Front wheel bearing and idler tensioner replaced at 91,000.
Transmission has now failed at 116,100.
I give the car good marks for its roominess, handling and overall fuel economy and power. I have been very disappointed to learn of the continuing difficulties with the Caravan's transmission. Chrysler had difficulties with this transmission in the late 80's and early 90's so I thought that the problem had been fixed. An independent transmission mechanic had advised me the the A604 (later called 41TE) transmission is just not designed to provide more than 100,000 miles of reliable service regardless of year model. He described the interior parts and design of the transmission as "cheap" although it represented an innovative design at the time of its introduction.
It is a shame that Chrysler has let this problem persist for nearly 15 years with only marginal improvement in expected service life. There is no reason that a tranmission should not last for 175,000 to 200,000 miles with normal care and maintenace.
103,000 miles and my transmission also went out on my 96 Grand Caravan.
Transmission replaced on a 2.4 1996 caravan with 101043 miles.
Wow, mine has lasted until 130,000 miles and I am happy! 116,100 miles is enough on a vehicle, my 2002 odyssey only lasted 54000 miles and many others, these vans aren't that bad!
What happened to you Odyssey? Did it get stolen, or run over by a steam-roller?
(You must be very hard on your vehicles- Cars routinely hit 150,000-200,000 miles nowadays without breaking much of a sweat.)
Well, the transmission in our '96 Plymouth Voyager died at 104,000 miles. $2700 to fix, but that included a new motor mount, 2 new CV joints, and a bunch of new parts in the trans. I thought they had most of the updates done by then, but this one didn't have them. It needed new planetary gears, an updated OD hub, an updated 2-4 hub, new bushing, and a rebuilt torque converter. The tapered snap ring in the 2-4 clutch had broke, causing this.
Note that some of the FWD Ford Overdrive trans axles also have serious planetary gear failures as well! These are well known for this in the trans rebuilder industry.
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