QuestionRoland glad your back. Hope you had a wonderful vacation. Ok here we go, New Rebuilt Transmission Twice, 3 TCM's and Selenoid Packs, Rewired Connectors to TCM and Selenoid Pack. Vehicle cruises just fine and just out of the blue goes into neutral. This van has been at the transmission shop for 3 months, I finally had to just say forget it I will fix it myself. Anyway turn the ignition off then back on again and it will work just fine for a while till it does it again. Also if I am in traffic going rather slow, just out of the blue it will shift into limp mode. I have no idea what to look for or how to figure out why. Any suggestions?
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I have a 90 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.3L. 2 years ago the cruise control just went out in the middle of a long trip and I did not fix this. Transmission just went out at around 179K Miles. Put in the shop for a transmission and 3 transmission installs later and 3 TCM installs later I have still no cruise control, and out of the blue the transmission will go into limp mode when idling with the foot on the brake or upon initial get in and start the van and put in drive. Occationally it will shift into neutral without warning. All the faults with the transmission will resolve by pulling over. Turn the ignition off and then restart. I don't want to take it back the the tranny shop again since this whole process has taken 2 months. I have an ECM coming in to hopefully see if this fixes the cruise and maybe the trans. But I dont know what to do about fixing the code 15 error. Speedo works fine, just having these irregular shifting limp things happening. I have both sensors waiting to install but was assured by the trans shop these are brand new that are in there. What am I missing? Only thing I can think of is ICW. Any suggestions? Any quick checks on the cruise control? Oh also I replaced the whole steering column, switches and all to hopefully correct the cruise problem. This did not work but did fix some other bell issues and blinker issues.
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Hi Ed.
I don't have the wiring diagrams for the '90 van, rather the '91. There appears to be two different output speed sensors on that vehicle: one on the side of the trans that faces the front of the van and that sends it data to the TCM and one that is located on top of the transaxle extension (the box from which the half-shafts extend) that sends it data to the ECM. Typically I believe that the speedo uses the data from the latter sensor while the tcm uses the former to detect malfunctions that might cause a limp in condition of the electronic transaxle. I believe that the cruise uses the latter also. But I can't be sure about the speedo in your '90 because it is possible that the signal for the speedo may go directly to in from the latter from a splice which also sends it to the ecm. If that were the case I can understand why the speedo would work, but not the cruise if their was an issue between the splice and ecm input of that signal or between the ecm input and the cruise control output of the ecm. The 15 may point to that last possibility, the ecm not getting the signal from the latter sensor even the speedo does receive it. I can give you the wiring assignments to check that possibility. So perhaps replacing the ecm will restore your cruise control. But as to the limp in, that you may need to go to the transmission data link connector that is blue and located under the dash near the left side instrument panel reinforcement. A DRB II readout of the trans controller from that connector may reveal a fault code that causes the limp in. You are probably getting the code 15 from the ecm either by the check engine light or the diagnostic connector in the engine compartment which reads out only the ecm. So it is somewhat complex situation. But if a dealer has the DRB II and the adapters to hook up to those different plugs, and a '90 cartridge for the DRB then a sharp tune-up mechanic should be able to sort this out.
I admire your commitment to this vehicle. It must have been a fairly costly set of repairs.
Roland
PS I don't know what is an ICW.
AnswerHi Ed,
That code, if it is from the transmission memory, indicates a problem in the 2/4 solenoid circuit located in the solenoid box and wiring thereto. It could be the solenoid, the wiring for the driver circuit, a connector/pin problem at the transcontroller or solenoid pack plugs, or controller problem. And it does provoke a limp-in mode.
A would rather xerox and postal mail you the pages that show how to troubleshoot this code (a total of about 7 sides) which I can do for a little more than $1.00 in copying and postage. If it helps to solve it, then you can send me back a few postage stamps to cover that cost. So let me know your postal mailing address and I'll do it. You can either do a follow-up ("private") or put it in the comment section of the 'thank and rate' form (but that won't be private.
Roland
Roland
