One problem related to differential unit has been reported for the 1998 Chrysler Town & Country. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
When we tried to back the vehicle out of our garage, we discovered that it would not engage reverse gear. We pushed the vehicle out of the garage to the street and found that it still had all forward gears. We took the vehicle to tuttle-click Chrysler in irvine. We were told that a differential gear had failed. It seems to us that this would prevent the vehicle from moving in either direction, so a broken differential gear probably was not the reason we couldn't use reverse gear. However, we still needed reverse, so the dealer replaced the transmission. Within the two weeks preceding the transmission failure, the windshield wipers began to operate spontaneously and the ignition lock became very difficult to operate. During the same visit that the transmission was replaced, the dealer replaced the body control module, a computer within the vehicle, to fix the wiper problem and replaced and rekeyed the ignition lock. We believe that all three of these failures were the result of faulty design or shoddy workmanship and asked Chrysler to reimburse us and to explain why the components failed. Chrysler has done neither. We believe that we should not be required to indemnify Chrysler for its mistakes.