[Jackrabbit]

I'm having some issues with the tranny in the minivan, and I can't quite figure it out. When I put it into R it clunks loud, like someone smacked it with a hammer. When I park it will roll forward several inches and clunk then as well.
Lastly, the selector needle is way off, and unless I'm hallucinating, it seems like it's getting worse... when I put it in drive, the selector reads well into the 2 spot.

I changed the fluid and filter when I bought the van late last year. The magnet was missing from the pan, and 2 of the pan's bolt holes were stripped out, which tells me someone was digging around in there.

I adjusted the kickdown band, but I'm hesitant to drop the pan again to do the low-reverse, for fear of getting those stripped holes to seal again.

Any help or ideas is greatly appreciated!

Sorry for the long winded post!
-Wade

 

[Stevien1]

Sounds like you may have worn out motor mounts. If it's a column shift, there's a small "wire" that is clipped to the steering column. You can pull it down and reclip it to get the needle to line back up with the correct gear range. A quick fix for stripped trans pan holes is to put a small cotter pin in the hole, then force-thread the bolt. It will make new threads in the soft aluminum and snug up. Sounds harsh- but it works in a pinch.

-Chuck James