Towing 3000lb PU with '01 T&C 3.8l help! Question

[brainpause]

(Larry, FYI, the voyager is proportional not time based).

When I typed that, I had a little green man in the back of my head telling me that it wasn't time-based. However, there have been numerous accounts of Voyagers being retired to door stops, wheel chocks, or paper weights. Thanks for correcting me, because I do want accurate info here at PUT.

IIRC, the difference is that the Prodigy is Solid State, and does not need resetting. Apparently the Voyager's setting can drift and need resetting.

Can someone help me out here? I'm at work and don't have time at the moment to research my memory.

Larry

[edwardr132]

Good Luck with your popup.  I hope you have many great adventures.  Little bit of warning though.  I did get the trans cooler, and was only towing a 1,700lb (empty, 2,200lb fully loaded) popup with our 1997 Plymouth Grand Voyager.  the 3.3ltr engine.  I towed maybe about 500 miles in it when the van "reacted" to the towing experience with a sudden need for a new transmission.  (the van had about 70K miles on it).  Bottom Line,  I seriously doubt you will have many "years of service" with your Chrysler minivan.  Plan on it lasting maybe one year at most.  Our Plymouth Grand Voyager was meticulously maintained with the trans "flushed out every 20k miles/so.  After the van "reacted".  We immediately traded it in and got the new Honda Odyssey.  No way was I going to sink more money like a new trans into that van.   Plymouth, now Chrysler/Dodge is still using basically the same transmission in all their vans.  

I can't be certain that what caused the failure was "overheating".  I just don't think it was designed to handle the towing experience, like putting a v4 engine into a Suburban.  I would definitely put a transmission temperature gauge in the van.  I don't think that will save you though.  I would keep driving on the highway to about 60mph MAX.  Don't go over 60mph.  The wind drag causes the trans to work harder.  This is not a problem with the Honda Odyssey.

I got a 2006 Honda Odyssey.  Now that Minivan really was a "huge, "huge" difference towing.  I hardly know it's back there.  I always knew it was back there with the Plymouth Grand Voyager.  The stopping distance was "terrible" on the Plymouth Grand Voyager.  One thing I did learn is it is probably best to "load your coolers and everything else as much as possible in the popup and not in the back of the minivan.

I did do a lot things different though and learned some very "expensive" lessons.

1)  I got the WDH.  Cost around $600/so

2)  Got the tow package on the Honda Odyssey (cost around $1200/so)

This is after paying up to a $1,000 getting the Plymouth Grand Voyager ready for towing.  

Just be careful out there and don't push things.  If you plan for the worst and don't get it; you've come out ahead.

[wavery]

Good Luck with your popup.  I hope you have many great adventures.  Little bit of warning though.  I did get the trans cooler, and was only towing a 1,700lb (empty, 2,200lb fully loaded) popup with our 1997 Plymouth Grand Voyager.  the 3.3ltr engine.  I towed maybe about 500 miles in it when the van "reacted" to the towing experience with a sudden need for a new transmission.  (the van had about 70K miles on it).  Bottom Line,  I seriously doubt you will have many "years of service" with your Chrysler minivan.  Plan on it lasting maybe one year at most.  Our Plymouth Grand Voyager was meticulously maintained with the trans "flushed out every 20k miles/so.  After the van "reacted".  We immediately traded it in and got the new Honda Odyssey.  No way was I going to sink more money like a new trans into that van.   Plymouth, now Chrysler/Dodge is still using basically the same transmission in all their vans.  

I can't be certain that what caused the failure was "overheating".  I just don't think it was designed to handle the towing experience, like putting a v4 engine into a Suburban.  I would definitely put a transmission temperature gauge in the van.  I don't think that will save you though.  I would keep driving on the highway to about 60mph MAX.  Don't go over 60mph.  The wind drag causes the trans to work harder.  This is not a problem with the Honda Odyssey.

I got a 2006 Honda Odyssey.  Now that Minivan really was a "huge, "huge" difference towing.  I hardly know it's back there.  I always knew it was back there with the Plymouth Grand Voyager.  The stopping distance was "terrible" on the Plymouth Grand Voyager.  One thing I did learn is it is probably best to "load your coolers and everything else as much as possible in the popup and not in the back of the minivan.

I did do a lot things different though and learned some very "expensive" lessons.

1)  I got the WDH.  Cost around $600/so

2)  Got the tow package on the Honda Odyssey (cost around $1200/so)

This is after paying up to a $1,000 getting the Plymouth Grand Voyager ready for towing.  

