Transaxle top cover blew up while driving

The top transaxle cover blew up while driving. I stopped driving it and towed it home. What caused the cover blew up? thanks.
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More than likely the spider gear retaining pin came lose, causing the transmission to explode.

Been a known problem with Chrysler transmissions.

http://www.turbovan.net/Trans3.html

Tester

Did you hear a “pop”? Maybe the vent plugged up and it over-pressured.

You weren’t doing drag racing kind of stuff right? Popping the transmission into gear after reving the engine?

@cityboy Without going through all of your threads I think that you have had a lot of problems with this vehicle and if it was me I would sell, trade or trash and find something else. No offence meant , just what I would do.

Those are the transfer gears under the left side transmission cover. It looks like the bearings on the output shaft failed and the gear walked and cut the cover.

This is probably why your transmission has been failing for over a year, the noise and the solenoid pack failing due to contamination.

Depending on the age, condition, cost to repair, and possible value of this vehicle, I might be inclined to agree with Volvo on this one

If it’s a 5 year old van with 60K, it should be worth repairing

If it’s 15 years old, with over 200K, significant rust, etc., it might be a different story

I expect the reality is somewhere between those 2 extremes

I’m with @Tester on this. Diff pin works its way ou, contacts the case, and boom! This also leads me to believe your van is well past its prime; Chrysler modified the diff pin retention system many years ago to prevent this from happening.

One of my colleagues worked at a Chrysler dealership for many years

He would tell me about this problem . . . he said it wasn’t even that uncommon . . . and that was well before OP generated this particular discussion