I’ve had the van for about 3 weeks now. For the last 2 days, I start it in the morning after it’s been sitting all night, put it in drive, and roll down the driveway. Once I’m in the street and try to accelerate in drive, the engine revs but very little of the power is transmitted to the wheels. It only moves at idle speed. So I idle about 2 blocks and then stop, put it in park, then back into drive, repeat this a few times, then it just starts working normally. Runs and shifts normally otherwise outside of this morning routine. A few days ago, I discovered a vibration/shudder in the driveline which I had previously suspected to be u-joints - I still have not ruled this out as I need to drop the driveshaft and check each of them. I asked the van dealer I bought it from and he said “it’s a common problem” but I can’t find a lot about it on the internet. Any ideas?

 

Did you check the level and condition of the transmission fluid? How much on the odo?
It will behave a bit differently for a few minutes until the ATF warms up to operating temp, but it should still accelerate.

 

Fluid is at the right level when hot, looks clean, and doesn’t smell burnt at all. 166k miles. I understand that the fluid needs to heat up for normal operation but this isn’t normal. Something is definitely wrong here.

 

ok, then the tranny is slipping. Could be many causes. I would get an opinion from a tranny shop.