I'm having a problem with the transmission in the van. The van is a 91 B350 5.9L with a three speed overdrive transmission. The front seal on the trans was leaking a bit of fluid and I have been constantly been putting fluid in. Roughly a quart every 200 miles so that gives you a fair idea of the leak.
There isn't a loss of power while driving around or slippage when your at slow speeds or fast speeds. When you try go up a hill like a steep on ramp onto the interstate the trans tends to shudder as you build up speed and another thing that just happened was the van was stopped on a hill and when we tried to take off in drive it wouldn't move so we shifted it into first and it went without any problems.
I checked the fluid and it needed a quart. The fluid was also a bit black and since putting the fluid in it has shuddered once going up an interstate ramp.
On monday I'm changing the seals and filter and flushing the trans. What else could be a problem causing this to happen? Am I looking at a full rebuild or changing out the torque converter or should changing out the seals and flushing the system should do it?
Nigel Letter
03-31-2007, 04:34 PM
Another thing about the van. The engine when you first start it up cold it has a tapping sound but as it heats up the noise goes away. Also we are using way more fuel than we used to.
On another note the van says it has over 182,000 miles on it but that was before we got our hands on it and the clock has stopped reading the distance now. The van usually does a few thousand miles a week and has for the last few years so it might be nearing 500,000 miles.
Dodgevanman
04-01-2007, 11:14 PM
moving to van section....
Dodgevanman
04-01-2007, 11:20 PM
What's happening is that when the trans. gets low on fluid, it's slips. When it get too low, the van won't move. This extremely bad for the transmission. If you plan on keeping the van, you should consider having the leak fixed. Significant internal damage could have already been done to the transmission.
The tapping noise you are hearing are the lifters which are hydraulic. They will tap until they fill with oil. If you suspect that you van has 500K on the clock, you should be proud. I wouldn't tear into the engine and start replacing individual components especially at that kind of mileage. I say make sure the oil level is up and driver until she dies. Then if you want to keep the van, consider a remanufactured engine.
Congrats on 500K!
Nigel Letter
04-01-2007, 11:37 PM
I filed the trans again before my trip home and even though it was full it just kept slipping. I checked the fluid level and it said it read full but the color was red with black mixed in with it. Definately the first thing I do is change the seals and flush it out also.
With the engine I change it every two to three weeks due to the traveling we do in it. Only other problem is that if we turn the a/c on the van overheats. It has plenty of water in the system and when you don't run the a/c it runs fine. The rear a/c doesn't blow cold just heat and the front blows cold but not heat. I have not been able to come up with a reason for it. I have spoken to a few dodge guys and they couldn't explain why it was like this.
stev
04-02-2007, 11:39 AM
"IF" the 91 rear HVAC system is like the Gen-2 rear HVAC systems, it is possible that the rear actuator has gone bad to keep blowing heat.
Ram4ever
04-02-2007, 01:02 PM
Like Stev said, for the heat issue look for the actuator or control valve. In my older van there's two valves in the smaller water hoses - one for the front heater and one for the rear. I just had to replace one - once you locate them it's a piece of cake. Mine have the Four Season valves with exposed linkage, so by moving the controls I could tell which was the correct one by seeing what moved. If there's no exposed linkage on yours you might have to resort to the old feeling the hose to see which is hot trick.
You didn't say how long you've owned the van, so I'm curious if your transmission issue might be another one related to needing to check the fluid level in neutral instead of park in Dodge transmissions? The black stuff is ugly bad. You've probably got clutch material all over the bottom of your pan. If the filter is severely clogged, it would have caused fuild starvation, which can cause a lot of wear. Clean the pan out as well as possible so you don't clog your new filter right away. The transmission might still behave itself for you for quite a while if treated well.
Nigel Letter
04-02-2007, 01:14 PM
We have owned the van for just over five years and the only thing that kept it off the road for a while before was a blown head gasket which was a simple fix. Its an awsome van. It tows a lot of weight all the time so the miles we have clocked up over the last five years have been heavy work for it. Also we even creamed a deer in the thing doing 50mph and we didn't even stop. We made it out of that one without a scratch.
I'm about to head out to autozone and get a new filter, flush kit and a new front and rear seal aswell. Its going to be a fun afternoon.
Dodgevanman
04-02-2007, 09:34 PM
Keep us posted on your progress Nigel!
gower3544
04-02-2007, 10:53 PM
500,000 holy crap!!!!!!!
Nigel Letter
04-10-2007, 04:58 AM
The job got put back by a week but I started on it yesterday and I got it off the van and the seals out aswell. Have to order one seal in which will be in at 2pm today.
So when I got the oil pan off the trans it wasn't pretty. The oil was like mud. The filter was completely black and the magnetic filter on the pan had a big clump of crap on it. Not very nice to see atall but I have it all cleaned out and inspected everything inside the transmission and everything seems to be in pretty good shape. The seals didn't even look bad atall but they were leaking a small bit.
I'm going to put it all back in the van today and drive it this weekend for 1000 miles and replace the filter again on monday just incase I didn't get al the dirt out of it I don't want it blocking the filter up again and causing another problem.
When its together and running again I'll give everyone another update as to how its running.
Nigel Letter
04-11-2007, 12:42 AM
got the van back together about an hour ago and got it started but now I'm having a major problem. If I put if in reverse it wil move put put it in drive of 1st or 2nd and it will just roll back if I'm on a hill and I have to floor it to get it to move. I haven't driven it more than 20ft because of this problem.
I ned to have the van to drive on thursday so I have wednesday only to fix it. Can anyone give me some info to fix this problem?
Dodgevanman
04-11-2007, 06:51 AM
Sounds like you could still be low on fluid. Make sure the van is on a level surface and double-check the fluid level in Neutral
Nigel Letter
04-11-2007, 08:45 AM
I spoke to a guy last night and he said that the gunk that was in the oil pan and the black oil that I cleaned out was holding the transmission together and was making it not slip too bad. I would think that cleaning it out would do it the world of good and make it work again. How does that guys reason sound? I really don't know about it. I'm going to check the fluid again when I get to the van today but when I checked it yesterday after I finished it seemed to be fine.
Dodgevanman
04-11-2007, 09:49 AM
I've heard that several times before myself. I don't know how true it is either because I've never had it happen to me personally. I guess it could be true..I don't know.
Nigel Letter
04-11-2007, 01:26 PM
Just got drenched by the rain but it doesn't matter cause the van is running better than ever! It was low on fluid. I put in 9 quarts and it brought it to the right level.
I checked the level last night when it was in neutral and it was at the right level and that was after 4 quarts but today when it was cold it was very low so I kept filling it till it was good.
It feels so good to have the van up and running again. I'm doing a 1000 mile trip this weekend so I'll give everyone an update to let everyone know how it went.
Nigel Letter
04-12-2007, 08:43 PM
Time for an update. Stuck on the side of the interstate at the moment. The transmision bit the dust. The motor would just gain rpm's but it wouldn't move. It had enough fluid in it and it worked fine untill it shuddered and acted like it was missing on one cylinder. Then it just wouldn't budge.
This sucks. Looks like I'm spending next week putting a new transmission in.
Dodgevanman
04-13-2007, 06:39 AM
It does suck...same thing happened to me in a '69 Dodge van I have years ago. I was going up a hill and BANG, nothin' but neutral.
I must say with 500,000 miles on the van and if the transmission is original, you really can't complain. :-)
