jarl Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 A quick question for a transmission guru: I'm checking a car I may need buy, but when I cleaned the transmission dipstick with a piece of paper tissue I could see some dark streaks on it, and some extremely tiny shiny particles... the question is: is this an indication the transmission is about to go, or just some very old atf that needs to be replaced? The car in question is not a subie, but a chrysler minivan, if it makes any difference. It has 100k miles. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 but a chrysler minivan, if it makes any difference. It has 100k miles. Thanks! It's a Chrysler product with 100k on it.... Run far and run fast. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 Transmission failure on that vehicle is common. Please walk away! We had an 01 town and country with 110,000 mi. I was expecting it to drop the trans in thenext few miles. We sold it for book value and it is still going. It did have a weird gyration when under load such as accelerating with a vehicle in tow. I convinced the old man to sell it before it had problems, and now he rolls in a 97 forester! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davebugs Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 Seruousely you've never heard of Chrysler Minivan tranny issues? I wouldn't own a Chrysler and know of them. They should be avoided like the plague, or an old GM Quad4, or a Chrysler Intrepid 2.7?, etc, etc. VW 99.2-2002 MKIV automatics (01m family). Acutally a tranny guy told me there is like a 50 cent plastic part that is what fails in the minivan tranny's that causes all the problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john40iowa Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 The previous responder is bang on. My job gave us a brand new '04 Town Country. What a joke, the tranny went out at 70K, and three years later. We took care of that van. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarl Posted May 7, 2012 Author Share Posted May 7, 2012 (edited) Je je... thank you for the replies... I actually walked away from that van... and straight into another one. The ATF on the new one was pristine, so I hope that's an indication of the condition of it. I have avoided Chrysler products for as long as I can remember, but it was due to something I read somewhere about the engines going belly up too often. Chrysler is now the only local (i.e. affordable) minivan left, and we absolutely need one car able to carry people and 4x8. The only other real options were Siennas, but a '99 Sienna is as expensive as a 2006 Town and country, and with the rust in this area I'd rather stay away. AND... I like the stow and go. Oh well... let's wait and see. And cross my fingers PD: It's funny how I don't see any mention of Honda's transmissions. The Odyssey's transmissions seems to fail with an alarming reliability. That is: for some years those are almost 100% guaranteed to fail. Edited May 7, 2012 by jarl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolskaterkid Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 Just keep up on the atf and fliter changes use atf+4, ive got a 98 caravan awd with 272k on orignal motor and trans great mini van but i change the atf and filter yearly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarl Posted May 7, 2012 Author Share Posted May 7, 2012 Will certainly do so... Thank you for the suggestion! The guy I bought it from said he hasn't done the transmission maintenance in a while, but still it was very clear... I hope to keep it that way. It's comforting reading you are getting such an extended life out of one of these cars And now, back to your regular programming. Thank you folks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 Lack of maintenance kills those transmissions. Transmission fluid is very susceptible to damage from high temperature. I've heard from several techs that for every 10 degrees that ATF is overheated it shortens the protective life of the fluid by as much as 10k miles. So if you changed the fluid today, went out and overheated that fluid by 30 degrees trying to tow something or haul a bunch of people and gear up a mountain to go camping, you need to change the fluid before you drive back down. Might as well have sand and water in the trans. ATF changes are very important, and rarely get done on time with those vans. We had one when I was growing up. A 93 with 75k that put a rod through the block 3 weeks after my father bought it in 98. Brand new 98 engine and original transmission took that van to 300k because he made sure it got serviced. What finally killed it was the ABS control module went out and the parts were more than the van was worth. But it served 8 years of driving around Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and Chesapeake every day for his jewelry business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank B Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 Also think about installing a tranny cooler, either plumb it in after the tranny cooler that's in the rad, or bypass the one in the rad. Maybe consult a tranny shop about that choice. Just like 10 degrees higher kills a tranny, 10 degrees cooler extend it's life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans imports Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 the crysler trany has front diff ishsues the spiders wear out and the diff pins fall out of place and hit the case and bang what gd said run run fast or pull pan and look for debrie save the pan and contents and go by a trany shop have them look at contents a good trany tech can look at the materail in pan and tell you what part of tranny is bad just from contents in pan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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