I have a 98 Durango 4x4 with the 5.2 and auto. Been reading on here and have found most of my problems are very common to these trucks so here is one I havent seen. When temps are below 35, the very first time I start the truck it doesnt want to shift, once it finally does it will be fine the rest of the day no matter the temp. I have changed filters, fluid, had it flushed and adjusted by the stealership, and still have the same problem. Anyone ever experienced this type problem?

 

The colder the outside temp is, the transmission will not shift as normal.Until it reaches operating temp. This normal for dodge transmissions. Your transmission will stay in low gear and little longer, as the outside temp raise the trans will shift normal for the rest of the day.

 

yup +1 its perfectly normal, been driving my dad nuts on his new 09 dak until i explained the whole thing to him . . .

 

yeah mine does the same thing but i noticed when i take over drive off and then engage over drive the RPM's jump up 100 RPM's and then drop down into overdrive is this normal.

 

It takes a while to warm up my truck, I don't think the heating systems are that great in these trucks probably made more for the Dakotas more than anything. I would make sure it's warmed up though, sounds like you haven't really given your car time to warm up and it's gonna be sluggish if you do that.

 

the transmission in these trucks wont warm up until you start driving as the auto trans fluid pump doesnt run when it is in park, the best way to warm up the truck is to drive it lightly for the first few miles and then it will be better, the heat in mine works fine, after the engine warms up (the temp gauge in the dash is centered)

 

I've only had my truck since Christmas but I did notice that it's better to start out real slow at first then let it warm up.

Also the heat in my vehicle doesn't work that great, I attributed it to the fact that it might be a small heat source for a big vehicle or something like that.

 

your heater core might be clogged, you could try flushing it and see if that helps, but thats really a summer job IMO, too cold to do in the winter

 

so is it normal for the tranny to jump up a hundred RPM's when you ingage overdrive even when it is warm.

 

when you start these trucks the overdrive is automatically engaged, when you are driving if you push od off or tow haul button that locks out the overdrive unit, causing the rpms to change, so yes it will jump a little when you turn OD off or on, it will go up when you turn OD off and down when you turn it ON

now if you are refering to shifting the auto trans into drive from park then yes the rpms will jump and the settle as you shift into gear although i dont usually notice it so i will check to see how much of a jump it is tomorrow when i go out