93 Caravan Transmission problem

[Caravan1993]

I recently Purchased a 93 Caravan with the 3.3 Litre Engine and the OD Transmission with 85,500 miles. My wife just called me at work and said that while driving the Vehicle slowed as if in a lower gear and the engine RPMs climbed in similiar fashion. She stopped and put it in park and then restarted without improvement, she then stopped again and shut the vehicle off for a moment and after restarting it "ran" fine. Thanks ahead for any info.

[KManiac]

Here is a little information about the transmission in your van. It is Chrysler's electronic, 4-speed automatic, orginially referred to as the "Ultradrive" transmission. This transmission was first introduced in the 1989 model year. We had a 1989 Caravan and currently have a 1998 Town & Country van. Your question is answered below.

This transmission is a "smart" transmission. It will monitor your driving habits and adjust the transmission's shift points to match your driving style. I have heard of instances where someone with calm driving habits has suddenly, and only once, punched the throttle from a dead stop and ran their car through the gears that way. Then, the transmission started to shift "funny" to them, holding up shift points to higher speed and shifting abruptly. It would continue this way for a while until it reprogrammed itself back to where is was before.

The electronics also continuously monitor the transmission's performance and will tell you when an anomoly occurs. It does this by shifting into "limp mode". When the transmission detects a significant anomoly, it will shift into and hold the transmission in second gear. This is "limp mode". It will take you by surprise, should you ever encounter this. Now, there is a way to clear "limp mode". Simply pull to the side of the road, put the car in Park and turn it off. When you restart, the transmission will shift normally again, unless it detects another anomoly. The first time I experienced this was in the 1989 van. It was a rainy day with a significant downpour. The transmission downshifted and held the lower gear while I was cruising at about 35 miles per hour. I pulled over, stopped and restarted the van, and it worked normally. We drove the car another three years before selling it and it never dropped into limp mode again. I have never experienced limp mode in the 1998 van. We have owned this van for six years and it has 83,000 miles. The only other time I experienced limp mode was in a 1992 Caravan I was test driving once. During the half hour test drive, it dropped into limp mode twice. Needless to say, I passed on that van. Limp mode and how to clear it are described in your owner's manual.

Should your van develop a habit of dropping into limp mode, then I would suggest taking it to a transmission shop. These transmissions are particular about the fluid you use. Using anything other than the fluid recommended by Chrysler will cause it to act up and reduce useful life. My wife bought her 1989 van new. The factory installed transmission was replaced with a remanuafactured unit by Chrysler under warranty at 20,000 miles. It was rebuilt again by an independent transmission shop at 121,000 miles. When we sold the van at 208,000 miles, it ran great with no preceived problems with the transmission.

Good luck with your van. The rest of it should last a good long time. In fact, I prefer the older style vans (1995 and older) to the new style vans (1996 and newer).

[Caravan1993]

I appreciate the information and will pass it on to my wife as well as read up on it in the owners manual.

[caravandrvr]

Be careful though, and stress REPUTABLE for that transmission shop. The symptons you describe certainly sound like an electrical (controller?) issue rather than something mechanical in the transmission. A lot of 'less then knowledgeable' firms will simply tell you that you need to rebuild (or get a new!) the transmission and that those transmission are notorious for being junk. IMHO that is blatantly unfair. Correct fluid is important, but what you describe has usually turned out to be an electronic issue in my experience. Could very well be a sensor or even the ECM.