I am looking at buying a 2003 Town & Country, might I have trouble with the transmission ?
Asked by sramirez Nov 02, 2007 at 02:12 PM about the 2003 Chrysler Town & Country LXi LWB AWD
Question type: Shopping & Pricing
I am looking at buying this 2003 town & country that has 97,000 miles on it. It is in great shape but someone told me that the transmissions
in these cars only last about 80,000+ miles. Is this true? Are there any other factors I should consider before purchasing this car
with so many miles?
7 Answers
drive it and see how it shifts if ok,no problem.for a 03 not to bad milage wise maby alittle but not buy much,other how dose it look in and out.condition of interier,clean or worn,shape tires are in. you know what you are looking at .if you want it buy it and have it serviced oil and filter trans fluid and filter.just keep serviced and you should be fine with it. they are great vans.
littlehorn answered 16 years ago
The transmissions in the Dodge Caravan/Chrysler T&C have come a LONG way from the early 1990's models, which were notable for transmission failures in <100,000 miles. I would say that it does have high miles -- average is 10,000-12,000 per year, so it should have about half that mileage for an '03. Check condition of trans fluid and if possible have trans checked for fluid pump output by a dealership you trust.
I have the 2001, so they may have made changes since then, but I got about 150k on mine before I had to replace the transmission. Mine gave me NO warning before going bad. One day it was shifting smoothly and perfectly, the next, it just quit. I pulled in to fill it up with gas and then I couldn't get it to move again. Very expensive to replace/repair.
I have 2008 T& C Limited, 130k miles. Fortunately I bought extended bumper to bumper zero deductible, because my transmission went out ( check engine light and not shifting correctly). Less than six months another two parts in transmission that hadn't been replaced went bad too. I love minvan, but yes transmissions have gone on three of our family's Chrysler minivans. But also worry about 3.8 engines. Our 2008 has the 4.0 shared with older Pacificas (no relation to 2017 Pacfica minvans). Our 2000 T&C Limited 3.8 engine went at 38 k miles. Lucky for us we had bumper to bumper on that van too, but had $50 deductible. We did all maintenance for transmissions at chrysler, still things do wear. Can you buy a extended warranty $0 deductible good to million miles/ life time, for less than cost of transmission? On new yes, on used ????? There are used 2017 Pacificas minivans hitting market, coming off their leases? Maybe you can get extended on one of them?
My 2013 has 183,379 ... going strong with very few issues. LOVE IT! The older Dodge Caravans had transmission problems and didn't make it past 90k. These are not those! This is the original tranny.
