Hello & Happy Fathersday. Here's the problem: On the way to work on Friday, my wifes 2003 Voyager would not go forward after she'd stopped at a red light. Whan I got there, the van had been pushed into the parking lot of a restaurant. I started the van and it went in reverse, but it would only go into DRIVE after I had reved the engine. At first it was as if I wapplying the gas with the transmission in neutral. But once the RPM's went down, it engaged into DRIVE. After I braked & tried applying the gas, it was the same thing again, as if the van was in neutral. My question is this: Is the transmission gone for good, or is this a TCM and/or Transmission Control Solenoid related problem??? Prior to this, the van operated fine. Any and all help/suggestions/advise will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
H.C.Charles

 

First thing to do is check the fluid level and condition. A drain and refil wont go amiss. If it still plays up after that then get the fault codes read.

Regards
Richard

 

Hey Richard, thanks for your reply. The fluid level is correct and the color looks good. I had it towed to the house so its in the driveway. Bot able to get the codes. Yesterday I started it up and there was a buzzing type of sound coming from the Transmission area. No idea what that was. It stopped after I tried putting it in gear. But the van still acted as if it was in neutral: Apply the gas, engine reves high, then after about 30-45 seconds, transmission will engage, but slowly. This effect is the same for Drive, and Reverse. It will go but only until I have to stop, then it wont go into drive when I dress the gass peddle. Would like to think that I only need to change the TCU & the Transmission Control Solenoid. Both of these are easy for me to do, as well as being the least expensive (together both under $400. Any ideas?? Thanks again in advance.

Chris

 

Where abouts on this vehicle can I find out what size/type of transmission it has. It's a 2.4 litre, 4 cylinder engine, and I think that the size/type of Transmission determines what Transmission Control Solenoid is used. I found 2 that are visually identical, but go on different trannies. Thanks in advance.

Chris.

 

being in the UK, I'm more familiar with the diesel's that petrol. You can check the operation of the PCM to a degree by measuring the voltages applied to the solenoids and check the electrical side of the solenoids by measuring their resistance.

I'll try and dig out some info later on, but I'm not a big fan of fault finding by substitution - you are better off testing and diagnosing rather than swapping bits out.

Regards
Richard

 

I finally got my Voyager back on the road. I dropped the transmission pan & changed the fluid & filter. There was a lot of metal shavings in the bottom of the pan and a lot of nasty grey sludge on the magnet. I cleaned it all up, reassembled and put in 4 quarts of Castrol ATF-4 Transmission fluid as per vehicle specs. I believe it was either full or partially synthetic, but it was designed for Chrysler vehicles. (Supposedly good for 120,000 miles or lifetime of vehicle). So far so good. Its been 3 days and the van runs like new. No more "stuck in neutral" at a red light. Since I've been informed that dropping the pan only gets out about half the old fluid, I'll run this for about 50,000 miles and swap out the filter & fluid again in order to get any left over residual fluid/metal shavings, out of the tranny. I'll also be picking up a strong magnet to attach to the bottom of the pan, to catch left over/stray metal shavings circulating around in there. Also found out that the transmission is a 41TE transmission. This isn't the original tranny in this vehicle, and I don't think the filter & fluid was changed when it was installed, so it's best for me to keep an eye on it. Can't afford the cost of a replacement or rebuilt transmission. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

thanks for the update, hope it keeps running sweetly for you.

Regards
Richard