I've had my 96 GC for over 6 years. I love it...I hate it. It is on the 4th transmission. The first one lasted about 75K, then I got hit in the front end which broke the tranny case. They didn't notice it until it shook itself apart. Then Dodge put in a factory rebuild. It broke before I got it home (2 miles). I towed it in. They put in another rebuilt and it seemed to work OK, but never did shift right. This past August, I drove it to Bonneville to see Speed Week. I made it to Mountain Home Idaho before she gave out. Long story short, it took them 5 WEEKS to fix it with another rebuilt. It didn't shift right, so they did more work on it and replaced the PCM? They service manager actually drove it back to Seattle for me as his girlfriend lives in the area. He said it drove perfect and it did seem to shift great...until this last weekend. I put it in Reverse and it backed up. I put it in Drive, and nothing. Oh, please, NO! I calmed down and tried it again. Nothing. I was in Portland helping my 84 year-old mother move into a nursing home. Finally, it went forward and I made it back to Seattle. The problem must be one of the modules that tells the tranny what to do...DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEA WHICH MODULE I SHOULD LOOK AT SINCE DODGE CAN'T SEEM TO FIX IT? I hate to get rid of it as the motor runs soooo smooth (3.8). Plus, I hate car payments and love the roomy interior. It even gets over 23 mpg on the road, so not bad. But need it to be reliable. PLEASE HELP! THANK YOU.

ran into a simular problem with the same year had do change the silonoid pack was no problem changing but there could be somthing else wrong ,computer, input or output sensors or wiring even suggest that you look deep into the threads here there are many a diffrent approach to the problem cause it could be one of many things search the threads before doing anything else

I've had my 96 GC for over 6 years. I love it...I hate it. It is on the 4th transmission. The first one lasted about 75K, then I got hit in the front end which broke the tranny case. They didn't notice it until it shook itself apart. Then Dodge put in a factory rebuild. It broke before I got it home (2 miles). I towed it in. They put in another rebuilt and it seemed to work OK, but never did shift right. This past August, I drove it to Bonneville to see Speed Week. I made it to Mountain Home Idaho before she gave out. Long story short, it took them 5 WEEKS to fix it with another rebuilt. It didn't shift right, so they did more work on it and replaced the PCM? They service manager actually drove it back to Seattle for me as his girlfriend lives in the area. He said it drove perfect and it did seem to shift great...until this last weekend. I put it in Reverse and it backed up. I put it in Drive, and nothing. Oh, please, NO! I calmed down and tried it again. Nothing. I was in Portland helping my 84 year-old mother move into a nursing home. Finally, it went forward and I made it back to Seattle. The problem must be one of the modules that tells the tranny what to do...DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEA WHICH MODULE I SHOULD LOOK AT SINCE DODGE CAN'T SEEM TO FIX IT? I hate to get rid of it as the motor runs soooo smooth (3.8). Plus, I hate car payments and love the roomy interior. It even gets over 23 mpg on the road, so not bad. But need it to be reliable. PLEASE HELP! THANK YOU.


Being a long time Caravan owner, I have had tranny torugble, too, but not like this. I would make this observation: since so many transmissions have been in this vehicle and they ALL have the same "problem", the problem must be OUTSIDE the tranny. Think aobout it - if 6 light bulb flicker in a lamp, there must be something wrong with the lamp!

An example would be when a coworker had a sudden downshifting problem with their van. One dealer wanted to do a rebuild, I told her I thought it was something simpler. They took it to another dealer who poked around until they found chafed wires that were occasionally shorting out. I have no idea if that is what your problem is, but all of those transmission cannot be bad. Do you know if they checked out any of the removed tranny's? If they checked out OK off the vehicle, they would have been OK on the vehicle.

Good luck on this.

Denny G.

