For Dodge Grand Caravan Owners...
 

Had transmission troubles?? We were told before we bought ours that they sometimes have transmission problems.. Ours is apparently having one now, but all the other people I've talked to so far who own them have had no issues. Is this as common as we were led to believe? Or did we buy a lemon? We've put less than 12000 Km's on the thing since we bought it, no way we ripped through the tranny yet. Probably a defect.

Anyone else?

i think its bad because you bought a Caravan, just the fact that its a van should be an understanding that its going to be crap.

I don't see how you come to that conclusion.. I haven't talked to a single caravan owner who wasn't totally happy with their van. Our Caravan is the ES edition, all wheel drive, every option except adjustable pedals, long wheel base. We bought a vehicle that would retain it's resale value. If we had paid $10,000 for it, I can understand it believe a piece of shit, but we paid close to $40,000 for it used. I would think that would ensure some kind of quality :P

From the dealership no less, not private sale.

Everyone I know who's had a Caravan (being an ex-soccermom, I knew a lot :thumbsup ) has had problems with the transmission.

Get rid of it while you can and get a Sienna, Quest or Odyssy.

I know someone with a Caravan that had their transmission crap out at about 130k miles. Cost about a grand to have a rebuilt one put in.

yeah a lemon did you buy.

Run screaming from those wheels now! :(

My sister bought one on the advice of my father, the transmission blew with two of her little people in the car, in Chicago traffic.

Not a place to be with a 3 and a 5 year old to say the least, so she fixed the tranny, and dumped it on her Honda dealer where she traded up for their minivan.

Chrysler/Dodge are aware of the problem, but they are unwilling to fix the transmissions until they blow. Here you would think a little preventive maintence would instill goodwill with current minivan owners, but its just not the case.

Seriously, trade it in with a dealer, your karma will feel better, than dumping it on a total stranger.

Well we just had the transmission serviced and inspected as part of our regular maintainance.. We haven't had a single issue with the vehicle until now. Have to check into things, but man we don't want to be replacing a transmission every few years.. Fortunately because it's AWD, which is rare in a Caravan (apparently only 3000 of the AWD Caravan's were made, and ours was the last year it was avialable at all), we may be able to do some good wheeling and dealing... I love the vehicle though so it would be a shame :(

Dodge caravan and a plymoth voyager. Had transmission problems with both. sell it quick.

I had the Grand Voyager and that thing was plagued with tranny problems, absolutely horrible. That one car turned me off all american cars in fact, not just Dodge/Chrysler. I had transmission problems which they claimed led to brake problems and the whole thing wound up being a pile of crap. What a shit car.
WG

So it seems that transmission problems are common to Mini-Vans in general? Would the AWD also contribute to transmission wear?

I can't see why it would affect this model but no other make/model on other cars.

WG

They are well known for their transmission problems and with it being AWD your gonna have more probs then most . Dump it before it goes, before porn I was a wholesale buyer and you saw alot of Dodge/Chrysler mini vans literally being pushed thru auctions because of transmission problems .

Dodge has yet to make an effective trans for the caravan, also is it smoking yet when you take off from a stoplight? Another notorious problem are the valve seals.:glugglug

No we caught it early.. it was leaking transmission fluid and we caught it immediately, so we parked it and phoned to take it in right away.. They came to tow it this morning.