Chrysler Repair: 1996 voyager: trans noise/shifting;a/c air distribution, power brake booster, grand voyager

Question
advice....i have a 96 grand voyager 3.3...v-6....i am hearing a loud whinning sound...i think from the tranny...it slips and sometimes wont shift into 4th gear....i was told to service the fluid and filter to see if that will fix it.........also my ac only blows out the defrost vents.....i put a new climate control module on it and that didnt fix it.....i brought to my mechanic and he said it had 4 little motors that opened and close vents etc...he showed me the 2 bottom ones and they worked...he said there are 2 more behind the dash and it would have to be removed to fix......any ideas.......COULD INFACT SERVICING THE FLUID AND FILTER MAYBE FIX THE WHINNING NOISE>?............please help sir

Answer
Hi Greg,
Have you checked the fluid level on the transmission dipstick? If that were low it could be the cause. Only use ATF +4 type fluid to add any, and don't overfill it. The other thing to do before spending money on a service of the fluid/filter would be to get a readout of the computers for any fault codes that might be stored in their memories, particularly ones that pertain to the transmission. You can get a free readout at Autozone parts stores, or for around $40 at an independent shop. Let me know the four digit numbers that you learn about. Ask too what they say they mean and what they recommend doing. Then let me know all that and we'll go from there.
On the air distribution problem, if your unit is all electrical actuator controls (as in the '98 which I have the manual for) then the actuator for that is on the same side of the unit as the doors for temperature that you were shown, but it is above those two, in the top corner of the left side of the unit. You may need to remove a panel on the steering column to see it. If your '96 is instead vacuum operated (like in '95 which I also have the manual for) then there would be a thin vacuum line that branches off from the power brake booster large hose, goes thru the firewall at the midline of the van, and powers the air distribution door. That line may be disconnected at the big hose or cracked. So it depends upon which type your control system has, I can't be sure.
Roland