Chrysler Repair: 96 Town & Country Stuck in Neutral, automatic transaxle, mechanical linkage

Question
Hi Doug,

I have a 96 Town and Country Lxi mini van with what I believe to be the 41TE 4-speed Electronic Automatic Transaxle.  I say believe because the shop manual says that the body code for this type of transmission in 96 is DGL however my body plate says DGB but everything else on the body plate is correct.  That aside the shift display on the dash corresponds to a 4-speed so that is what I have to assume at this point.  

Last week my wife was driving the van which was opperating without any hint of an issue.  She reached her destination and turned off the van.  About five minutes later she started the van put it in drive and it didn't move as she applied the gas.  She then put the vehicle in park to stop and think what to do next and the van started rolling backwards.  When I got to the van and checked it out I found the same symtoms and a few other things.  First I found that the speed ohmeter was reacting to how fast I was reving the engine when the shift lever was in any position but P and N.  Also I can hear the what sounds like something actuating when I go through the different drive gear possitions on the shift lever and when I go back to park there is a loud clank sound like something trying to latch within the transmission.  I have also verified that the mechanical linkage between the shift lever and the transmission are sound.  The display is also working correctly which from my reading says that the internal position sensor is working correctly.  I have checked fluid level and if anything it is a little high.  I cannot find any leaks and up to this point this transmission has been functioning perfectly.  I realize that most likely I will have to take it to someone to at very least see if any transmission trouble codes have been sent to the powertrain control unit.  However I just wanted to make one last ditch inquiry to see if these symtoms might be explained by failure of one of the transmissions external components like the solenoid pack or the transmission controller.  Any help or direction in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

                                 Thanks, Adam

Answer
It sounds like something big is broken.

The reason I say this is because of several key points you made here.  The vehicle won't stay still when put in park.  This involves a big gear and basically a... pick-axe? called a parking pawl.  This pawl (sp?) falls between the teeth of this gear when you're at a complete stop to prevent the gear from moving (car from rolling).  If you've ever put a car in park too soon then you'll hear the most horrendous (sp?) ratchet sound followed by a sudden stop as this pawl falls in to the last tooth it feels it should and finally brings the vehicle to a stop.

Next... you've mentioned a ratching sound as you rev up the engine, the speedo increases with rpm, and you have no movement.  The speedometer reads off of one of two places.  On the 41TE, which I'm 99% sure you have, there's a sensor that reads off of the output shaft of the transmission.  Basically, all the energy of the engine goes through points a,b,c,d and so on and this output speed sensor is one of the last components on the list.  So everything's working up to this point.  On the 3 speed transmission the speed sensor is mounted in the differential part of the transmission.  Basically, where the axles slide in to the transmission.  Again though, the sensor's one of the last points and everything is PROBABLY working up to this point.

The ratcheting noise is a solenoid pack on the front of the transmission, again, it's making noise because it's doing a task, probably right.  

I've never broken a parking pawl before so I don't know that putting a car in park prematurely and BREAKING it could cause the vehicle to quit pulling.  I don't know enough about internal trans to tell you whether this gear is attatched to anything else or if it's just for the pawl.  

What I do know is that you've got something big broken like internal transmission, differential (internal transmission) or maybe just an axle that has sheared off.  I have broken an axle before on a FWD 5spd and know that speedo goes up and car doesn't.  But I couldn't tell you about how well it stayed put because it was done on a flat surface (drag strip) and again, it was a 5spd.)
Doug