Hi all.

New on here so please be gentle.

Posted this already in the new member section, but a member suggested I post it in here too so here we go.

I have owned my vehicle (1998 3.3 auto Grand Voyager) for approximately two months now and when I first got it, it changed through the gears perfectly fine and was lovely and smooth. However, a couple of weeks ago it decided to rev for a moment whilst driving and then select second gear and remain in it.

The problem seems very strange to me as it drives perfectly fine when driven first thing when cold, but once it gets up to running temperature it 'trips out' and goes into 'limp mode'.

I have changed the gearbox oil and filter which made no difference and have also taken it to a Chrysler specialist a few days ago and they were unable to find the source of the problem. They tried a different Transmission Control Module on it, which made no difference and also plugged in a different solenoid (but didn't bolt it onto the gearbox) which again had no change.

Anyone any ideas what might be causing it? It must surely be something fairly simple to cause a problem so quickly and also the fact that it drives fine and changes through all gears properly up until the point where it gets to running temp and then has problems.

By the way, I'm near Manchester, England.

 

hmmm... Many have replaced the in and out speed sensors (mounted onto transmission) and many have sworn to have fixed this problem.
i'm faced with similar issue - do you have any error codes?
I'm planning to change oil+filter tomorrow.

 

Very new to Chrysler ownership so don't know how to read the codes.

The place I took it to the other day had a diagnostic machine but they didn't tell me what codes were coming up. In fact, they were having problems at one point getting it to make sense as it was saying that sensors were all working fine but then when he put it into gear it tripped out and went into safe mode.

Read somewhere about the key method to try and read codes but didn't manage to get anywhere so don't know if I was doing it wrong or if my vehicle didn't use that method for some reason!

 

- see for key dance and here for code meaning

 

If it's going into limp mode then it should be raising a fault code. The other thing is to check what temperature the TCM thinks the gearbox is. It has 3 modes if I remember correctly, cold, normal and hot. If it thinks the gearbox is cold (well below freezing) then it will hold it in second and not raise a fault. Don't just check the temperature that the TCM is reporting, but also check the operating mode as I know of at least one case where it read the correct temp but still stuck it in to cold mode.

You'll need access to a decent code reader to read the gearbox, though there is more support among scanners for the gearbox than the engines.

Regards
Richard

 

I was going to say it was a sensor electronics fault where the heat effects the output readings of the units but this 3 mode gearbox temperature thingy sounds a new one to me and very feasible.

 

I've had a similar problem. However, on one occasion did see error codes although they were confusing. At fist came back as the input and then output sensors, then it showed a shift soleniod pack error.

I too changed oil and filter. So now I'm changing out the shift soleniod pack and the sensors.

 

Think I've just figured out why I couldn't get it to do the 'key dance'.

My vehicle does not have a 'Check Engine' light and therefore I am suspecting that it is in fact the earlier type that cannot be read.

 

- #4 tells you how to access the [base level codes] 'key dance' on your vehicle year
- did you even read it [Vehicles: 1998-2000] my friend ?
- as tfb said in #5 many / most UK scanners are not diagnostic and useless, many expensive diagnostic readers will not read Chrysler codes
- if you live anywhere near tfb ask him for a free diagnostic, he's a decent bloke with a good reputation
- best of luck !

 

yep, if you are near Cambridgeshire or London or between then I'll happily read the code for you

Regards
Richard