Chrysler Repair: Transmission Problem, torque converter, limp home

Question
I have a 1994 Concorde w 3.3 engine. My transmission will not go into regular Drive. It seems stuck in "limp home" mode. I siphoned out 5 quarts of pretty dirty fluid and replaced w ATF +3, but this hasn't helped. Also, this car has had a problem of "stuttering" between 37-40 mph. Suggestions? Thanks...JJSowa

Answer
Hi Jon,
There are a number of possibilities, ranging from a clogged filter or some dirt in the valve body (a fairly inexpensive fix) to of course internal mechanical damage (which is expensive because the trans has to be removed and disassembled). Now my thought is to take it to a dealer or a good independent shop that has much experience with the electronic transaxles of chrysler. You could have them drop the pan and change the filter and while they are at it see if there is much "debris" in the pan (indicating some serious mechanical issue). If the pan seemed reasonably clean, then maybe the filter plus a second "change" of fluid would do the trick.  When you do drain the pan, by the way, you only get out about half of the fluid (the rest is in the torque converter) so a second pan drop may give you a second shot at really getting clean fluid. By the way, I would verify that ATF+3 is correct, because the Chrysler tranny is very termperamental about the fluid it wants.
If that doesn't correct things, then you could ask the dealer or good shop to readout the controller for stored fault codes (or they could do that before dropping the pan, etc.) There should be a fault code stored that explains why you are in limp in mode, and then the possible fixes will be listed (generally not one to one, unfortunately). But you could take this step-by-step to see that you don't do an "overkill" repair that isn't necessary. I am very suspicious about tranny repairs in that I believe too often people are told they need a "rebuild". With the readout, the mechanic should show you a diagnostic writeup which says what the possible causes for the code are, and what repairs might fix it. Then start with the least invasive and see if that does it.
Roland