1996 caravan - sudden shuddering

[aleighdavis]

We have a 1996 caravan that runs great. Our only problem is when we start to go up a hill. If we dont gun it to keep the rpm's up, the van starts to shudder until we give it lots of gas or completely let off the gas. Then it immediately stops and seems to be fine. Too bad we don't live somewhere completely flat. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

A.

[pimpcaravan85]

i have a 1996 caravan and i have the same problem i also have a very violent skip. i was told by a gentlemen at the dealership i work at that in those 3.0 engines the pickup coil under the distributor loves to junk itself. i have been looking for a coil alone, everywhere has been trying to sell me a new distributor for prices between 312$-800$ i just want the pickup if anyone knows where i could get one i would greatly appreciate it

[aleighdavis]

Before you spend all that money, I took someone's advice and had the transmission flushed and replaced with the correct fluid. It completely fixed the problem. I found out that on this transmission if you use anything other than the mopar 7176, it will cause the trans to shudder like that. Whatever you do, dont let them put the dextron or any other fluid in, make sure it's the correct fluid. Hope you have as good of luck as I did.

[Gary in Canada]

This has been said before but Ill say it again. Never put any transmission fluid in to any Dodge/Chrysler other than ATF + 2 or ATF +3 or ATF +4 or 7176. Any garage or Transmission shop that states that they use Dexron plus an additive to bring it to ATF standards dont know what they are doing. Your Dodge tranny was engineered for a specific type of fluid as are other manufactors , to use anything other than the proper fluid is going to cause real problems and lots of money. If you experience any shudder during moderate acceleration youve got the wrong fluid. This is one sign of wrong fluid but there are other signs to do with shift smoothness etc.