Thanks for the replies. I agree, Denny, that it is something that tells the tranny what to do. The dealer in Mountain Home that fixed it last was confident that they found the problem (not sure what it was...they didn't put it on the repair ticket), but since it wouldn't go for a minute in any gear, I suspect they didn't fix it. Was hoping someone would know which module or brain communicates directly with the tranny. My 3 years are up in April (warranty) and it won't venture far from home after that. I'm thinking I may just have to get an old VW camper or maybe an older Previa without the computer stuff...I know they will run forever.

Being a long time Caravan owner, I have had tranny torugble, too, but not like this. I would make this observation: since so many transmissions have been in this vehicle and they ALL have the same "problem", the problem must be OUTSIDE the tranny. Think aobout it - if 6 light bulb flicker in a lamp, there must be something wrong with the lamp!

An example would be when a coworker had a sudden downshifting problem with their van. One dealer wanted to do a rebuild, I told her I thought it was something simpler. They took it to another dealer who poked around until they found chafed wires that were occasionally shorting out. I have no idea if that is what your problem is, but all of those transmission cannot be bad. Do you know if they checked out any of the removed tranny's? If they checked out OK off the vehicle, they would have been OK on the vehicle.

Good luck on this.

Denny G.

I too have a '96 Caravan (mine a Grand Caravan LE) and the 3.8L 6-banger is the best motor I have ever owned, including anything I've owned from Nissan, Datsun and Toyota.

I too have had several transmissions (2 replacements since '96). If you are having problems with replacement transmissions, I suggest you find a new mechanic.

There is so much crap going on under the hood these days, getting a QUALIFIED mechanic is tougher and more important now than ever before.

The other thing is NEVER have JiffyLube or Expressway service your transmission. I honestly believe that many of these guys have little more than a clue about how best to service Caravans!

Have a dealer, and ONLY a dealer flush and replace transmission fluid!

One last thing, and I don't know if this applies to your situation, but Dodge used to have a policy that if they do not fix a problem, any problem, in three tries, they will fix it for free - look into this three strikes your out thing... you may save some money and get some peace of mind!

Thanks for your reply. I agree, the 3.8 is a fine motor...because it's Japanese - Mitsubishi makes it! As for the tranny, only Dodge has worked on it. I just took it in again and they said the half-shaft was damaged (hmmm, they didn't see that 3 years ago after the wreck). So, now I'm out $500. It still vibrates a little, but shifts OK. The next time she breaks, she's gone - anyone need parts?



I too have a '96 Caravan (mine a Grand Caravan LE) and the 3.8L 6-banger is the best motor I have ever owned, including anything I've owned from Nissan, Datsun and Toyota.

I too have had several transmissions (2 replacements since '96). If you are having problems with replacement transmissions, I suggest you find a new mechanic.

There is so much crap going on under the hood these days, getting a QUALIFIED mechanic is tougher and more important now than ever before.

The other thing is NEVER have JiffyLube or Expressway service your transmission. I honestly believe that many of these guys have little more than a clue about how best to service Caravans!

Have a dealer, and ONLY a dealer flush and replace transmission fluid!

One last thing, and I don't know if this applies to your situation, but Dodge used to have a policy that if they do not fix a problem, any problem, in three tries, they will fix it for free - look into this three strikes your out thing... you may save some money and get some peace of mind!

What's that crap about the 3.8l being from Mitsubishi.
In the minivans, only the 3.0l is Mitsubishi. It is true that Mitsu makes a 3.8l but it is not even closely related to the Chrysler version and is not put in any Chrysler built cars or trucks. Thats about like saying Buick makes the 3.8l for the Chrysler minivans because they make a pushrod 3.8l engine!!!

The wires within the harness can get chaffed and begin to corode. If you remove the stapping from the harness you may find a coroded wire that causes the problem. If it is the tranny then a good trchnician with a scan tool will be able to scan the transmission to give an indication of the clutch volume indexes etc and tell you if the tranny is ok., but I agree it sounds like something external. May also be the solenoid pack, I don'tthink they are the greatest on the market.