A friend has a 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan (Pentastar 3.6 w/ 6-speed automatic), purchased new. It has about 50K km on it, and is typically driven in the summer only. It hauls a large tent trailer several times a summer.
It has not had a transmission service yet. I mentioned that I had replaced the transmission pan on our '07 Grand Caravan with an aftermarket one with a drain plug, and my friend was interested.
My impression was that the transmissions used with newer (Pentastar 3.6/6-speed) Dodge vans are quite robust, and have a much better track record than the Chrysler 4-speed automatics.
Questions:
1. Is this worth doing? There would be some expense incurred (c. $150 for an aftermarket pan with a drain plug, a gasket, a filter, and about 4 quarts of ATF). If these transmissions last, say, 250k km/150K miles without regular drains and fills, there would be no benefit.
2. Is the drain pan easy to remove? If the subframe has to be dropped or some such silliness, I'd be less likely to help out.
3. Do these transmissions benefit from external coolers? From what I can tell, the towing package included a hitch and wiring, but not an auxiliary transmission cooler.
Thanks!
It has not had a transmission service yet. I mentioned that I had replaced the transmission pan on our '07 Grand Caravan with an aftermarket one with a drain plug, and my friend was interested.
My impression was that the transmissions used with newer (Pentastar 3.6/6-speed) Dodge vans are quite robust, and have a much better track record than the Chrysler 4-speed automatics.
Questions:
1. Is this worth doing? There would be some expense incurred (c. $150 for an aftermarket pan with a drain plug, a gasket, a filter, and about 4 quarts of ATF). If these transmissions last, say, 250k km/150K miles without regular drains and fills, there would be no benefit.
2. Is the drain pan easy to remove? If the subframe has to be dropped or some such silliness, I'd be less likely to help out.
3. Do these transmissions benefit from external coolers? From what I can tell, the towing package included a hitch and wiring, but not an auxiliary transmission cooler.
Thanks!