My truck would not stay in overdrive and was getting worse and worse so I had it rebuilt. The rebuilder said he found broken springs in the OD section and worn out bands and clutchs through out. He told me though that the TQ was fine and did not need replaced. So he fixed everything and put the tranny back in and added an external cooler and bypassed the factory cooler.

The truck does run better but now I have some unusual symptoms that after much reading im convinced is a TQ problem. here is a list of the problems

*increased fuel consumption

*sporadic inability to keep speed it bleeds off speed and requires me to press the gas down until it kicks down a gear. If I dont it will just keep getting slower and slower and the engine will start to chug like its in to high of a gear until I give it enough throttle to cause the transmission to kick down.

*When first starting after sitting over night take the transmission a few moments to get up enough pressure to move the truck.

*poor acceleration, the engine roars and the RPMS go way up but its like the truck is not picking up much speed for how much power until it gets up till about 30-35 then its starts picking up speed faster.

I really think the fins are either worn or deformed and or the stator is either locked in both ways or free wheeling.

Any opinions?

im kinda pissed cause I wanted to replace the TQ and he talked me out of it.

 

It sounds like either the tourqe converter is on its way out, and the possablility of the TV cable needed adjusting. Are the bands adjusted properly? After I rebuilt mine, I noticed some of the same problems and it tuned out that my front band wasent adjusted properly.

 

Took it to the shop again this morning to let the guy that did the rebuild take it for a test drive. There is good news and bad news

Bad news: they cant reproduce the symptoms I described and they are sticking to there guns that dexron is perfectly fine for the transmission and will not cause any problems.

Good news: the shop is willing to flush it out and put ATF4 along with a new torque converter and not charge me again for labor.

Bad news: the torque converter I wish to purchase cost about 500 dollars and atf4 plus filter will cost me 50 so when all is said and done I will be into this tranny for right around 2000 dollars.

Im wishing now I would have taken it to the place that quoted me 2,500 but they included a new external cooler a new oem style TC and mopar fluid and filter and a 1 year 10,000 mile warranty.

Any advice on purchasing a TC? the one I want is from Hughes Performance the 16LXTM XTM Torque converters, GM torque converters and Street Rod Converters

 

A stock replacement would do just fine in the truck unless your looking for some kind of performance. You can get a brand new tourqe converter for around $100 through oreileys

 

I wish I could afford to take my truck somewhere else but I am tapped out after all this. Im pissed off cause they are acting like im making this **** up just so that they will put in the torque converter. I was nice up till the point he told me he was going to want money to put the torque converter in cause his tranny guy says there is no problem. I told him hey the problem is SPORADIC it doesnt happen all the time. In fact it happened again today where it bleeds off speed and acts like it cant keep a steady speed but I drove through it and it went away.

Plus his original quote which is what I paid included a re-manufactured Torque Converter which they never supplied.

I also told him I wanted ATF4 what the manufacture calls for in the transmission NOT DEXRON. I also told him every single shop I spoke to AND the Torque Converter Manufacture told me to ONLY use ATF4.

I also told him that everyone told me any tranny builder who does not replace the TC after every rebuild is cheap and you should walk away and never come back and also that any shop that tells you that DEXRON is fine in a Chrysler is wrong and you should walk away.

Telling him all this he backed down and said fine he will replace the TC with the new Torque Converter and with ATF4 that I supply. I told him I think the rebuild is fine I just think the TC is the problem and everyone else is agreeing with me. So after they are done putting in the new TC and flushing it with ATF4 im done with this shop I will find another one.

All I want is my truck to drive like it did 5-10,000 miles ago before I started having problems. I mean **** I paid 1300 dollars for a rebuild I know there is LESS then 300 dollars in parts in the rebuild so they got 1000 bucks in labor for id say MAYBE 6-8 hours of continuous work and thats being generous giving them that much.

I also kinda feel like they should have to pony up cause they didn't provide a remand TC like they said they would in the beginning. If they had I might not be having these problems and If I did I wouldn't be able to blame it on the TC as easily.

My advice to anyone getting a rebuild is to make a list of your expectations and make sure they know what you expect before hand. Do your research and if they dont seem like they believe you or wanna do things there way, go somewhere else. Its just not worth the frustration.

 

I hate taking my truck to any shop because of the bull**** they pull. I had my truck in the shop for resurfacing of the headers and i guess they were "inclined" to check the oil in the oil pan. They told me my oil pan was "FULL of metal" and that i needed a new transmission. I told them to show me the oil because i just changed the oil...THE DAY BEFORE!!! Boy did i rip them a new one, i contacted the BBB(Better Buisness Bureu) and submitted a request for investigation.

Thats why if i can do it myself i will always try because its all a learning experience that can save you thousands of dollars lol.

 

If I could find someone to teach me how to rebuild trannys without going to a expensive school id do it. Id also like to learn how to rebuild a long block. I can fix just about anything on my own that doesnt involve taking the tranny apart or pulling the actual engine apart ie taking apart heads, taking out pistions.

 

rebuilding my transmission saved me around $1500, because I did all the work myself. For me, the only real way to do any of it, is to try it, trial and error kinda thing....buy a junk tranny somewhere for $30-$50 and tear into it, the basic concept hasent changed

 

Ok I have a new symptom maybe you guys could give me something to ask them to specifically look for in the tranny.

Remember how I was tell you it will bleed off speed and the rpm will stay the same, well it did that 4 times today in a trip to town and back. It almost feels as if someone is applying the brakes while keeping their foot on the gas. If I give it just a slight bit more of gas it gets worse almost like when your driving a manual and your in to high of a gear for the speed your going. But if I floor it it will shift and be fine till it shifts back in to over drive then it will start all over again. Then it will go away after doing that a few times.

But today I didnt floor it I let it get slower and slower till the engine started chugging and I heard and felt popping kind of sounded like back fires but it felt like something was building tension and releasing it.

Any ideas?

 

Thought I would give you an update. The truck runs great now, and no check engine lights anymore. They replaced the Torque converter and put in AT4, which made a big difference. I also found that when they were under there they dislodged the hoses connected to the charcoal canister, they were old and dry rotted and split so I replaced them. That got rid of the backfire and one of the CELs.

Since this whole thing started ive replaced:
Both Pre 02 sensors
IAC Valve
TPS
Map Sensor
Charge air temp sensor
Coolant temp sensor
Spark Plugs
Cap and Rotor
Vapor Canister Purge Solenoid

The truck runs like new finally. Still on my list is to replace all the vacuum tubing.