Two problems related to transmission slip out of gear have been reported for the 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
February, 2004 - 1998 Grand Caravan with 75100 miles started slipping out of gear while driving. No previous warning of problem. Total rebuild of transmission costing $1500. 00. Vehicle was well maintained and serviced regularly. Driven by "soccer" mom. Obvious through research this is a common problem with these vehicles.
I have experienced transmission problems with uneven shifting from the beginning of ownership of this Grand Caravan. The engine would rev up to a higher rpm than it should have before shifting into higher gear. Initially we were told that the car would adjust to the driver and thus accepted the explanation. There have been at least two different recent occurrences, when in gear, the car did not engage and seemed to be stuck in neutral. The third time, while moving and making a left-hand turn, the car slipped out of gear and into neutral, causing a very dangerous situation and put me in the path of incoming traffic. When I took it in for service, diagnostics indicated a transmission problem and thus needed to take transmission apart. Upon disassembly, it was determined that the gears had been ground off and not repairable and I was told this was no fault of anything I did. The remedy was a $3000 cost to put in a factory-rebuilt transmission. This could have caused a fatal accident except that the incident occurred late at night on a major road when traffic was low. This failure is not unique to this vehicle as other complaints against it have been reported to the NHTSA. This Grand Caravan transmission design flaw needs to be addressed by the manufacturer before fatalities occur. The car owners lives should not be put at risk, nor should they have to spend thousands of dollars fixing a problem which is clearly a manufacturer design flaw.