Thread: Any techs in here? Need some help with a car at work...

Alright well i am just going to double check myself on this car, since I can't find the actual problem with it.

Long story short 05 grand caravan came in, has the 3.3, RO states that the vehicle is bogging and wont go above 20 mph, I jump into it and get a cam/crank correlation code out of it, pull the trans back because these are known to crack on the flex plate and throw the crank sensor off, not cracked. Replace both the cam and crank, car is now out of limp mode.

Service writer drives the car and tells me the original problem is still there? WTF! So I hop back in it, well I guess the complaint of bogging is true, and being in limp mode "was something the customer didn't notice" bullshit i know.

So here is where I am at, 1-2 shift is late and high, almost like the trans line pressure is too high for it to grab the gear until later. Our mobile flashing guy came out and we replaced the pcm/tcm, both in the same module. I overlayed the tps signal wire just incase. Still nothing out of it, on tip in its like its not throwing any timing into the motor. Even if you floor it and kick it down it has no power. But this late first gear shift and how hard it is, is throwing me off also.

Any ideas???

not sure how the caravan's are set up...I'm assuming just coil packs/wasted spark. Def sounds like a timing issue. No misfires at all?? Just no power?

Sell them a ECM and Tranny. Problem solved.

Trans is more than likely shifting awkward due to power loss. Once the power is restored the trans will go back to normal.


Chrysler ecm's are notorious for going bad. Check ecm, or swap with another is possible.

Car has got a new map, new tps and signal wire from the tps to the new pcm. Has already been reflashed, our diag guy said it felt like the throttle was binding, checked all that.

I'm lost on this car, I rechecked the cam/crank signal and it says they are in sync, but shows cam/crank difference 6508? doesnt show degrees/revs, what the hell it is.

It got sent to our old diag tech that is now at a different shop to get his opinion, it ran through all the other techs and then myself, and im puzzled.

I wasn't joking. I work at a Toyota Parts Counter. I stamped this into the thread, then asked for a couple opinions from techs close by me. They all agreed.

I've also had this problem in our shop with the lunch ladies Caravan, we got her a new tranny. She was golden afterwards. But at the end of the day, these things are the biggest POS's on the road....

Pulled the trans back again today for the hell of it and actually took the flex plate off this time, tapped the center with a hammer and boink! fell right out. Threw a new one in and its going to get buttoned up thursday, we will see how it does.

On a happy note i still managed to get 13.2 hours today even with not getting paid on that stupid peice of shit dodge.


Sad note, but kind of good, another caravan pulled into my other bay, "surging while going down the road", with a diag attached to it, oh well at least I have practice dropping the trans now! lmao

I was just going to reply Dodges are a big POS. My old friends dodge was nothing but problems. Truck would just randomly die and there are soo many issues with related components that its really pretty much impossible to diagnose such as cluster, wiring, main harness connector near the fuse box getting dirty, broken or burnt wires, fuse box burning up wires, circuits in the pcm going bad for the main pcm relay, fuel pump relay, and a couple other relay triggers. Shitty wiring that burns up because its under sized especially the puny ass relays they use. Fuse box literally melted a hole in itself near the fuel pump relay and burn all the wiring to it. So i wired in a heavy duty relay and all new wiring to the fuel pump. Then it was one circuit after another going out in the pcm then the pcm finally just stopped working. The dude didnt want to just get a new pcm to begin with even though i told him that was the problem. It was a beat up tow/haul rig anyways.

Dodge caravans overheating and crap, fans seizing up, melting wiring, blah blah blah, not to mention the same guy with the truck, his caravan is on its 3rd transmission. Dodge can just go jump off a cliff.

Never buy American. Sad to say but true

You a dealer tech, or are flat rate aftermarket/general shops more common in the USA? And you should get paid for all of your diagnosis time; my opinion.