2000 caravan no reverse.

[Bushballer]

We lost reverse in our van.All three forward gears and passing gear work fine.is this something that can be fixed with out replacing or rebuilding the tranny??

[KManiac]

I would like more information.

Which engine and automatic transmission do you have?? Do you have the 4-speed electronic transmission (P-R-N-D-3-L, usually mated to 3.3L & 3.8L) or the 3-speed with lock-up converter (P-R-N-D-2-1, usually mated to 2.4L and 3.0L)??

How long has it been since your last tranny service??

How many miles on the vehicle and tranny?

Did you check the fluid level with the engine & tranny hot and idling in P??

What color is the fluid right now?

[wafrederick]

Planetery gears are probaly blown out,can be fixed and a very common problem.

[Bushballer]

Originally Posted by KManiac

I would like more information.

Which engine and automatic transmission do you have?? Do you have the 4-speed electronic transmission (P-R-N-D-3-L, usually mated to 3.3L & 3.8L) or the 3-speed with lock-up converter (P-R-N-D-2-1, usually mated to 2.4L and 3.0L)??

How long has it been since your last tranny service??

How many miles on the vehicle and tranny?

Did you check the fluid level with the engine & tranny hot and idling in P??

What color is the fluid right now?

4 speed

was rebuilt 2 years ago

about 35k on tranny

fluid is good/redish color

Thanks guys!

[v8carreragts]

I doubt the planitaries are gone. There are no hard parts that could brake and not effect forward gears. Besides, you have a 2000 which has a 5 pinion planitary. The earlier 3 and 4 pinion units will break.
I would guess you have a problem with the reverse clutch. It is possible that the wrong seals were used (these were updated to a different type) which would cause the reverse clutch to be inoperative. You would still have clean fluid if this happened.
Unfortunitally most likely the trans will need to come out. These are good transaxles now if they are built correctly, but most are not. When you look for a place to bring it, first ask them what fiuid they use. It they tell you anything other than ATF+4 go elswhere. Most shope use Dextron with an additive and say it is the same, but it is not. It will cause the transaxle to fail prematurely.

[KManiac]

If you had the 3-speed transmission, I would safely say that the low-reverse band was either broken or out of adjustment and would suggest checking for engine braking (or the lack of it) in manual low (1). Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the functionality of the 4-speed electronic transmission. I am just surprised that you haven't encountered limp mode.

Let us know what you find out and what you do to fix this so we all may learn.

[busta9876]

there are pressure ports on the side of the 4 speed under the solenoid pack. These are 1/16 pipe thread, with a gauge you could check each one.

from the engine towards the transfer gear cover they are:

Underdrive
Overdrive
Reverse
Lock Up Release
2nd & 4th
Low & Reverse

These ports are connected very close to the clutches, so a bad seal will show up as low pressure. in reverse, look for at least 145psi in Reverse and the Low & Reverse ports at the same time.

If pressures are good here, you likely have a broken ring gear on the rear planet. This will fail and will still have forward gears as the ring is not used during forward movement.

Been stuck in the snow lately? rocking it? rev---drive---rev---drive etc...???