02 Intrepid needs new tranny.

[cdpprab]

I have an 02 intrepid with 2.7 engine and 52,500 miles. I recently took the vehicle in for a check engine light and funny acting trans. What was happenning was when the car was cold, you put the car in drive, and you would take off like the car was in second. A couple of feet later, the car would slam into first gear and you would be fine. Once the car was warmed up, this never occurred. Also, the car did not do this everytime it was cold. The check engine light indicated two codes, one was the 700, and the other was either 841 or 441 which basically stated a pressure was outside of the normal range in the tranny. I took it to the dealer and they replaced the valve body and solenoids. I picked up the car and the check engine lite was gone but now everytime the car is cold it does the start in second and then slams into first. I went back to the dealership to have the car checked again and they said the tranny was slipping and needed to be rebuilt. More than likely it was the clutches worn out. I had the delearship pull the service history on the car and the car has been in the shop 5 times now for tranny issues. At 16,000 miles the front pump was replaced. A few thousand miles later the tranny cooler lines were leaking and the tranny was a quart low of fluid so the lines were tightened and fluid added. At 30k the fluid and filter were changed with chrysler ATF fluid, filter. I also took the car back in for funny shifting at 45-50 mph but they indicated the tranny was operating normally. Now all of this so far was under the 36k warranty. Now that I am over the warranty, I find out about the tranny needing the rebuild.

Have any of you had this sort of problem with your car. I complained to the customer assistance center and the dealership is trying to get Chrysler involved to see about extending the warranty to cover the rebuild since the car had so many previous tranny problems.

Any information is appreciated.

Thanks.

[theFREAKnasty82]

cdbprab, I have an '02 Intrepid and I have had some rough shifts every now and then. I work for a Chrysler dealer and Intrepids built in the 21st Century are very reliable cars. The first question I want to ask is you is how do you drive your car? When you first start out in the morning, and you shift from reverse to drive, do you wait to bring the car to a full & complete stop? If not, you can shred gears and/or clutch packs. What you can do now is check the color of the fluid. If it's brown, you have a problem. If you not that there's some metal shavings in the fluid and it's tarnished (have black residue) you have burnt up your clutches. If not, try going back to the dealer and have them test the transmission on the scanner and see if you have any electrical faults. The sensors can sometimes tell if you have a mechanical fault or electrical fault.

[cdpprab]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I have always stopped completely before changing from reverse to forward gears. When I took the car to the dealership and they replaced the valve body and solenoids, the fluid looked perfect and no debri in the pan at all. The longest the fluid has gone between changes is 15,000 miles. I always use the mopar +4 fluid and the car only has 52500 miles. The car is back at the dealership and Chrslyer has agreed to partially extend the warranty and rebuild the tranny if I pay a deductible. The tech thinks it is clutches but with no debri in the pan I disagree. Once they tear into the tranny I will call the dealership and see what they find. It seems to me if this was clutch it would slip when warm and not when cold. Thanks again.

[calgary_redneck]

Transmissions do sometimes have slipping problems when cold because of hardenend piston seals