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View Poll Results: When did you have to remove/replace your FWD Mopar Transaxle for repair?
100K miles or less 1 14.29%
100k to 150K miles 2 28.57%
150K to 200K miles 1 14.29%
200K miles or over 3 42.86%
Voters: 7. You may not vote on this poll

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  #1  
Old 09-01-2007, 02:28 PM
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Stoga Stoga is offline
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Default Mopar FWD transaxle life

I've been wanting to do a poll on this subject, but was waiting until now to do so. Now is because I just had the transaxle replaced in my 2000 Grand Caravan.
It had 163,000 miles and the main reason I replaced it was because the slow leak it developed the past 5000 miles or so from the front seal became too big of a pain in the kiester to deal with. Transmission still shifted fine, though had been going into 2nd gear a little hard here lately. I'd been dumping a quart of fluid in it every week or so and could have babied it further, but didn't feel like it anymore.
School was starting soon and I wanted my kid hauler in good shape.
Fluid was changed religiously every 30K and minor leaks caused by pan bashings on my nasty driveway were repaired as soon as possible.
I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get at least 200K out of the transaxle, but considering the abuse I've put the minivan under, I'm not overly disappointed either.
This poll is only if you've had to either remove or replace the transaxle for repair. Maintenance, minor leak repair, the odd solenoid going bad, etc, etc, aren't to be considered for voting.
Due to the location of the leak, I suspect the front pump bushing and seal went bad, same as went bad in my friend's 88 Daytona that I bought from him. However, my Caravan didn't have any bad motor mounts, extreme abuse or anything that would have accelerated the problem like on my 1988.
So anyway, if you've had to drop a Mopar automatic transaxle, tell us about it. Just realize that if you never changed the fluid regularly or hammered it hard, you probably caused your own problems.
One other thing, other manufacturers have these problems too, so anyone using this thread to blow a non-Mopar horn will have administration asked to kindly remove their posts. Thanks!
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  #2  
Old 09-05-2007, 01:35 AM
bjoehandley bjoehandley is offline
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Got 125k out of the Lebaron's 3sp auto, but I bought the car with 101k on the clock and don;t know what it went through before I had a chance to tear things up with that car.
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Old 09-05-2007, 08:14 AM
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1973Swinger 1973Swinger is offline
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Ive never had to replace a FWD Mopar Trans. I had to do a clutch on my 83 Charger and my mom had to have her 89 Caravan Trans rebuilt, but thats it in my experience. I did however have issues with the input/output solenoids on my 99 Intrepid, but that was just a $50 fix. As far as other brands go for me, the only trans I ever had issues with was the 700R4 in my 85 GMC S15, but I think that had to do with me towing my 24ft Scarrab occasionally for short distances with it. Other than that, none of my GMs really gave me any trans issues either. My dad did have a Cutlass Ciera that had some trans issues though.
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Old 09-05-2007, 06:17 PM
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nhdriver nhdriver is offline
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I think you did pretty well getting 163K out of a trans that has been universally bashed by most car mags & trans shops. The early versions of this trans had a high failure rate, but once they figured out the trans fluid problem out and people got the word not to use the "wrong" fluid in these trannys, they seem to hold up as good as any other FWD trans. I had 3 cars w/ this trans and never had to replace any of them (they all had well over 100k on them) Mopar +3 or +4 fluid keeps them going good. I think yours would have hung in there if you wanted to do the convertor bushing/seal replacement.
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Old 09-07-2007, 02:55 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nhdriver View Post
I think yours would have hung in there if you wanted to do the convertor bushing/seal replacement.
I thought about that, but didn't think anyone local had the expertise and I'm not a transmission man. Still, I worry if I made the wrong choice, the factory reman doesn't shift as nice as the old transaxle did, though it is smoothing up some with a few hundred miles on it now.
I'm going to have them take a look at it tomorrow, for just in case.
At least it doesn't leak fluid!
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Old 09-15-2007, 07:02 PM
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About an hour and a half.
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