Just be careful out there and don't push things.  If you plan for the worst and don't get it; you've come out ahead.

edwardr132

Sorry to hear about your experience with the 1997 Chrysler product. However, that was the "Break-back" year for Chrysler transmissions. You are correct, they did have a lot of failures.

Now that they have changed to using a synthetic-based transmission fluid and some basic mods on that trans, the failures have been dropped significantly.

Any transmission can fail do to a lot of things (including Honda's), towing is one of them and, of course, heat is the biggest problem. The synth-based trans fluid does not "Burn", like the petrol-based fluids. That is a huge plus. It will keep doing it's job at a much higher temp. When petrol-based fluids get too hot, you might as well have water in your transmission. The fluid would not keep the clutch-pack pressurized after it got too hot. The clutches would slip and the trans would fail prematurely due to worn out clutches and often hard part failure for the same reason. The synthetic fluid has resolved much of that issue. They also did some computer mods that have helped significantly.

I have a 2001 Chrysler with 80K on it. I have towed my 3000# (fully loaded) PU for about 2,000 miles now. My trans is fine. However, I don't exceed 55MPH and I haven't taken it on many mountain trips and never in the heat.

I don't what to concern you about the Honda but it has problems too:
http://forums.carreview.com/showthread.php?t=113
Automatic transmissions are not a perfect science. A small percentage of them fail on almost any model of vehicle. IMHO, this synthetic-fluid may be the answer for a lot of manufacturers. It's just that Chrysler was the first to make the (expensive) leap.

[brainpause]

I don't what to concern you about the Honda but it has problems too:
http://forums.carreview.com/showthread.php?t=113
Automatic transmissions are not a perfect science. A small percentage of them fail on almost any model of vehicle.

Ain't that the truth. My wife's Nissan Maxima's transmission failed at 5000 miles. Yep. 5K. But it has been great for the past 70K miles.

Then again, it was involved in a front end collision. I can't rule that out as a possible cause of the tranny failure.

Larry

[edwardr132]

edwardr132

Sorry to hear about your experience with the 1997 Chrysler product. However, that was the "Break-back" year for Chrysler transmissions. You are correct, they did have a lot of failures.

Chrysler has lost me as a customer forever, because of it.  Makes me leery of all Domestic vans as well.  I have owned Honda's all my life and have only had problems with their exhaust systems.  I own cars an average of 13 years.  The engines and trans on the Honda Accords are wonderfully engineered pieces of equipment.  Hopefully the Honda Mini-Van will work out just as nice.  The Chrysler minivan was our first and only domestic vehicle.  My brother-in-law's Yukon XL looks mightly appealing right now if I can get him to deal though

[wynot]

When adding an air-cooled tranny cooler to a factory, air-cooled tranny cooler, I don't believe that it makes any difference if you put it in-line before or after the factory cooler. If someone says that it does, I would sure like to hear why it does.
 

air exchange to air exchange, I would kinda agree.  But most A/Ts are cooled by integrated coolers using the radiator.  It wouldn't make much sense to use an external cooler and then run it through the rad system.

[wynot]

So why (other then install) is the prodigy SOOOOO mush better then other properitonal units?

There are other brake controllers out there???
 
Actually, the Prodigy was a 10 minute install in my Chevy, set in a couple of minutes and I really haven't done anything since.  I knew the first time I stopped that it wasn't our old controller (time delay).

[wynot]

Chrysler has lost me as a customer forever, because of it. Makes me leery of all Domestic vans as well. I have owned Honda's all my life and have only had problems with their exhaust systems. I own cars an average of 13 years. The engines and trans on the Honda Accords are wonderfully engineered pieces of equipment. Hopefully the Honda Mini-Van will work out just as nice. The Chrysler minivan was our first and only domestic vehicle. My brother-in-law's Yukon XL looks mightly appealing right now if I can get him to deal though

We have some devout Chrysler bigots as friends (means that Chrysler never made a bad anything).  They sell their Chryslers right at 70,000 miles.  When asked why (since I needle them about it), they said, so they don't have any problems with them.  Sounds like denial to me...

[wavery]

We have some devout Chrysler bigots as friends (means that Chrysler never made a bad anything).  They sell their Chryslers right at 70,000 miles.  When asked why (since I needle them about it), they said, so they don't have any problems with them.  Sounds like denial to me...

I hear you. I am not necessarily "Pro" any brand. In fact, I was a GM Service Manager for many years. At the time (80's) they had terrible transmissions. They just got the TH400 to a point where it was pretty trouble free and they discontinued it.....Go figure.

