Caravan Codes

Good Morning. I have been having trouble with my 1993 Caravan with the 3.3 litre engine and auto overdrive transmission. It slipped into limp-mode for the first time in over 6 months a week ago. We went through the restart a number of times and it finally began working correctly. It is now apparently down for the count slipping and even limp-mode is not always working. I just read the codes by flipping the key 3x- The result was this 1....2.....3.....3.....5.....5.
Anyone with any info has my thanks ahead of time.

12 = battery was disconnected withing the last 50 key cycles.
33 = open or short detected in the A/C clutch relay circuit.
55 = completion of fail code display

You can read the codes here: http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/10/c4/5c/0900823d8010c45c.jsp

Have you changed the transmission fluid and filter lately. Did you use the correct fluid? (ATF-3?)

I have not changed the fluid in it, we bought it used about 12000 miles ago and I checked my last few receipts from Oil change shops and they have only checked it, no mention of "topping it off". Thanks for the code information. The code for the AC Clutch makes sense as that seemed nonfunctional and actually was accidently turned on a few months back. As far as the Battery code that one is a little less obvious, it had been months since the battery was disconnected and that was a story in itself (old battery bad then brand new expensive battery was bad and finally replaced after much clamp cleaning/replacement). After I posted this morning I decided to be a little proactive before taking it to the garage and letting them at it. I removed the Ground from the Battery with the intent of resetting the computer. I was going to pull off and clean up the connections on the various devices plugged into the transmission but since it was starting to rain and already cold out (and I have a @#$%&* sinus infection/cold already) I just wiggled them back and forth a little. I reconnected the Battery and asked my wife to take a ride with me and see what happened. She drove and before starting out called the van a couple of bad names claiming sometimes they just need to know you care or something like that.She took it easy and it drove great, best shifting in a while... we probably went over 20 miles with no difficulties, this is the same van that I limped home in last night at 10 to 20 mph with the flashers going and "limp-mode" not even working right. Any thoughts on this... mechanically I am pretty adept but I told my wife that Auto transmissions are "magic" to me because it's one thing I have never worked on

Thumbs up on the "being proactive" bit. You gotta do everything you can before you take it to a !@# *&^%$# dealership. Luckily I haven't had to yet (96GC 41TE 4 speed tranny), then again I haven't had transmission problems like yours. Even if I couldn't fix it I would take it to a mom & pop shop and avoid the dealer.

Being driveway mechanics there's only so much we can do to fix a transmission problem. First and foremost is change the fluid and filter and I recommend you do that when your problem rears it's ugly head again. Make sure you use ATF 3 fluid. Never use Dexron. You may consider getting it flushed so you get all 9 quarts out instead of 3. You can check the transaxle throttle pressure cable adjustment. It can cause irratic shifting. Procedure is probably at the Autozone site. I'm betting you've got the 41TE 4 speed so there's no bands to adjust. If not check the Autozone site again. Oh. If your contemplating pulling and tearing down the tranny yourself check out Ions post on 22 Apr of pictures of a teardown. You might change your mind.

If you haven't already, read through the many posts on the forum about transmission problems. There's lots of great info to be had. Type "caravan transmission" or tranny in the search block. You can also get plenty of info at Allpar.com. It's dedicated to Chrysler autos and there's lots about caravan transmissions. There's a procedure there to do a complete flush in your driveway. I've never tried it but, it looks like it would work.

I'm told you'll get more precise codes if you use a scanner instead of the key trick. Autozone does them free but, somebody posted they can't check 95s and older. Call them. Cheers!

Just so you know you do not get Tranny codes from the key trick only engine codes and when you turn off the key it will reset the limp mode and work fine until the dam tranny desides theres something wrong
If it goes into limp again just turn off the key and give it a min than be on your way
T