Expert: Roland Finston - 9/11/2011

Question
I have 1997 town & country 3.8 lxi. Went I bought this used van, it got a problem with transmission. The van got stuck on second gear. Ichange the tranny but still stuck on second but if you got on parking, start the van shift to L position and the go up to D , the van shift normal and shift the 4 gears. But the problem i got now is when I was driving the other day the van suddenly shut off. I try to start it but wont start. Dont make any noise. I change the engine computer but nothing happen. Sometime start but when i put it on drive the van shut off again. I change the ignition switch and nothing. Also i change body control module, but still nothing happen. No codes. I change the cluster the crank and cam sensor, check fuses and still nothing.

Answer
Hi Angel,
Do you mean won't start because the starter won't crank over the engine, or do you mean the starter motor does crank over the engine but the engine won't 'catch' and idle? Let me know as knowing if the problem is the starter motor or the engine itself will make this easier for me to help you. "Don't make and sound" makes be think your starter is not working. But they you say "sometimes start but when I put in drive the van shuts off again". And that is a different problem.
When you say "no codes" did you use the ignition key to get codes? Turn it "on-off-on-off-on and leave on, doing that in 5 seconds or less elapsed time. Then watch the check engine light which remains on to see it begin to flash, pause, flash, etc. Count the number of flashes before each pause. Then repeat the process to be sure or an accurate set of flash counts. The last two flash sets will always be 5 in each set.
When you say it will start but then 'when I put it in drive the van shut off again' that would suggest to me that the transmission is behaving like it is in gear and locked up in that gear because the torque converter is not slipping as it needs to do until you step on the gas. That is called a problem with the torque converter 'lock-up' and that would have to unlocked to keep that from happening. If you changed the tranny and that has a warranty then  that would be something to do to have that fixed. But I don't know if this is the main problem you have.
You have told me three different problems but I don't know where to start first. So Try for fault codes to start with.
Use a 'follow-up question to get back with the answer as to which problem is more the common and any fault counts that you see.
Roland