Chrysler Repair: 2003 Intrepid: Trans solenoid box shorting out, solenoid pack, pressure switches

Question
We havew been trying to diagnose a tranny problem in my sons intrwpid for almost 4 months now. He will be driving and all of a sudden the car jerks and goes into limp mode. He turns it off and restarts it and it is fine for awhile. After $700.00 in transmission and dealer "guessing", somebody finally figured out it the solenoid pack was shorting out. This seems to be a reoccurring and undiagnosed problem in Dodges. My question is where would we start to look for trhe problem that would cause the shorting out of multiple solenoid packs?

Answer
Hi Steve,
The solenoid box can be serviced without removing the trans from the vehicle. It looks to be fairly straightforward: 4 solenoids and three pressure switches. You could check the wiring between the box the transmission controller to see if there is a short in the wiring:
   solenoid box plug       transmission plug
          7                        20  
          8                        19  Solenoids
          6                        60
          5                        59
     
          2                        50
          1                        47   Pressure sense
          3                         9     switches

          4            (12v)       16 and 17
                   from trans relay
Check continuity and then try shaking the harness to see if you can get it to short out to ground on any of the wires.

Other than looking at the solenoids and pressure switches in the box for and signs of a short, I can't think of any other way to find out the why of the problem.

I wonder if speaking with the factory regional service representative might bring out some informantion. I assume that this all began after the warranty expired; if not I would try to get some coverage by the manufacturer warranty.

Roland