There is no shot for your transmission problem
Question: My 2000 Dodge Durango transmission is nothing but trouble. The worst is, the other day I parked at the foot of our driveway to get out and get the mail. While the car was IN PARK it rolled down the hill of our driveway and crashed head on into a 6-foot tall solid brick pillar. (funnily enough, the car is just past the 3/36 warranty) It is now not drivable and we cannot get Dodge to fix it because they say I had to have left it in drive. This is the first time it has happened in park, but it is not the first time the car has switched gears without my doing it. The gear shift sometimes moves and sometimes does not.
Answer: Interestingly, federal safety regulators have opened a probe of a possible automatic transmission shifter interlock problem in Chrysler Corp. sedans. It sounds like the Durango may have the same problem.
As a lifelong transmission mechanic (32 plus years) and transmission shop owner, Chrysler products have had a history of issues with sticking in park, slipping out of park and not going into the gear that the indicator suggests. These are serious safety issues.
With the earlier Chrysler products, the parking mechanism was the culprit. What was happening was that the mechanism actually developed a small groove where the park gear locked. When it was time to pull the shift lever out of park, sometimes it would stick.
One of the other issues with the shifter jumping into the wrong gear, or popping out of gear, may be an engine mount problem. When an engine mount breaks or wears out, the engine is able to move around in the engine compartment more than normal. With the engine and transmission being connected, that causes the engine and transmission assembly to pull away from the shifter cable, causing it to pull the transmission shifter lever into another gear.
Have you had your Dodge or Chrysler transmissions checked out yet? If you own a Chrysler product, and it is under warranty (print this article) make sure you take your car or SUV back to the dealer and have them check this out. If your vehicle is out of warranty, take it to whom ever you trust. Good luck. Let me know what happens. GotTransmissions.com at 866-320-1182
