Transmission Toast? 2012 Town & Country

[TCollier]

My wife's van, 130,000 miles. Whining, whirring and knocking coming from transmission. No sounds until I put it in drive, it'll slip and jerk changing gears. I can put it in neutral then the noise will slowly wind down. No CEL. There is no dipstick on these and there is no sign of any leaking.
I don't want to waste another dollar if I can help it. Would it be worth the money (about $65) to change the fluid and filter? I would like to at least make it drivable enough to trade it in or sell it (I'm going to let them know of this issue regardless). Right now I feel like the next mile could be the last.

 

[mwilson]

Too new for me as far as trouble shooting. Still might be just a solenoid or something. The very first thing I do now on any of my stuff is a battery disconnect-reconnect forced reboot. It has worked more often than not......no harm in trying...
Also take a minute to read the 5th gen mini van section of this forum...lots of good info in it.

http://forum.chryslerminivan.net/forum.php#/forums/64?page=1&_k=ovnopa

 

[Bob4x4]

Did it start all at once or gradually get worse ? The compounder can make a ton of noise to the point some people willnot want to stand to close.Changing the fluid is almost never going to fix a noise.If you don't want to put any $ in it it's time to dump it

 

[TCollier]

Thanks for the replys
DW says it started all at once. I want to dump it. It also has a bad lifter or valve tap coming from the right side. If it would've been the left, it would've been part of a recall extended to 150,000 miles on a bunch of pentastar 3.6s built in '12. But as luck would have it, it's the wrong side and the dealership wanted to charge me $3300 to replace the right head. Figured I wait till it got worse and then decide on a mechanic or a new van.

Anyway, I found my Kiwi2 OBD reader and it came up with "Transmission Fluid Pressure Low and a P0868 & P083B which are I think line pressure warnings. I haven't had time to do anymore researching or troubleshooting today. It would be nice if it was just an easy access cheap solenoid, but I hate to throw a whole bunch of parts at it right now. I'm going to spend some time on that 5th gen minivan forum tonight, maybe something will turn up.

 

[DonFitzwater]

"I'm going to spend some time on that 5th gen minivan forum tonight".................and I thought a porn addiction was bad............

 

[TCollier]

.........and I thought a porn addiction was bad............

Its not an addiction, its research. And I can quit when ever I want to.

 

[TCollier]

I have pretty much made up my mind to get a new van. If the dealer doesn't want to work with this as a trade, I'll change the solenoid pack myself as a gamble and sell it out of the yard whether that fixes it or not. $185 to $220 for the solenoid pack, and another $65 for fluid and filter.

 

[TCollier]

Well, a full flush with new filter, 9qts of ATF +4 and everything is back to normal as far as I can tell. Let my son get some driving practice done in it and it's holding together with out any noises or gripes. The DW did manage to get her a new Pacifica out of the deal anyway.

 

[The patriot]

I have a question.
My wife has an 12 T&C.
How did you refill the trans w/o a dipstick?
Hers has 53K miles and I want to PM the trans.
Thanks

 

[TCollier]

There is a dipstick / fill tube with a cap on it. I used a 1/4" od plastic tube from my wife's craft stuff. There is a stopper in the pan the dipstick will bottom out on at around 16.5". Be carful because that stopper is only about 1/2" wide and your didpstick could potentially slip passed it, though after 15 or 20 times I measured I never had an issue. You'll need a scan tool of some sort to find your fluid temperature for correct level. This system is easy to over/under fill.

My dipstick, courtesy of Hobby Lobby.

The temp/level graph. There is a mistake on the print, the top line is the max height, bottom is the minimum.

The white stick is pointing to the fill/dipstick tube cap. It's hard to spot under that wiring harness splice. It twists off.

 

[The patriot]

Thank you.
I did the DSG service on my old VW TDI.....it's similar.

 

[Bob4x4]

The dipstick is available 9336a.The transmission Oil Dipstick 9336A has indicator marks every 10 mm. Determine the height of the oil level on the dipstick and using the height, the Transmission Fluid Temperature (TFT) as viewed with the scan too, and the Transmission Fluid Graph, determine if the transmission oil level is correct.

 

[Bob4x4]

Available here and I am sure many chineese versions elsewhere

https://www.moparessentialtools.com/item-detail.aspx?itemId=5890027&type=tools

 

[The patriot]

Thanks!.........