Last week my wife tells me the 06 Pacifica was surging at idle in drive intermittantly. I couldn't get the car to do it. This week she said it happened again and this time the MIL came on. I put my scanner on it and got P0700 and P0720. I thought for sure the trans is acting up because the vehicle now has 146K on it. I read the whole Transaxle section of the repair manual before pulling up the forum. Next time I think I'll check the forum before the repair manual. The alternator would have been the furthest thing from my mind with these codes, but thanks to the forum, it's the first thing I will check. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and I will add another happy customer to this thread if it cures the problem. I think that Chrysler should require every dealership mechanic to read the threads on this and other Mopar forums. This for sure will bring many more happy customers (that is as long as they are honest). I wonder how many people put up the $$ for a tranny rebuild or sensor replacements only to have the same problem on the way home from the dealer???? I wonder how many went back with a weapon! Thank God for this forum! It's one of the most valuable tools in my tool box, and the best thing is that nobody can walk off with it!

 

The dealer told me that I was better off getting a new car that it would cost me over $4,500
to get it fix. They also said that my car wasn't made to last 200k.
I removed the alternator, had it rebuilt for $167 and it fixed the problems.
Thank you!

 

<a href="http://s443.photobucket.com/user/estatesalecom/media/WP_20140423_10_00_51_Pro_zpsb4551200.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq154/estatesalecom/WP_20140423_10_00_51_Pro_zpsb4551200.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo WP_20140423_10_00_51_Pro_zpsb4551200.jpg"/></a>

 

 

 

That's a pacifica with 208,000 miles +++

 

OK, another happy Chrysler forum customer, saved from a thousand + headache's trying to figure out whats going on with the transmission My alternator was delivered this morning and it took me about 30 minutes to have the new one in. I don't see why so many people are having such a hard time with the belt tensioner. I don't have any special tools like a long handled 3/8" breaker bar or long handled ratchet which would be the ticket to work the belt tensioner on these 3.5L engines, but I was able to easily get the belt off the alternator by using a 7/8" combo wrench along with a standard sized Craftsman 3/8" ratchet. I put the ratchet in the square hole on the bottom of the tensioner with the ratchet handle pointing straight up toward the hood. I put the box end of the 7/8" wrench over the handle of the ratchet and used the wrench to turn the ratchet. This gave me plenty of leverage to release the tension on the belt with one hand while I slipped the belt off the alternator pulley with my other hand. If you remove the air filter housing you will have plenty of room to work the tensioner and belt. Three bolts and two nuts off and the alternator is out. Do the same thing to put the belt back on and it's a fairly quick and easy job without needing an assistant to either release the tensioner or pull the belt off for you.
The surge problem is gone and everything is operating great. So the alternator solved the transmission problem, awesome! Only with a Chrysler can an alternator fix the transmission and a very big THANK YOU to the people who take the time to post these remedies on the forum. I wonder if any battery/alternator or charging system problems have caused any other DTC codes to trip in these vehicles or is it only the P0700/P0720 codes that trip when an alternator fails??? If anyone knows of any PLEASE post them so we can all know to look at something that we'd never dream had anything to do with the problem. This one really blew my mind because my battery has always been strong and as far as I knew, the alternator was fine. It was keeping the battery charged and was putting out 13.8 volts. I have had no symptoms of a starting/charging system problem whatsoever in my Pacifica, and this surging was going on intermittantly for quite a while according to my wife who drives it more than I do. Of course it never happened when I drove it. Thanks again. I love this forum!

 

I start the car a high pitch wine this is a new noise. And shift into gear and then speed goes to 25 mph the transmission surges. I drive off and come to a stop the speedometer goes to 25 mph and the transmission shifts hard. I have changed the PMC . And battery I am trying the alternator today. I will let know how it goes. Strangely I had the same issue this winter and like magic two weeks went by and the issue went away. It’s…………….. back

 

I thought I would take the chance and just replace the alternator as I didn't have any time to waste with pulling codes or going to a repair shop. Only took me about 30 minutes and was very easy. I got a small breaker bar and used the closed end wrench trick to get more leverage to pull back the tensioner.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING THIS INFORMATION!

I made a short video for everyone.

 

I went further an paid the Chrysler dealer for troubleshooting/ diagnose the problem and they told me that it was best for me to get a new car.