My brother just retired from SC Johnson Wax. When he was employed, I used to purchase his vehicle when it came out of his 3-year lease. The last 2 vehicles have been Chrysler products and I have been pleasantly surprised. Before my 2001 Concorde, I had a 1996 Dodge Intrepid and I (we) put over 200K on that thing and it ran like new the day I sold it. It still had the original spark plugs. All I did was change fluids, tires & brakes. I took the plugs out a few times, to replace them, and put them right back in. They were like new, not even a speck of soot. I was amazed at that vehicle. So far, my Concorde has been the same.

Am I a Chrysler supporter.....no. I just think that manufacturers (in general) are building cars better than they used to. The Japanese manufacturers have put a lot of pressure on the US to do better. We got spoiled and lazy. That's the bottom line. My hope is that the US manufacturers will wake up before Japan becomes the only builders of automobiles.

Actually, what the Japanese automakers do better than us is concentrate on customer service. If something does go wrong, they do a better job of making it right than we do. That is where Honda really excels in the market place.

I was Service Manager for a Pontiac/Honda store in Covina many years ago. There was an amazing difference between the way the customer was treated when I compared the 2 manufacturers. In fact, that's one of the reasons I got out of the business. GM was so full of "Fat cats" that they refused to change. It took a lot longer than I thought but GM may be paying the ultimate price soon. The fact is, most of GMs income has come from selling assets over the last 20 years. They had a LOT of assets. Not anymore.

[wynot]

I hear you. I am not necessarily "Pro" any brand. In fact, I was a GM Service Manager for many years. At the time (80's) they had terrible transmissions. They just got the TH400 to a point where it was pretty trouble free and they discontinued it.....Go figure.
 
My brother just retired from SC Johnson Wax. When he was employed, I used to purchase his vehicle when it came out of his 3-year lease. The last 2 vehicles have been Chrysler products and I have been pleasantly surprised. Before my 2001 Concorde, I had a 1996 Dodge Intrepid and I (we) put over 200K on that thing and it ran like new the day I sold it. It still had the original spark plugs. All I did was change fluids, tires & brakes. I took the plugs out a few times, to replace them, and put them right back in. They were like new, not even a speck of soot. I was amazed at that vehicle. So far, my Concorde has been the same.
 
Am I a Chrysler supporter.....no. I just think that manufacturers (in general) are building cars better than they used to. The Japanese manufacturers have put a lot of pressure on the US to do better. We got spoiled and lazy. That's the bottom line. My hope is that the US manufacturers will wake up before Japan becomes the only builders of automobiles.
 
Actually, what the Japanese automakers do better than us is concentrate on customer service. If something does go wrong, they do a better job of making it right than we do. That is where Honda really excels in the market place.
 
QUOTE]
 
It's tough to say where a car is built, assembled, made, whatever, these days. So, GM may be US, Canadian, Japanese, Korean, German, Brazilian, and whoever else they are partnered with. Same with the others.
 
Ford's AXOD transaxle was the weak point in the Taurus and Windstar, and Ford got it under control. Chrysler's getting better, no doubt, but I think the Mercedes merger did nothing for MB, and everything for Chrysler.
 
But the Big 3 are hurting bad, and they lost the kids, who go and buy some Japanese nameplate. Now the Korean makes are doing the same thing. Long and short, once you lose the kids, you lose their market for life.
 
My family growing up had American cars and German cars. Japanese cars were rust buckets and known inferior products (not to mention UGLY). Japanese automakers did what all Japanese manufacturing is known for - they adjusted their product, quality, and standards; copied what worked (usually styling) and kept the fuel mileage up there, and when the '73 gas crisis came, they had a product.
 
I seriously doubt that the domestic brands can survive, with the kids buying largely Asian brands starting out, I don't see them buying FoMoCo, GM, or Chrysler. Maybe on the truck side, but domestically, Toyota and Nissan have given a migration path to the kids when they finally give up on the little Japanese trucks and want something full-size. Even Honda is somewhat in the market there, and I think the Ridgeline was designed as a Honda Avalanche without the midgate.
 
My most devout once only-Chevy friend now has two Hondas, and is going to replace his Tahoe with a Pilot. He said he was tired of the Detroit automakers building an inferior truck, charging $40-50,000 for it, and expecting him to be buying another in a few years. And a neighbor of ours got rid of everything domestic at one shot and now has five Hondas in the driveway.