This van has had 4 transmissions. Bought the van back in 2012, was told that the van probably wouldn't make it back to the house. Van is a former taxi that came from the states so when you see the mileage, that it is in miles not kilometers. We NEVER replaced the transmission for as long as we had it and finally, after about 4 years the transmission finally went. We were driving from South NB to north NB and we went to pass a car and the engine revved up and boom, she was done. They are pretty durable vans for the $500 we paid and the mileage.

My wife was leaving work one day. She put the van in reverse to back out of her parking space and heard/felt a loud "thump." She thought she backed into something, so she got out to check. Nothing there. Got back in and had to shift from P to R a couple times to get it in gear. Drove home with no further problems. Next day, same thing to back out of the driveway...shift several times. She told me about it that night and I tried it out. I couldn't get it to go into either D or R without several attempts.

Had it towed to the shop and they called the next day to say that the transmission needed replaced. $4000 to have one shipped from the Lower 48 and installed. We didn't have much choice. Couldn't sell it in that condition, so we got the new transmission. The shop said this is a common problem for this vehicle at or shortly after 100,000 miles. Not happy. I've never had a transmission failure on any other vehicle I've ever owned (some with significantly more miles). The transmission has a 1 year warranty. We'll most likely sell the van before then.

Bottom line, if you own one of these vans, sell it before 100,000 miles. This is one of numerous problems we've had. I've posted additional complaints for other items. It was a good, reliable vehicle until about 90,000-95,000 miles. Constant major and minor issues since then. This one was the worst.

Catastrophic Transmission failure at 137,000 miles on a 2005 Dodge.

I have a 2001 Chevy Tahoe with 227000 miles and still going strong.

I've had a 1996 Ford Ranger that had 200000+ miles when I traded it off, it to was still going strong.

Mopar my butt, more like nopar.

This repair will most likely cost me close to $1k or more so I am most defiantly am not a Dodge fan. As a matter of fact I have ranked Dodge just below obama!!! See there I hesitate at even capitalizing Dodge to show that I have no respect for them.

Just driving down highway and heard a strange noise and it jerked a couple times, nothing major, so I pulled over and looked and nothing seemed wrong, put it back and gear and it wouldn't go, pushed the gas down more and it would jerk forward a few times. Had it towed and the shop put it up on hoist and looked really quick before closing, told me transmission is making an aweful noise and it probably is shot, they will look more Monday. Hard to believe it would go out with no warning, slipping at all prior, I also just had the oil changed yesterday and they said everything was fine, rec. I change the transmission fluid and power steering fluid, but that was it..

Update from Aug 21, 2013: The dodge dealership said they diagnosed it with a broken gear in the transmission (but couldn't tell my husband what gear) They said the transmission was shot, needed rebuilt or a new one. They gave us 2 options a rebuilt on for $2,300 but with only a 30 day warranty on it or $3200 for a new one with 3 yr, 100,000 mile warranty. We called around to other places and they ranged from $1500-$2000 for rebuilds with 1 yr warranties, but we already owed the dealership $90 for diagnosis and we would have to pay for a tow and car rental if we went somewhere else, the dealership lent us a (beater) rental car, so we just kept it there.

It is really bad when you spend alot on a car and in less than a year the transmission fails. I was told (after the fact) that this is an inheirent problem with Dodge Grand Caravan transmissions when they near 100,000 miles the transmission fails. This was told to me by Dodge Dealers, Mechanics,other Caravan owners on models 2005,2006. they informed me the transmission was changed on the 2007 models. SO WHY ISN'T THIS A RECALL? It is an admitted default by everyone including Dodge. I don't think I should have to pay an additional $3000.00 incl labor to fix their problem.If anyone has a solution to recovering my money please let me know @ stonechi59@yahoo.com. I would also consider a class action law suit against Dodge. I'm sure there is plenty of others with this and other problems regarding Dodge products.

I cannot believe this happened. Always done maintenance to vehicle. Husband and son called coming home from baseball, and I guess it jerked,and died in the middle of a bridge overpass. Damn thing would not move. Flatbed to Luther dealer MN and right away in the morning they called and said the planetary gears were shot. What?? They would never have called that fast if it were a warranty repair. The estimate was 3800.00 WTF? The car is not worth 3800.00 or at least they would not give me that last year for trade in. The best part is when I called Dodge and was connected to a call center in India. The person that I was speaking to called the dealer and asked why my tranny service was not recorded there. If they had the record, they may "consider" some type of assistance. NO THANKS. I paid Luther to look at my car and found a gentleman thru my network of car guys who picked up my car, took it to his shop, fixed it in 2 days and drove it back to me and charged me 2k and gave me a 2 year unlimited mile warranty. Take that Dodge and Luther MN dealers. That is America and some kindness. I will never own another Dodge or Chrysler product or spend my families money at a Luther dealership

This just happened to me today. I immediately felt like this was not a random occurrence. I had to get the sucker towed then I come home and go to Google and I type in 2005 caravan transmission. Guess what comes up, yep this article on Autobeef with 2 exact matches... Anyway I waiting to hear from my mechanic to see what is the final word, but from what I just read, it looks like the tranny crapped out.. My engine cranks and runs like it was never used, but my transmission started acting really weird today. I had correct fluid levels in it. I made at stop at the gas station to check it. Turned the minivan back on and put in drive, the tranny made a crazy noise but car would not go forward. I put in reverse and I could feel it drift back a tad, then floored the gas and then thru it in drive. I was able to move forward about then the car just abruptly stopped. I was like something is very wrong.......... I will complete this tomorrow when I hear back from my mechanic.. Like most American cars I get scared when approaching that 100k mark. This what is I call the mark of the beast 100,000 forget about 666 Also read my post about my 2000 Maxima and the many issues I had with that...

at just over 111000 kms, that's Canadian eh,tranny started slipping bad. got home checked fluid levels all o.k but power steering fluid was a little low so i topped it up- next day , drove fine for about ten minutes then again started slipping. so this time i checked the fluid on the dipstick. normal color not burnt no bad smell. on the way home it started to wine really bad and slip- had to rev it up to 5000 rpm's to get it to kick back in again all the way home i had to do this. i decided to let a mechanic friend check it out so i was en route to his house - i ended up calling a tow truck to bring it back home- i got about six blocks and it would not go back into gear.at home i talked to my mechanic friend and was told it was the solenoid pack gave out. so i purchased a new one for $320.00 i also purchased new filter and gasket and fluid. to start i pulled the pan off to do a service and found the fluid that came out of the pan was burned up and the most filings i've ever seen doing a tranny service. so at that i decided the fluid was not circulating in the tranny and the dipstick check was a false reading. the fluid that came from the pan was burgundy, thick, and very stinky. i decided the tranny was burned up so i bought a used one from a 2000 caravan for $400.00. i pulled the old tranny and installed the new-old one(which i would not suggest unless you are very good with vehicles). the plug on the new tranny speed sensor was a little brittle so pulled the one from the one i just pulled out-and on the end of the sensor was a chunk of metal the size of an eraser on the end of a pencil. so all in all i'm relieved in the end that i decided to replace it rather than let some shop charge me outrageous fees. i actually did the service and replace for $482.00- i returned the solenoid pack for a refund- to all you not so inclined people out there it would cost about $2000.00 to rebuild these transmissions ---you do the math.