1996 Caravanns 3.3L 41TE - Tramission won't shift out of low gears

[seanrox]

Here is the story: My mother was driving the Caravan and came home complaining of a LOUD knocking sound. After reading this forum I told my father to take apart the heads, and he found a broken rocker arm and rocker arm pedestal just like this forum said he would.

He replaced all rocker arms, valve cover, shaft, on the problem bank. Start the car up, and it sounds nice... better than new. Take the car for a spin, and it doesn't shift out of first gear.

My mother is the only one who can answer any questions about the feel of the car before she heard the knocking sound. However, she can't answer them, because she's a woman. My father thinks she was driving at 60mph in first gear and didn't notice a problem. That explains why the rocker arm pedestal popped.

Now the question is, why isn't it shifting out of first gear? My father just told me it banged into 2nd gear twice while taking it on a short drive to his mechanic friend. He drove it very slow with his hazards on, anyways.

As always, thanks for reading this and thanks in advance for any help you can give us... Happy Holidays to AutomotiveForums.com!!

[Windywoes]

Originally Posted by seanrox

Here is the story: My mother was driving the Caravan and came home complaining of a LOUD knocking sound. After reading this forum I told my father to take apart the heads, and he found a broken rocker arm and rocker arm pedestal just like this forum said he would.

He replaced all rocker arms, valve cover, shaft, on the problem bank. Start the car up, and it sounds nice... better than new. Take the car for a spin, and it doesn't shift out of first gear.

My mother is the only one who can answer any questions about the feel of the car before she heard the knocking sound. However, she can't answer them, because she's a woman. My father thinks she was driving at 60mph in first gear and didn't notice a problem. That explains why the rocker arm pedestal popped.

Now the question is, why isn't it shifting out of first gear? My father just told me it banged into 2nd gear twice while taking it on a short drive to his mechanic friend. He drove it very slow with his hazards on, anyways.

As always, thanks for reading this and thanks in advance for any help you can give us... Happy Holidays to AutomotiveForums.com!!

Search this forum for trannys that are in default mode or limp home mode. In my case when this happened I replaced the output speed sensor and things returned to normal.