Hi Ted, yes I see your contribution on page 4. I noted your writing on
pushing the filter hard to snap it in place. I did not know how hard I
should push as it was willing to stay there with some friction from the O
ring. Many might have left it like that. You said to push it hard so I did
and it snapped into place. My Hayes manual was very vague on that. In fact
they did not mention an O ring like you did. Thank you for that - as when
the old filter dropped into my oil pan I had a look at it - no O ring, I
looked in the hole, no O ring. The new one had an oil ring and I remember
you said there was one so I looked around in the oil pan and found it
confirming that I should use an O ring.

Yes I know you recommend an external tranny cooler - probably a good idea on
all Chrysler products. I got the trailer towing package that comes with the
factory tranny cooler so I'm ok there. 5-1/2 years and the tranny is still
going.

BTW should I have found metal particles on the bottom of the tranny? I was
quite surprised at how clean the pan was considering I had never changed the
fluid before. Very little sticking to the magnet. BTW next edition of your
tips, you might mention to remember to replace the magnet after cleaning the
pan, for the odd weekend mechanic like me. I lined up the pan after putting
the sealant on and ran a couple of bolts into it when I had the sinking
thought that I didn't remember replacing the magnet........ added a little
extra work.....sigh.

Gary

"Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote in message
...
>
> "gary" > wrote in message
> news:9nEEe.25144$5V4.5789@pd7tw3no...
>> 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.
>>
>
>>
>> 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.
>>
>
> I was one of the posters that submitted a flush info to that site, I'm
> glad
> that someone was able to make use of it!
>
> I hope also that you read my comments regarding an external tranny cooler,
> if your van is fitted with an in-radiator tranny cooler only.
>
>> 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+.
>>
>
> Great - we sing that song regularly in this forum. It's amazing that
> there
> are
> shops out there that will put the wrong fluid in these transmissions.
>
> Ted
>
>