It depends. Does this have the 2.5 Turbo or the 3.0 Mitsubishi? If
it's
the 2.5 Turbo, then by all means, hang onto it. You have the
non-electronic 3 speed transmission and that combo is desired by
turbo minivan fans! You can rebuild that sucker, boost the boost
and take it down to the local dragstrip and collect pink slips all
night long if you have a mind to do so. ;-)

But if it's the 3.0 Mitsubishi, which if it hasn't had the heads
rebuilt, it will
need it soon. I'm gonna assume it's the 3.0L with the Ultradrive.

89 Ultradrives had a LOT of parts changed in them in later versions,
here's a list of some of the majors:

early '89 had 3 sealing ring reaction shaft, was updated to 4 sealing
rings in
late 89

revised input clutch hub

parking sprag bracket changed from stamped steel to casting

cooler bypass valve added in late 89

O/D piston upgraded to 4 slot pistion in 1990

10" torque converter introduced for the 3.3/3.8 ion June 1990

1990 input clutch upgraded to more durable

thicker transfer shaft in 1991

input shaft spline changed from 24 tooth to 22 tooth in 1991

new transfer gear design in may 1991

new valve body in 1991

CCD bus system introduced in 1992 - the TCM for 92-95 is different
than 89-91

1993 removed speedo pinion bore, went to electronic speedo

more durable bonded clutch disk in converter in 1993/1994

differential gearing changes in 1993

And a word also about the transmission computer. If yours has the
original computer, that computer needs to be replaced with one that
has newer firmware. For the 1989 year and 3.0, the number to use
is 4796121. If your trans computer does not have this part # it is the
original one, and that firmware has a bug that causes the transmission
to prematurely wear.

the cheapest and probably best way to handle this one if your going to
keep it, is to find a '91-92 transmission from a wrecker that has the
connection for the mechanical speedo and is currently hooked to a
blown 3.0L of which there should be a lot of in the wrecking yards.
Keep your existing transmission under the bench in your garage, and
put the wrecker one in and it will probably fail in 20-30K miles, right
around when the engine is going to be done.

Then you will have a core that has at least some of the upgrades and
you can take both blown transmissions to a rebuilder who can tear
both of them down and probably find enough hard parts that are
salvagable between both transmissions that they won't have to go
out and buy gearing or some such, which will drive up the price of the
rebuild. At the same time you can get the engine rebuilt. What you
will end up with is a $5,000 bill that will buy you a warranteed
powertrain that will probably last another 150K miles.

Whether such a thing is worth putting in your existing 89 body is
an entirely different issue. First question is, do you need a minivan?
They are handy things to be sure and I have found I like driving them,
but if you don't have kids, or your kids are grown, that removes a lot
of the incentive to have one. Second question is, just how good is
the body? Is there peeling paint? Is the paint still glossy? Is there
rust? Has it ever been in an accident?

Here in the Pacific NW it is quite possible to get a specimen
that has always been garaged, and driven by the proverbial
little old lady, which looks like it rolled off the assembly line
6 months ago. It's not common, though, but it's possible. It is,
in my opinion, quite justifyable to do a complete powertrain
rebuild on something like that, people do them all the time.

Ted

Robbie and Laura Reynolds wrote:

Thats about how much longer it should have stayed in R&D instead of
being rushed into production in '89 :-/

And people say the age of miracles has ended! :-p The 3.0 bottom-end is
actually reasonably reliable though not in the same league as the
Chrysler-built engines, and it will go a remarkably long time on a
timing belt too. The top end was the problem area, and if this one isn't
smoking then its almost certainly been through the mill of valve guide
fixes.

The later ones aren't, nor are the Chrysler-built 3.3 and 3.8 engines.

Reparing (if done right with all the best combination of parts) is
almost always more cost effective than selling a non-running vehicle and
buying another used one with another set of unknown problems.

If I were you I'd fix it. The reason is that in my opinion, while
there's
tons of these vans on the used market in the under-$300 range, just
about
all of them have transmission trouble. They are vans that are either
lightly driven with the factory transmission that has blown chunks,
or they are more heavily driven with at least 1 rebuild already done
on the transmission. Keep in mind that there's a lot of transmission
rebuild places that don't know what they are doing with these, still.

The companies that sell "rebuild kits" these days, which many
transmission
shops use, include all the updated parts and instructions on how to
retrofit them in. However, about 8-10 years ago, these companies
simply didn't know enough about mods that this transmission
needs to make it solid. For example, there are still places putting in
the
light-duty 9 inch converter into rebuilds - this is crap, the 10 inch
converter
is what you want. That is why there's so much stuff out there that
is in great shape except for a blown tranny.

If you unload this
one and buy another, you have a good chance of getting a transmission
that lasts maybe 10K and blows up again. Also, another used one your
going
to have to probably replace all over again all the piddly stuff like
the
struts/brakes/etc. etc. Since you have already dumped in the money on
that stuff if you fix this one you won't have to do it again.

If your thinking of doing the R&R yourself, you should take a look
at the writeup I did on mine when I did it this summer, it's here:

http://www.freebsd-corp-net-guide.co...s/project.html

You can R&R the transmission in a driveway if you have the right tools,
I did.

Ted

tedm (AT) toybox (DOT) placo.com wrote:

Yeah, I did it before on a 93 van. It's not hard to do, just tedious.
The great news is that my wife is encouraging me to fix it so we can
work on it together. I know a lot of folks would say that's a bad
thing, but not for us. It will be fun.

I'll be looking for the 91/92 transmission as you suggested. What code
numbers am I looking for on the bottom of the case?

Most transmission rebuilders scratch out the codes so I am not sure how
well this
will help, but here's what is in my 41TE/AE book:

First, look at your existing one, there's 2 possibilities:

1989 4446 659
1989 1/2 4531 664 both are Overall Top Gear Ratio of 2.36:1

The better one to have is the 1989 1/2

The production numbers for the transmissions that should cross are:

1990: 4531 551 OTGR 2.36:1
1990 1/4 4531 681 OTGR 2.36:1

1991 4567 848 OTGR 2.52:1
1992 4659 360 OTGR 2.52:1

1991 was when they put the newer transfer gears with the different
helix
angle those are more durable. 1991 also got the new spline converter
and the internal bypass valve and the new valve body. This is probably
the best year to look for.

1992 and later used the CCD Bus trans computer, a 1992 trans computer
from a wrecker will not work in yours although the 92 trans itself
should.

Note on the computers: if your computer is not a 4796121, it is a
factory original; REPLACE IT. Find a 4796121 in a yard. When you
do this you have to cut wire "cavity 49" of the TCM harness, this is
per TSB 18-24-95

Now, you may see Chrysler rebuilt/service replacements, those
numbers are:

1989 4531 687 or R4713 052 Note on this is "used 89 TR
(Transmission Range?) & PN
(Park Neutral?) Switches", I suspect a different year will have these
located in a different
place or perhaps a different connector?

Take lots of digital pictures of your existing transmission before
going out to the
wreckers.

Most of these vans have been through at least 1 trans rebuild, and
since the rebuilders
modify internal parts, they will scratch out the original service
numbers on the
transmission.