Editorials Archive
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Time to change the tranny fluid in the Caravan. It uses ATF+3, the "older" fluid. Chrysler and the oil companies quit manufacturing it in the past year. Not so good. Even though they say the newer ATF+4 is backward-compatible, people have had problems when using it on pre-2000 Caravan transmissions. (Technical Service Bulletins 21-006-01 and 21-004-04 specify ATF+4 is for use in 2000 and later models). Reports indicate that the newer fluid degrades the seals in the pre-2000 transmissions.
Not much incentive to changing the fluid when it can only make things worse... Maybe it's better to leave the old stuff in there.
It got me to thinking, though. What do we do, those of us with pre-2000 Chryslers, to prevent ruining the notoriously delicate transmissions?
CRAZY IDEA #1 - Re-use the old fluid: filter it through an old T-shirt to remove particulate matter.
CRAZY IDEA #2 - Search for a chemical breakdown of both ATF+3 and ATF+4. Find out what's different and try to get additive(s) to make the "4" more like the "3". Keeping in mind that the problem is with seal-degradation, prospective additives would be among those touting "Seal-Conditioning" properties (but be cautious about anything that might alter the viscosity).
"ARE YOU NUTS? Suggesting additives for the ultra-sensitive Chrysler transaxles?" Maybe. But if we're left in the lurch with no safe Tranny Fluid, all I can do is examine some alternatives. But I'm not quite ready to pour any mystery fluid into the spout just yet. But I'll be digging around for an answer. SOMEBODY out there knows: Chrysler tranny designers, chemists, mad scientists... The answer exists somewhere; if I find it I'll let you know.
For reasons known only to themselves, Government and business leaders have been wet-nursing Red China through the 1980's & 1990's until they could manufacture goods with reasonable competence. Prior to that time, Singapore, Malaysia Taiwan, and South Korea would supply any foreign-made goods that were required by the market. Those "mini-dragons" have far more technical competence and expertise than then existed in Communist China. So when someone excuses this China-trade situation by claiming "cheap labor" as the raison d'etre, you know they're either ignorant or corrupt.
And what do they think life in the U.S. is going to be like when we don't possess one working factory in the nation? When we have to pay China in Euros instead of Dollars for products that WE showed them how to make? Score one for the Council on Foreign Relations: they sabotaged the greatest free market on earth and set it up to be a virtual slave colony for Mao's descendants.
OK, I went off on a tangent. Who can talk about car repair all day?
THE PROBLEM WITH that theory is that spiral-core low-resistance wires are shielded and therefore emit no more RFI than standard carbon core high-resistance wires. Still other manufacturers state that the extra juice that is shot through the low-resistance wires will somehow make the coils hotter and thus degrade over time. Which sounds plausible - but they never explain HOW that would happen, since the coil is cranking out the same current regardless of which type of wire is used. So this argument too lacks credibility.
But it leaves me with enough doubt to just play it safe and buy the low-performing carbon wires. 3 months of research led me to buying the same standard, boring replacement parts everyone else gets. I'm not ready to use my car as a science experiment ("a new Distributorless Ignition System costs what?")
Car repair has degenerated from a time when gas station mechanics could get a car running using some duct tape and a piece of coat-hanger... to the present day, when dull-eyed hacks attach a computer to the ALDL socket and robotically replace whole modules at great expense, instead of actually REPAIRING anything.
I had the unfortunate experience of owning a van with a non-functional ALDL. It had an intermittent ignition problem. I had already replaced every part that could logically have been associated with the symptoms. I decided to take it to a dealer for "expert" diagnosis. For the $88 I spent for one hour's labor, I got my van back with a wire severed from the ALDL and a bewildered exclamation of "The ALDL don't work!"
"I know it doesn't work; if it did, I could repair it myself. Can't you figure anything out from the symptoms?"
"Na, na; nuttin like that. We gotta go by the manual."
'The manual'. Sure, that sounds good; a true "professional" response. The thing is, I have the same manual. I can do anything they can, and save $3000 in labor. What I needed was intuition. Very few people have a "feel" for cars and their problems. I realize that today's computer controlled systems have changed the amount of leeway we have to effect "shoot from the hip" diagnoses and repairs. But don't tell me Mr. Goodwrench is worth a C‑note for every hour he stares at an LCD display that anyone else could read. The "factory-trained" code-reader has priced himself out of the market... and that's probably a good thing. We can evolve into the self-reliant car and truck owners that we were not so many decades ago.
All we have to do now is convince the general public that the engine really won't blow up if you change the oil yourself instead of spending $69 for a "genuine GM‑approved" oil change.
| Ray Jefferson |