A year and a half ago I was in an accident with my 2000 grand caravan 3.8L
4sp. (not my fault). Tranny fluid spewed everywhere. Got the van repaired
and it shifted slightly rough after that. I assumed it was because of the
accident but never pursued it.
A month and a half ago my solenoid pack went. Van in for repair. Got it
back and it had extremely hard shifting. It would make the whole van
chatter from 2nd to 3rd and coins in the ashtray would dance. Even shifting
down to 1st would cause a jerk of the vehicle. I did some internet research
and found that they might not have retrained the computer. Also found that
I have to have ATF+4 in there. Went back to my invoice and see that they
used 3 quarts of Quaker State FLM fluid. Did another internet search
yesterday and found on Quaker States site...
"Type F (FLM)- Specially compounded fluid that meets the latest Ford
ESW-M2C33F specifications, and is compatible with all M2C33 series Ford
specs. All 1983 and later model Ford automatic transmissions use Quaker
StateŽ DEXRONŽ-III/ MERCONŽ or MERCONŽ V automatic transmission fluids."
I have Ford tranny fluid in there!!! I put 2 and 2 together and maybe my
bad shifting in the 1st place was what the body shop used for fluid and got
worse by the addition of FLM. WOW. I found a site at
www.allpar.com/eek/atf.html that says rough shifting can be caused by the
wrong fluid and gives directions on how to clear that up. Basically I
dropped the pan and changed the filter, cleaned it all up and replaced.
Added 4 quarts of fluid and then took the lower tranny line off of the rad
and pumped another 5 quarts out that way and replaced with new.
Took it for a spin and it was like I was driving a brand new vehicle. I had
gotten so used to the hard shifts and cringing when it came to a shift
change that I forgot what it was like to drive a smooth vehicle. I took it
out for several spins after and it was so smooth I could hardly tell where
the shift change was.
I'm writing this for anyone who has hard shifting and might want to know a
cure. It was so simple. I feel like I am driving a new vehicle after a
year and a half. If your vehicle calls for ATF4+ only use ATF4+ do not use
a substitute and from what I gather do not use an additive that "converts"
it to ATF4+.
That is my 2 cents.
Gary