Hi All
My truck is a 2005 ram 2500 5.9.
Very strange problem I've searched everywhere for someone with the exact same problem and a fix, no luck. Went to our local tranny shop and they said they have never seen this issue. My local dealer also said the same thing. Hoping someone here can help.
Here it goes.
Code PO868, low pressure, no light on dash its a soft code.
When first starting the engine and driving I have all gears the truck shifts perfectly it starts in first goes through all gears no hunting holds gears well and is smooth.
If I don't go fast enough to get it in OD the truck will downshift into first at a stop. that's the weird part
Once I get into overdrive the truck will NOT downshift into 1st or second that's the other weird part
Regardless how long I drive it once it happens I will get 3rd gear starts every time and I do have OD. Manually shifting into first will give me a second gear start but no first gear.
If I turn the truck off at a light and restart I get first gear again until it hits O.D then bye bye gears
The solenoid was upgraded, new speed sensor new transducer, filter is OEM and proper fluid and the level is perfect. All bolts are tight. The bands were adjusted as well.
Anyone had this issue?
Help please and thanks

 

Found the fix....s
First issue, the pressure adjust screw on the valve body had backed itself out so far the plate that hold the spring was against the bracket.
If you look at photos of this adjuster screw(just search 48re valve body pressure screw adjust) you will see a gap between the bracket and spring usually its a gap of a 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch. My gap was 0. Symptoms and issues that I had before the second part of this fix was hard OD engagement hard downshift into first hard clunk going into gear. If you have these you my want to look at that gap.
I don't own a gauge so I just turned it in until it had a 5/16 gap.
No more hard OD no more clunk shifts are firm.
The second failure was the pressure transducer, I tested it with a multi meter, you need to see around 1.5 to 3k ohms on pins 3 and 4. Mine read open so I replaced it with an OEM unit.
Anyway road tested for a good hr hwy city stop go I beat the crap out of it and it all worked smooth and no more code.
If you don't hear back from me the fix was permanent
Hope this helps someone down the road.

 

Thanks for posting your fix. Very good work !

 

I think this is common and an issue that requires a little background story. So my first problem and what started this fiasco i was getting hard OD engagement and poor down shifts, but it did downshift and everything worked just not perfectly. So I decided to upgrade the solenoid to the larger one. I bought the kit with the solenoid sensor and speed sensor. I installed these and adjusted the bands changed the fluid and filter. After these changes the trucked worked perfect for about a month. Then I had the issue that started this thread.
I believe more people than myself hare having the pressure screw back out and are not aware of it I have never seen a post on this happening.The screw is not loctited and turns very easily. So when I changed the solenoid to a heavy duty it compensated for the spring pressure for a short time. Again like I said before you upgrade your solenoid check that gap.
My other concern is the transducer you get in these kits. The OEM transducer cost more than the entire kit I bought. You get what you pay for.
I took the one that failed apart and it is total garbage. I believe this is why once it fails the first time you get multiple failures or short lived transducers. I have read so many posts on people getting bad ones out of the box or having it fail multiple time. The aftermarket cheap transducers are poorly solderd and flimsy. The OEM from the dealer is in comparison MUCH better. Anyway there is a moral to the story. If it aint broke don't fix it and you will get what you pay for.