Chrysler Repair: 99 van tranny: exploded, puddle of fluid under, plymouth voyager, tire blowout

Question
1999 plymouth voyager 3.3 v6 a bang was heard like a tire blowout and engine quit while in drive, tranny seems to still be in drive as car rolls back and forth but won't turn over and is leaking a lg amount of tranny fluid near driver's front wheel. what could we be looking at? and what transmission will interchange if necessary, 3.0, 3.8?

Answer
Hi Eric,
I am not sure what you mean by "still in drive" other than that is where the gear selector is sitting, because for the trans to be in a gear it has to electronic power to the trans controller to operate the internal trans clutches. And by "won't turn over" do you mean the engine won't crank? That would be unusual, but it could be that an interlock control on the trans is disabling the starter motor. Please clarify.
But in any case it is probably not relevant/important. About the only way to see what blew out would be to look at it from under the van to see if you can see where the leak occured. I don't have a specific weak spot to suggest that might help with the diagnosis. So I would jack up the driver's side and see what you can see. I suspect that the transmissions will interchange mechanically but the gear ratios and the transmission controller settings will be different between the 3 engines. So if you are looking for a used unit it would be better to get one from a 3.3L. One word of caution though is that these transmissions are complicated and so it is difficult to be sure if you get one from a wreck that it will work well. If you had access to a code reader that would be helpful to access if there are any fault codes stored in the memory of the trans controller, though if the battery has been disconnected there is a good possibility that the codes will have self-erased. Therefor a readout on an immobile vehicle will not be reliable.
So my advice would be to look into where the fluid leaked from. Once you know that, check with an independent trans shop or write me back if you can't get an answer from a local shop based on what you can tell them of the history and visual examination of the leak site.
Roland