1994 Plymouth Voyager Kickdown Cable, CV Joint

1994 PLYMOUTH VOYAGER
21,141 MILES • 6 CYL • FWD • AUTOMATIC
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DIRTYQTIPS
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Kickdown cable at throttle is loose. CV joint left side is bad and will be replaced. Vacuum canister that connects to kickdown cable has a vacuum line connected to it. That vacuum suction seems weak to me.

Vehicle won't shift into 3rd or 4th gear. Tested shifting on steering column. Park, Reverse, Neutral works fine. However, putting it in 1st, 2nd, or drive has no affect. It just shifts hard into first gear and then second.

When I changed transaxle fluid and filter I greased CV Joint and moved tire around a bit. Vehicle shifted and ran beautifully for about three weeks. Then went back to its previous condition.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Sep 14, 2010 at 1:23 PM
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CARADIODOC
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Hi dirtyqtips. Welcome to the forum. Can you clear up some confusion? If you have the four speed overdrive transmission, you do not have a kick down cable. Shifting is done electronically with a computer. If you have the three speed transmission, there is a kick down cable but it has nothing to do with any vacuum hose and nothing to do with the charcoal canister in the emissions system, the vacuum servo for the cruise control, or the vacuum power brake booster. I understand the symptoms but I'm confused about what you're checking.

caradiodoc
Sep 14, 2010 at 5:24 PM
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DIRTYQTIPS
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It definitely has a kickdown cable connected to a speed control servo that has a vacuum line and four pronged plug connected to it. I always thought it had 4 speeds, though.
Sep 14, 2010 at 5:44 PM
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CARADIODOC
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Ohhhh. That's not a kick down cable. You're describing the cruise control servo and its throttle cable. The servo has four wires in its connector and a vacuum hose that attaches to the check valve on the power brake booster. None of that stuff affects how the transmission shifts.

When the Electronic Automatic Transmission Controller, (EATX), detects a sensor problem or slippage in one of the clutch packs, it defaults to "limp-in" mode which is second gear. You will have a choice of park, reverse, neutral, and second gear when any forward gear is selected. To get it out of limp-in, you have to turn the ignition switch off and restart the engine. Once it has gone into limp-in, there will be at least one diagnostic fault code stored in the computer. It should also cause a code to be set in the Engine Computer which will turn on the Check Engine light.

The place to start is by having the code(s) read. Many auto parts stores can do this for free with the Engine Computer. I don't know if they can read codes from the Transmission Computer. You might have to find a mechanic with a scanner that can access the other computers on the van.

It's important to not disconnect the battery or let it run down until the codes have been read. Doing so will erase the stored codes and you will lose that valuable information. Codes are especially useful when you have intermittent problems.

caradiodoc
Sep 14, 2010 at 9:04 PM