Help please - 1993 Dodge Caravan Manual shift problem

   / Help please - 1993 Dodge Caravan Manual shift problem #1  

newbury

Super Star Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
13,494
Location
From Vt, in Va, retiring to MS
Tractor
Kubota's - B7610, M4700
Realize we focus on trucks more here BUT

I've a 1993 Caravan, 4 cyl, with manual transmission, about 140K miles if I remember correctly.

Was driving, tried to go from reverse to 1st (forward) and the floorshifter went loose. The transmission is "stuck" in neutral, luckily.
Clutch works fine. But the shifter can be just slapped around with no resistance.

Got it towed to a house about 15 miles away and am looking for pointers on what to tear apart.

Other than being a good economical box to drive it's value is so low I'd prefer not to start investing greatly in it.

Any pointers? Common solutions?

Thanks in advance.
 
   / Help please - 1993 Dodge Caravan Manual shift problem #2  
Sounds like a linkage issue. Likely has rods or cables that link to the transverse tranny. That is where I would look first.
 
   / Help please - 1993 Dodge Caravan Manual shift problem #3  
Yeah, I bet either a linkage broke, or a cable, or maybe a bracket holding something. Many of the FWD Chryslers of that vintage had a cable shifter, so it could just be that a cable broke.
 
   / Help please - 1993 Dodge Caravan Manual shift problem #4  
Also look at the shifter itself. I have seen a truck that the floor rusted out and the shifter moved enough to not allow free movement.

Chris
 
   / Help please - 1993 Dodge Caravan Manual shift problem #5  
can you pull the shifter boot up and see if it is a linkage or cable problem? I had a truck that a roll pin came out of the shifter linkage.
 
   / Help please - 1993 Dodge Caravan Manual shift problem #6  
Yeah, I bet either a linkage broke, or a cable, or maybe a bracket holding something. Many of the FWD Chryslers of that vintage had a cable shifter, so it could just be that a cable broke.

Yeah, I agree, most of them were cable shifters, but I'm not sure on vans.

BTW, a stick shift mini van, probably very rare, I'd restore it.:)
 
   / Help please - 1993 Dodge Caravan Manual shift problem #7  
Yeah, I agree, most of them were cable shifters, but I'm not sure on vans.

I think they were all still K-cars at that point, even the vans! Though if I remember right, that was the most radical departure from the K platform to date, and got a new designation. In terms of the running gear, it was still heavily shared. Back around that time, I remember our family had K wagons, a 600 sedan, a Lancer, a Daytona, a Caravan, and a Shadow, and it was scary how much of the running gear was shared or very similar. Chrysler rode the K-car platform pretty hard in the 80s and early 90s.
 
   / Help please - 1993 Dodge Caravan Manual shift problem #8  
Also look at the shifter itself. I have seen a truck that the floor rusted out and the shifter moved enough to not allow free movement.

Chris

I had a VW Rabbit where the shifter rusted out and fell down to the ground while going down the highway. Sparks were shooting back up through the boot! Talk about excitement. The funny thing was, it still worked fine if you held onto it at all times, so it made for some interesting driving before I got it fixed.
 
   / Help please - 1993 Dodge Caravan Manual shift problem #9  
I had this happen to me on an 1985 Chrysler minivan. It was caused by the ball-and-socket connection of one of the shifter cables coming loose on top of the transmission. I suggest you pop the hood and inspect the linkage ends. I suspect you will find one of the ends off the actual shift mechanism on top of the transmission. I fixed mine by reinforcing the retaining clip with a short length of wire. Good luck.
 
 
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