What Happened?

[tomtommy]

1998 Dodge Grand Caravan
Ok I'm driving down the road 45-50mph, all of a sudden the van feels like it goes into neutral, i give it some gas, get a tiny bit farther down the road. I find that if I start the car and put it in "D" it moves a little bit but seems to slip back into neutral, but putting it in "L" gets me home. It kind of feels like 2nd gear is gone. At home i realize that reverse is a nogo now as well. Is my tranny hosed? I know nothing about Dodge transmissions.

[neon_rt]

Sounds like you are really low on tranmission fluid, did you check?

[tomtommy]

Originally Posted by neon_rt

Sounds like you are really low on tranmission fluid, did you check?

Yup I checked the trans fluid and the level is ok according to the stick.

[badgator1]

The transmission is probably going into "Limp home mode" it defaults to second gear to drive to get it repaired. Did you have your transmission fluid changed with the CORRECT transmission fluid? Other common problems are the input and output sensors , wiring issues, and the solenoid pack. Most tranny repair shops will pull the transmission codes for free (different than engine codes). But the reverse problem IS a bad sign.

[vipergg]

How many miles on it ? No reverse is worrisome .

[KManiac]

You didn't say what engine or transmission you have in your van. I suspect you have either a 2.4L or 3.0L with 3-speed transmission (P-R-N-D-2-1). The loss of D direct and Reverse indicates a disfunctional front clutch pack. This transmission will still operate in manual low (1) or manual second (2) because these ranges don't use the front clutch pack.

Now the 3.3L and 3.8L engines use the 4-speed electronic automatic (P-R-N-D-3-L). Only the 4-speed automatic has "limp-mode", which locks the transmission into second gear range when the computer detects a problem.

Let me know your engine size the which shift pattern you have to let me know whether or not I am on the right track.