My 01 Durango, 5.9, v8, auto, 195,000 miles just started doing this yesterday morning. I started it as usual, backed out of the garage, got on the street, put it into drive, started out fine...then... no upshift until it hit 3,000 rpm and I could hear the enging whining high. Drove about a mile to a stop light, went to slow down, came to a stop, then I felt the transmission shift down as I was sitting still. I decided to take off fast to see if it what was a 1-2 issue, 2-3 issue, and it would not upshift until about 5,000 rpm. It does seem like it is a 1-2 issue since I can barely feel 2-3. I have no CES lights, fluid was changed about 2 months ago with ATF+4, same as filter/gasket. They did not adjust the bands. If you suggest to adjust the bands... I have read alot of where people discuss the "adjustments" and some do not go off the service manual. Keep in mind... it has 195,000 miles on it and sometimes... big changes mean big problems.

 

I recently had the same problem with mine. Band adjustment wasn't an option for me though, had to have the front band and the band strut replaced. Good luck and hope it's not too bad.

 

That's why we suggest you adjust the bands whenever you get the tranny fluid changed. I'm leaning more towards a band adjustment.

 

I would have had the bands adjusted but there was only 13,000 miles on the rebuild. Figured it was a little too early. Parts were defective and fixed for free.

 

PM master tech and ask him what to do on your specific worn trans, but I have a feeling that it's going to be to about 1/4"-1/2" slack on the bands.

 

the other thing to check is the speed sensor on the output shaft of the transmission its a $20 sensor and when it went bad on my old truck the 1-2 shift was very high