98 caravan. won't shift.

[hman1991]

i have a 98 caravan. now first started driving it today it was fine. then about 10 miles or so it would not upshift from the stop sign. just stayed in first. so i tried shifting it manually. it started in first then when i put it in 2 it shifted, then in drive nothing. so i tried in drive again and it just stayed in first. any ideas? levels seem fine and everything. please give me any ideas. i use this dailey for work. thanks again.

[turbovanman²]

You need to scan for codes, and you'll need a scanner. The most likely culprit is probably the input and output shaft speed sensors.

[hman1991]

maybe this can be moved to transmition section. sorry also there is no check engine light or anything.

[Vigo]

The first thing we need to know is whether its a 3 or 4 speed auto. Usually the easiest way to tell for the layman is to tell us your engine displacement on the emissions tag. Some engines have stickers on the top telling you what they are.

2.4L = 3spd
3.0L = 3 or 4 spd
3.3L = 4 spd
3.8L = 4spd.


get back to us with which engine you have, and thatll probly clear it up.

if not, is your gear indicator a mechanical orange slider/slot thing or a digital little screen? does it read PRND3L or PRND2L?

once we know the tranny we can move on from there.

[hman1991]

its a 3.0 with P R N D 2 1 on the selector. mechanical orange slider/slot thing

[fleckster]

Sounds like the governor is sticking. (if its the 31TH trans)

[hman1991]

Sounds like the governor is sticking. (if its the 31TH trans)

how do i check / fix this. i only know stick. very new to auto and dodge.

[Vigo]

well to really fix it is kinda a chore and nothing is 100% with the governors on these things.

my first advice is to drop the tranny pan and see what kinda stuff is in the bottom of it. if your trans is making metal, no amount of ANYTHING else will stop the governor from sticking over and over again.

If there is no metal or very little, then you now need to get to the governor. There are two ways of doing this, and they both involve dropping the valve body. This isnt bad or hard, just intimidating to first timers.

If you wanna go through with it, here's the rundown.

you'll need basic hand tools and one obscure tiny 7mm box end wrench. box end box end box end. open end= no. you'll also need some really soft abrasive pad like scotch brite.

Go back up top, remove the air silencer box and air hose. 2 10mms on the front, a hose clamp on bottom and a hose clamp on the throttle body. the clamps are 8mm or 5/16. leave the hose to the tb on the box. theres a vent hose on the left that should just pull off.

once you get the intake stuff off, you're looking down at the top of the trans. you need to disconnect both arms from the shift lever by loosening the 10mm bolts on them. you can take the arm that goes from the throttle body to the trans off as one piece, just dont loose the spring. now go cram the parking brake on, put some wheelchocks in the back if you like, and put the shifter all the way in low. this will require you to have the key on so you should disconnect the battery at some point. the shift lever itself is best left attached to the cable, so dont try and pop the cable off the arm.. just loosen the arm and lift it off the shaft. now look at where the dipstick goes down into the trans. right behind it is a round connector going straight down onto the trans, just pull it off. they are pretty tight sometimes so dont pull by the wires, grab the flat part of the rubber boot. now you're done up top, back on the ground with ye. now on the bottom you're looking at the filter and the bottom of the valve body. the bolts holding the filter on usually have a torx head, so you'll need a torx driver of the proper size, dont know the number. once you get that off, start taking out the 10mm bolts around the perimeter of the valve body. once you loosen it it will puke some more fluid so be ready. once you get all the 10mm bolts out it will be hanging there by the tension of the seals on the top shafts and by the parking rod and the two tubes going to the governor. pry softly on those with a screwdriver to work them loose as you lower the VB. once you lower the valve body a bit you'll need to rotate it a bit so the parking rod will come out of its little clamp thing. after that it should lower completely out. Once you get it out, set it somewhere where stuff isnt gonna land on it or get it dirty, and look back up at the guts! eeew! there's not much to look for here, except maybe if the bands are severely discolored from heat. Anyway, stuffed up there in the back you can see a shaft, with a funny L shaped thing tucked around it. Thats the governor. its held on with three 7 mm bolts. use your BOX end wrench to get those off without rounding them. then take the governor out. there might be a little cone-shaped screen sitting in the bottom of it where it meets the thing it rides on, dont lose it if its there. now you need a really clean surface to take it apart on. i think you might need some tiny snap ring pliers but i forget. you could probly do it with a little pick and some ingenuity.

you should be able to tell its stuck just be messing with it before its taken apart. after you take it apart, clean the heck out of all the parts, clean the little conical filter if you have it, and now take the abrasive and wrap it around the lands on the valves you removed, and spin them in it. we're just removing any tiny deformations caused by debris here, not removing material per se, so dont put any force into it. after that clean em real good again, and blow everything off with compressed air. put it back together the way it came apart and make sure the valves move ok.


now there are a lot of products out there that are supposed to help prevent it sticking again, and i havent used most of them. but they are out there, shift kits, governor kits, etc. mostly they use different springs. you can look around for those and try one if you want. one of them even has a large foam block that sits in the pan and acts as a filter of sorts. i have a 3.0/670 van that had CHRONIC governor issues and i did this job several times (before i owned it, was customers), but out of desperation my last straw was putting an inline filter on each tranny cooler line and it hasnt come back up since.

reassembly is the reverse. better to clean the pan mating surface on the case before you start putting stuff back in. make sure to put that little filter back in the governor! dont cram the hell out of those tiny 7mm bolts, they only need to be snug! when putting the valve body back up, dont forget the metal tubes. remember to get the parking rod into its spot as you put the vb up. dont force it upwards, if it is resisting the round plastic connector for the lockup solenoid is probly not pointing straight up and is hitting the case. once you get it all in there, be gentle with the 10mm bolts. they probly take less than 15 lb-ft torque. dont forget the filter! remember to put the magnet back in the pan, and also plug in the connector by the dipstick!

there is a mopar reuseable gasket for the pan, i think turbovanman probly has a part number for that, i havent used one yet. its an investment piece, believe me. pan bolts dont take very much torque, you'll be able to tell when they are tight as the force needed to turn them ramps up quickly as they squeeze the gasket.

now when its all back together you should be good to go. if that was the problem! hahahaha.

now somebody sticky this bad boy!