Poor manufacturing quality control. It's a common problem. They used a ninety-eight cent spring instead of a one dollar spring.

 

So, got this fixed tonight. When I got home from work today the first thing I did was closely examine my governor pressure transducer. I was able to blow through it easily. Upon closer examination it was clear that it was ruptured. I have a good friend that has a repair shop in town here that is also a dodge guy. He had about half a dozen good used transducers laying in his junk bin and he let me have one. So I brought it home and put everything back together - with a good spring in the 3-4 accumulator and withOUT the brad rivet in the pressure regulator and it works perfect now. No more codes, shifts great, problem solved.

Here's how I think this failure un-folded:

1. That brad rivet broke through the screen on that strainer it was contained in and got wedged in the pressure regulator valve bore - limiting the movement of the piston. This resulted in higher than normal line pressure.

2. The higher line pressure resulted in the 3-4 accumulator spring failure - causing the piston to bottom out in the bore, opening a port for line pressure to escape from.

3. Now running with reduced line pressure, the forward and OD clutch packs eventually burned up and failed.

4. Changes in the driving habits of the previous owner while dealing with the problem and continuing to drive it - e.g. reving the engine all the time to get it to engage (along with the stuck pressure regulator) eventually caused the governor pressure transducer to rupture, setting the 1763 DTC and putting the trans in limp mode - further disabling it.

Here's a few pics of the governor pressure transducer next to the one I replaced it with. The bad one is on the right. Note that it appears to be 'taller' than the one on the left. This is because it physically ruptured and the plastic case cracked and popped up.



Different angle, the one with the green x on it is the bad one,

 

That still doesn't answer how that rivet got in there! I bet some kid visiting his dad on "take your kid to work day" dropped it in there? 🙄 Ok if it was a Lego piece may I'd be closer but still wierd!

I put mine back together and I'm going into limp mode right away now which explains the reason for my 3rd gear clutch pack to burn up. I tested the CVI in learning mode just to see if could get a reading in all gears. I did so that means the transmission is working correctly. I'm having a pressure issue in the OD clutch pressure switch for some reason. When I checked out the valve body, the solinoid smelled burnt and hot. Not sure where to go from here besides replacing the whole valve body? Any suggestions?

 

At this point I have no doubt that the rivet was intentionally put in there by a person in the assembly plant. It wouldn't surprise me at all if there weren't dozens or even hundreds of these transmissions running around with the same ticking time bomb inside. Disgruntled union workers will do just about anything to get back at the man. Bastards.

Far as your question goes, why don't you start out by replacing the solenoid and the switch? Or - figure out how the circuit works and temporarily 'bypass' it and see what the results are. (e.g. if the solenoid is normally closed, make a block off and install it. If it's normally opened make a block off with the right sized orifice in it, etc)

 

Your theory makes perfect sense! I can't see any other way it would have got in there! Bastards! 😡

I'm not sure I have the "know how" to bypass the switch but I will give it a shot before replacing the solenoid and switch. I have already saved 2k Bucks doing it myself otherwise I would have ended up with a remanufactred tranny and other problems that wouldn't have been mentioned I'm sure. Replacing the clutch packs was no big deal even though I've never done it before. It's a learning experience and these forums are my guide book! The code I was getting was a 1798 (I think) clutch pressure switch and P0700 internal TCM. I know there was a transducer code as well on the OBDII at one point so I'm going to look that over too.

 

Hey everyone, new to the forum here. I was checking this thread when i tore down my vb and saw my accum. spring broken and noticed the head of that rivet looks like the one holding the yellow plastic cover to the backside of the pump housing. I attached 2 pics of the back side of my pump for reference. Hope this helps solve the mystery.

 

When I rebuilt my 46re 2 years ago, it had 86k on it. The OD clutches were burnt and one of the other gears too. The transmission hadn't been serviced yet. When I dropped the pan, 3 of the valve body bolts we loose. One sticking about an inch down, another about one half, and the third not even finger tight. All 3 were in a row. I tore the trans down from every nut and bolt and never saw that screw.