So last week my Durango started taking a long time to shift from first to second while in drive. It seemed to do better when the transmission warmed up. Now this morning i back up and put it in park and shut it off, when i go to start it, it wouldn't do anything. I noticed it said it was in reverse, so i shifted into neutral and it started fine. It shifts into park, but won't show it's in park on the gear selector on the dash. Any suggestions?

It's a 2003 Durango slt plus 5.9L 4x4 AWD with about 110k miles.

It makes a clunk when it shifts into reverse.

 

sounds to me like your transmission range sensor (previously called nuetral safey switch) is gone bad, it will only let the truck start in park or nuetral, and if its not reading the correct gear you cant start the truck,

as for the cluck check the ujoints

and for the delayed shift check the fluid level (engine hot, running in neutral) and see if you are low, if not then check the output speed sensor

 

Stuck at work for the rest of the night, will check asap. A friend of mine said he suspects the shift linkage cable, do you think that copious be the cause as well?

Thanks again for all help

 

if all the other gears are correct, i would say it is very unlikely that the shift cable is at fault, but its not impossible

 

I found somewhere that the neutral safety switch is on the valve body, is this correct? I've replaced a couple before on a different vehicle or two(might have been same car twice), and they were not in the transmission. Thanks again!!!

Also, this has the 46re transmission correct? And I found somewhere that says the switch is located on the driver's side of the transmission itself.

 

im not sure exactly where the switch is, however it is in or on the transmission, if you download the FSM for the 2002 MY it will show you where it is

 

I got the switch and found it on the drivers side of the tranny. But now I have encountered a problem trying to replace it. There are two screws holding it in, one is pretty easy to get to the other is behind the sensor and blocked by a bracket the is attached to the tranny or pan. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get to this secondary screw? Thanks again for your help!!!

 

I replaced the transmission range indicator, I removed the bracket that was blocking the second screw, but was still extremely difficult to get the second screw back in for the new sensor. Anyway, now when the truck is put in park the dash indicator shows it's in reverse when key is in first position, but shows nothing when key is turned to the second position and it will start in "park".I am definitely confused now.

I found this when googling my problem when it first appeared, wondering if anyone else has had this?

http://www.justanswer.com/dodge/5g5d...t-go-park.html

Thanks again for your help!

 

So I pulled the pan and found bad news. First in the pan itself there were two parts of what looked like a retainer ring or something.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...g?t=1295408736

The second was the kickdown band anchor. It was hung up above the valve body apparently blocking the truck from fully locking into park.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/attachm...n-imag0303.jpg

My anchor is broken where the adjustment screw goes into it, and I wanted to see if anyone had a part number or detailed instructions on how to put it back in. Thanks again in advance!!!

Just called local dealership, they ordered me one that should be there first thing in the morning. $15, expensive little part!

 

if you ever need a part # the chrysler parts manuals are available in the FAQ thread at the top of the forum, download the appropriate PDF and you can see your parts in diagrams