does seem to be common amongst the shuddering. I have noticed that all the times I can remember the shuddering occurring was at slow speeds with the accelerator pressed very lightly, not much gas at all. My wife for instance was slowing down on an off ramp and merging into traffic slowly with very little gas when it did it to her today. I was told by the Chrysler Dealer when I dropped the car off that the Throttle Body was dirty and that the Throttle was sticking. I am wondering if a bad TPS signal, very randomly, is causing this issue. Randomly enought not to trip a light.

Anyway, any guidance would be greatly appreciated. My other thought was electrical since I my ABS/TracOff/Brake lights come and and off. They don't stay on constantly. Sometimes they will drop off while driving along. Sometimes its only the ABS/Trac ligth that come on, sometimes it's them plus the brake light? Cluster board going bad, could it cause all these problems?

 

EGR valve should throw a code.. when ours went bad, at slower speeds, little gas it felt like the tranny was slipping, motor was gaining losing power..
As for the ABS.. speed sensors are popular. I had a corroded wire (drivers front) that caused the abs/track to go on/off and the brake light would sometimes go of, until eventually they all stayed lit. Dealer had to troubleshoot to find after I did my best to check resistance on the sensors.

Good luck and keep us posted.

JK

 

Johnny, thanks for the reply. The ABS codes are definitely not for a sensor, I purchased a ABS code reader off of Amazon, they have a pretty good deal on one for like $67 (originally $300+). Now that I have spent some more time driving the car with the lubegard in it, 2nd gear has started slipping. It's definitely going. Last night I went ahead and drained 24oz of fluid and added Lucas Transmission Fix to see if that might buy me some time. Believe it or not, after driving it around a bit last night and today to work,lunch and back home, the slipping has gone way down in both # of occurrences and degree. This by no means will be a longterm fix. I am hoping to get anywhere from 30-90 days of reliable driving out of it. My mechanic I used up in Atlanta can put me in a rebuilt with 3yr/100K warranty for $2150. That is my plan. I have a question on power steering, but will post that one in a new thread since this one is wordy and not on topic.