Steve Collison

My 1996 Plymouth Voyager developed a problem many months ago where it wouldn’t engage 3rd gear (or 4th, from what I could tell). Instead the transmission would fly into neutral, and when the revs & speedometer came back down, the transmission would engage 2nd gear indefinitely – more commonly known as limp mode. Turning the engine off and on would bring it back to life, only to go through the same process and ultimately end up in limp mode again.

Since then I’ve been fiddling with the van to try to figure out what is wrong. Dodge vans are notorious for electrical problems. Frankly, I’m tired of wasting my time, I need to work out if the issue is mechanical or electrical, to do this I need to be able to engage the solenoids manually which in turn will allow me to change gears manually.

This will involve creating a custom wiring harness for the solenoid pack. This bypasses the TCM completely.

Disclaimer: This is by no means a permanent fix. I DO NOT recommend driving the van this way, as the clutch engagement will be very rough. With the van on jack stands, there will be barely any load on the clutches. This is ONLY for testing purposes.

Additional note: This test will FAIL if the solenoid pack does not work properly. If the test does fail, I recommend testing the solenoid pack outside of the vehicle. Check that you can hear or feel each solenoid engage.

What I intend to do is this:

1. Wire a 12V feed to the solenoid pack on pin 4.
2. Connect switches to pins 5, 6, 7 and 8.
3. Connect the other end of all switches to ground.

With the van on jack stands, the engine running and the transmission in drive, I will test the solenoid as follows:

1. To begin with, no switches will be engaged. The transmission will be in 2nd gear.
2. Pressing switches 7 & 8 should engage 1st gear.
3. Pressing switches 6 & 8 should engage 3rd gear.
4. Pressing switches 5 & 6 should engage 4th gear.

If all gears engage successfully, I will assume the problem is electrical. Otherwise, my transmission is probably due a rebuild. (assuming of course that the solenoid pack is good)