i got a 94 dakota v8 AT, and i attempted to get up to highway speed recently and the truck wont shift out of third gear or go above 55mph, once itrs time to shift into fourth gear it just stays in third gear and steadily increases RPM? coult it be the reverse/ backup light sensor on the transmission or something worse?

 

No, I don't think it is the backup switch. It could be the OD switch though.

 

check the fluid level and the o/d switch. when my dakota got low on trans fluid it wouldnt shift into o/d then eventually it wouldnt shift into 3rd then 2nd till i changed the fluid and filter(my filter clogged up)

 

appreciate it guys ill give it a try. but how would you recommend checking the od switch, the switches in the dodges are a bit weird to me?

 

If you have a multimeter or test light even, take the switch out of the dash so you can get to the contacts on the back. Turn the ignition on and see if you are getting power in and out when the switch is turned on. It should be like any other on/off switch, when turned off the circuit is broken, when turned on power will flow.

Side note: I believe the OD switch should be automatically on when the igntion is turned on.

 

That is right as soon as you turn the truck on it is in overdrive. When the light is on that means the od is off.

 

I have never seen the dash switch go bad on these but have seen a few bad solenoids in the tranny.
One thing dont make sense in what you said; "wouldnt go over 55 MPH"; in the days before OD's (and especially on full sized trucks) they often had 3.21, 3.55 (like yours likely does) or numerically higher gears in the rear end and had no trouble going past 55; 3rd gear in your trans was the same as high gear in an older truck. it should get up to speed just fine just your engine will be spinning more RPMs.
if it wouldnt go over 55 you have other issues as well.

 

very true Volaredon, I missed that the first time I read the post. It should have no problem getting over 55mph in 3rd. There has to be something severely draging that engine down to keep it from going over 55. Please elaborate on this issue a little further.

 

yea the 55mph was the only comparison to the problems i could think of, but i changed all the fluids, changed the transmission filter and gasket (when i dropped the trans pan there was a small, about 2 inch, piece of what looks like a gear or something of that sort?) but i did all that and the truck barely wants to go in reverse, i have to put it into gear and let it roll back itself, if i push the gas in reverse it just raises the rpm, the main problem though was when im driving normally it shifts through first and second just fine but when it gets about 3k rpm and tries to shift through 3rd gear it wont accelerate it just revs up until i let off the accelerator and never shifts past 2nd gear and 55 was the highest i could get it in second gear without it shifting, and ive tried this with overdrive on and off? i can probably elaborate more if needed?

 

can any one tell how i would go about finding out what kind of transmission is in my 2001 dodge durango