I just bought this Town and Country 3 days ago and got some good advice on the slipping tranny. As an update to this I should describe it better… it feels more like a harsh shift, and for the history of the van. It was owned by an older couple who had it serviced regulary, but when they traded it to the dealer it sat on his lot for 7 months before I bought it… I think it got lot rot. Does anyone think maybe an additive like zmax or some other might free this up?
I won’t mess with any additives. Transmission fluids are very specific these days. Perhaps the best answer if you feel the fluid is the problem is to have the trans pan dropped, drain the current fluid, clean the screen and refill with the proper fluid.
The most likely thing going on is this car has an adaptive shift pattern system. The idea is that the computer “learns” the driver and adjusts shift points accordingly. You are a new driver for this car and probably driving it differently than the previous couple that had the car. A few rough shifts is the result of it’s shift points for the previous driver are not working out well for the new driver. Supposedly the system will adjust over a few days or a week as the computer controlling the transmission “relearns” and adjusts the shift points for the new driver.
Definately don’t add any additives to the fluid. Drive the car normally for a few days and see if the problem disappears on its own. The trans service fluid change is a good idea if you can’t find a record of that service within the last 30K miles.
Read the information on this website. http://www.allpar.com/fix/trans.html
I would try replacing the trans fluid in case the wrong type was put in, and go through the retraining procedure.
What Mark says. I think during the previous “service” they put the wrong fluid in the transmission. They always do this and add an additive and tell you it is perfect. This is not true. This car needs ATF+4 and only that. Don’t add anything. Just have them do a pan drop, inspection of the magnet, filter change and ATF+4 refill. You might need to do this two or three times. Stay away from chain transmission shops.
Ditto, Ditto, Ditto to all the advice of using the correct fluid (ATF +4). We have been happy with our T&C van but I made sure when the tranny was drained/filled that the shop used the correct fluid.
Another possibility is that the transmission module lost its programming while the van sat (with maybe a dead battery) and although it will slowly relearn everything a reputable transmission shope can reprogram the module in a few minutes and everything will be back in order. Good luck.
Thanks for the great advice. I hope all this works because my pocket does not need to be tapped for a new trans.