'02 Limited edition Automatic transmission woes

[RhetRx]

We love our Cruiser, but it's one of the ones that has had electrical problems, tires that went flat because of the corroding rims, and mystery noises over the years. I'd thought we'd finally gotten the bugs under control, until....

Two weeks ago, at about 85K miles, we heard a pop, the check engine light came on, and the car ground to a halt off I95 near Kensington, MD. We managed to get it started again, and it limped a little further before dying completely....not too far from a Fitzgerald Auto Mall. AAA towed it in, and the mechanics declared we needed a new transmission, because there was shredded metal in the old one.

Okay...... a week later we come back, get the car. The description of work done is:

Replaced transmission with Reman. Unit

Qty Part number Description

1 #R5068269-AE Trans with 2100 (trac
2 #5013458-AA Fluid Aut 1081018
1 #R5068269-AE Core Return

I expected that when we drove the car off the lot, that would be the end of it, or we would have been given instructions about what needed to be done to re-train the car. Instead, after going 6 miles [at about 35-40mph on a road with multiple traffic lights], the check engine light came back on, and the car seemed to slow down without use of brakes.

We called the dealership, which informed us that the check engine light wasn't unusual, and could have been set off by a gas cap not being closed tightly enough. This seemed strange, but we tightened the cap and continued north. The driver needed to get to the office and maybe the light would go out when the car was restarted at the end of the workday...?

Unfortunately, when trying to drive the vehicle home to Baltimore on the Beltway, the Check Engine light was still on, and the car was making unusual noises, bucking, and wouldn't go over 45 mph without the engine being gunned to nearly 5000rpms. So the driver switched to back roads where 45 was the expected speed. [When I read through the discussions on this forum, I realized that probably the car was again in "limp home" mode -- am I guessing correctly?]

Today I checked the codes:

P1684 [Battery had been disconnected within last 50 starts]
0700 [There's something wrong with the automatic transmission!]

Ummm, yes, I worked that out already, thanks....

I don't think the car would make it back the 40+ miles to the Fitzgerald Auto Mall, so I'm thinking of taking it to the Heritage Chrysler dealership that has done the service for the last three years. Any advice about what might be happening or what I should expect?

It completely boggles my mind that a dealer would replace a transmission and not test the car at highway speed to make sure the transmission had been set up correctly....

Help?

sincerely,

Rhet

[CREWZIN]

From PT Do-It-Yourself.net

The PT is equipped with the Powertrain Control Module and Transmission Control Module combined in a single control module. This module is the Next Generation Controller (NGC) for DC and is referred to as the PCM.

P0700 - Check Transmission DTC's. This SBEC III or JTEC DTC indicates that the EATX has an active fault and has requested illuminated the MIL via a BUS message. The specific fault must be acquired from the EATX. The dealer will use a DRB scan tool to check fault codes and identify the issue.

Find any good mechanic or the dealer with the scan tool to pinpoint your problem.

[RhetRx]

Well, we got the car back today, and it appears there were two factory defects in the replacement transmission [it concerns me that the service people doing the installation didn't check to make sure everything was working properly before handing it back to us...]:

Transmission solenoid internal failure
Sticking valve body [jammed in incorrect position due to internal fault]

No charge for fixing problems, although I will need to send a request to Chrysler for reimbursement for the rental vehicle.

Thank you all for listening

RhetRx

[quicksilverdon]

Thanks for posting back with the resolution. Hope you're good to go now - would've been nice if they'd got it right the FIRST time...

[raerae77]

They should have test drove it. Good rule of thumb, and ya'll probably already know this, write your mileage down when you take the car to the dealer/mechanic...if it's not different, they didn't test drive it. With any major repair, should be test driven at least 10 miles.

[RhetRx]

Well, the odometer did indicate about 10 miles, and there was significantly less gas in the car when we picked it up....but I don't think anyone with a brain [or ears] was behind the wheel at the time of the test drive!

The car has since done 100 miles with the repaired repair, and is behaving in a much more gentlemanly fashion.

Hurray! [And, I found all of you to talk to, so that's a good thing as well]