QuestionA Couple weeks ago when using cruise control after traveling for an undetermined distance the cruise would decelerate by itself. Yesterday (twice) with out cruise the car acted like it went into neutral. The second time as we were going down the road and it did it I shifted it into neutral the back in drive (still moving) and we kept going. Its a V6 automatic trans. 3.3L engine.
AnswerHi Brian,
I would start by checking the trans fluid level as shown on the dipstick after the car has been driven, idling on level ground, in park position. The level should be in the "hot" part of the dipstick. If needed add Chrysler brand trans fluid from a dealer, tell them the year and model of the vehicle when you ask for it. Don't overfill however.
Then you would want to check whether the gear shift cable is adjusted properly. Try starting the engine in neutral, then without shifting fully into R, move the lever toward R and see how far you can move it before the safety interlock prevents the starter from working, then do the same toward the OD position. The amount of movement to either side of the neutral detent should be about the same before the safety interlock prevents you from using the starter. If not, then a cable adjustment might help, if in fact the trans lever switch that is located inside the trans at the bottom of the vertical rod that is moved by the trans cable is not fully centered on the OD position when you have the shift lever in OD, and so it might be shifting itself into neutral. The means of adjustment depends upon if you have a column or floor shift and so I need to know which if you find that is a possible explanation in order to tell you how to do it.
Then if neither of those two approaches produce results, I would suggest that you have the memory of the transmission controller readout for any fault codes that might explain what is happening. Let me know the fault code number(s), what the shop says is the meaning of the code, what they say is the repair, and how much is the cost. We can compare that to the manual. The readout is done via a 6-pin connector under the dash and most likely done correctly with a Chrysler DRB II reader at a dealer. If nothing comes up on a readout, then the last possibility may be to change the old trans fluid out completely, using in replacement Mobil synthetic trans fluid which is reported to improve the shift behavior of these electronic transaxles.
The bottom line is to try and solve this short of removing and rebuilding the trans, which is probably prohibitively expensive for a car of this age.
Roland
