Need some help here. I replaced my transmission in January - a 46RE in a 2003 Durango w/4.7l engine - and now the replacement is acting the same as the one I pulled out. Here is whats happening: Great around town but on long drives (200 miles+) it starts downshifting erratically when pulling up hills. I got a sense tonight when it happened that the problem might be related to throttle position/response, heres why. While driving up thruogh Franconia Notch the truck is great on flats or downhills but anytime we would begin an uphill stetch and have to throttle up to maintain speed the trans would start to downshift erratically - RPMs going from 1700 to 2500 or even 3500, and a couple of times there were some pretty hard shifts. I noticed that if we did'nt try to maintain speed and just kept the throttle static as the truck slowed down that the downshifting did'nt occur, but that also meant that we got down to 40mph which is not good on these north country interstates at night. I,m a pretty good wrench but this one has me somewhat baffled, any suggestions on what to look at would be greatly appreciated.

Bob Dyson ;<}
Bethlehem, New Hampshire

 

first question to ask is do you have the 46re transmission, or the 4.7l engine? the two will NOT bolt together, if you have the 46re trans you have the 5.9l v8, if you have the 4.7l then you have the 545rfe trans?

and it does matter which setup you have in order to point you in the right direction

 

I clearly mispoke in my original post - 1 in the morning, I should have been sleeping - it is indeed the 545rfe in my Durango. I also have a 97 Ram 1500 hence my mistaken transmission ID.


Bob Dyson ;<}
Bethlehem, New Hampshire

 

did they use the correct transmission fluid ??? (atf +4 ONLY)

if not that could be part of it, the other thing is to check the tps sensor, and pm Master Tech, he is the local transmission expert.

 

Could be a bad TCM?