98 Voyager transmission issue

I have a 98 Voyager, 3.0 v-6 with 156,000 miles. Two days ago my tranny started acting up. I heard a "whirring" noise from under the hood and as I was driving home it slipped from drive to neutral. I checked the fluid level and it was very low. I added fluid and the noise remained but the van drove fine for a short time. Note that the whirring noise would not start immediately but after a couple of minutes after tha van had been started.

Now when I am driving down the road the van will slip from drive to neutral. Sometimes if I rev the motor it will jump back into drive, other times I have to downshift to 3rd gear so the van will drive again. Usually if I downshift to 3rd gear I can upshift again to drive and the van will drive down the road for a while before I have to do the shifting all over again.

I had a guy suggest that the torque converter might be locking up. That didn't sound right to me because if the torque converter was locking up the I would think the van wouldn't drive in any gear. Could it be the shifter solenoid pack causing this issue? Also, what could cause a "whirring" noise after the van runs for a few minutes. The van runs good, doesn't smoke or burn oil at all and the tranny shifted smooth like a new transmission before this all happened. Last night I took it out for a drive to see what other symptoms it had and the service engine soon light came on. I don't want to stick a bunch of $$$ a tranny rebuild just to find out it was a shifter solenoid or something. Any thoughts on this issue?

Your service engine light tells you the engine computer (PCM) has stored a fault code. You can read the codes in your driveway using the key dance or have the codes read with a scanner. I suggest the later because you'll potentially get more pricise info. Autozone, for one, will do it free.

I did the key dance and the Service Engine light flashed once, then twice/pause/four/pause/five/pause/five/pause/five. If I am doing it right it is code 245. I checked another web site and it said a 245 code was something with the turbo charger. I don't have a turbo charged model. Do you know what a code 245 is?

I did the key dance and the Service Engine light flashed once, then twice/pause/four/pause/five/pause/five/pause/five. If I am doing it right it is code 245. I checked another web site and it said a 245 code was something with the turbo charger. I don't have a turbo charged model. Do you know what a code 245 is?
Please try your "Key Dance" again... if I correctly understand what you mean, you should have gotten...

two[pause]-four[long pause] - that's a 24

five[pause]-five[long pause] - that's a 55

If this is true, then the following translation applies to your situation...

24 - Error Code (see below)
55 - End Diagnostic

A "24" error code could be one of several things and you can't know for sure until you take your vehicle to Advance Auto, Auto Zone or some other place and have them attach a scan tool to your vehicle and obtain one or more precise "P" codes.

Possible "24" Error Code problems...

P0122 - Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) Voltage Low, input to this sensor is below minimum limit,

P0123 - TPS Voltage High, input to this sensor is above maximum limit, and

P0140 - TPS Voltage Does Not Agree with MAP, former does not correlate with the latter.

I read the codes as 12, 45, and 55

12- Direct Battery input to PCM disconnected within last 50 ignition key-on cycles

45-Transmission OD solenoid circuit failure. Open or short in the transmission overdrive solenoid circuit.

55- end of codes

I agree with HeadlessHorseman1, get the codes read at Autozone and post them and go from there.

I re-read the original post and agree with tempfixit's interpretation of the codes. Your P-Code might be a P0700 or P00700, depending on the scan tool used. Definitely get your vehicle scanned. The P-Code has been set in the transmission controller.

Well the problem is fixed. What happened was the transmission oil cooler line that runs through the radiator became plugged and fried the tranny. I ended up replacing the tranny with a used one. A whinning noise is definetely not good. My advice to everyone who owns one of these is to add an aftermarket tranny oil cooler. I picked one up for $30 at Advance Auto that didn't require an additional install kit. Apparently these vans are known for cooler line issues. Thanks to everyone for all their help with this.