I hope somebody can help me out on this. A couple weeks ago my 2000 Dodge Durango SLT 4x4 went dead on me. While driving about 45-50mph the transmission just stopped responding and wouldn't shift. Once parked it would not shift into any gears (just revved like it was in neutral). I narrowed it down as best I could and figured out that the solenoid pack had probably gone bad (I have 163000 miles on it). I bought a new solenoid pack (ebay) and last weekend I spent 4 hours dropping the pan, removing the valve body, replacing the solenoid pack and reassembling everything. I changed out the filter since I had everything open. That night I started it up and it drove fine. Now 2 days later I was driving it and it started to feel like it was slipping gears and jumping a bit, then the MIL light came on. I got it home and checked for codes. P0734 (4th Gear Ratio) came up. I checked the fluid levels and it was a bit low. Topped it off and reset the codes. Drove it down the road and all of a sudden it went into limp mode. When I turned back to go home it wouldn't go into 3rd gear. 25mph all the way home and I checked codes again. This time it is giving me P0733 (3rd Gear Ratio). I'm getting tired of throwing money at this problem and could really use any suggestions. Thanks in advance.

 

you definitely need to hear from master tech, he is a chrysler certified transmission tech and will be able to point you in the right direction.

however i would not have bought tranny parts off of e-bay, the parts tend to be cheaper, but also of suspect quality IMO it is very possible you got a bad solenoid.

 

Possibly a governor valve? That's what it sounds like, if these are, as I've been told, a TF727 with an OD and a few electronic bells and whistles. Also, did you adjust the bands while you were under (and in) it?

I wish I knew more about these transmissions, and probably will soon....I've been looking at other Durangos to buy, cheap....seen several around a grand, usually with nothing wrong but bad trannies, so I'll probably be picking another one up soon and doing a tranny rebuild, and then sell it for a quick buck. After that, I'll be able to help people with these tranny problems a little better.

 

brhordes, you are talking about the 42, 44, and 46 re transmissions, which are NOT what he has in his truck

he has a 4.7 with the 45rfe in it (in 2000 all 4x4s except the R/T got the 4.7 iirc), this means it is a new trans design, and has no bands in it, completely electronically controlled.

 

You guys are kind of right. No it doesn't have a governor solenoid like the 42/44RE transmission, But yet it does. The solenoid pack is also the governor too. The most common problem for these codes is the plate on the side of the valve body. The screw heads snaps off and the plate bends, The accumulator valves for 3rd and 4th gears are the first problem you will get when it goes into limp in. Remove the pan and inspect the side of the valve body and you may even find some snap off screw heads laying in the pan too. There is a repair kit if the plate is broken, just let me know if you need the part number. Mopar charges about 25 to 30 dollars.

 

Thank you all for the advice on this problem. When I had the valve body taken out last weekend I inspected it pretty thoroughly and didn't see any signs of wear/damage, and all bolts were accounted for. I'll drop the pan again this weekend and see if something may have happened to it after reassembly. Is there any way this could be linked to an electrical problem? (bad wire connection, or bad input/output sensors?) I'm just hoping for a solution that doesn't involve the guy at NAPA asking me why I'm buying tranny fluid by the barrel, but I'm probably not going to be that lucky.

 

Here is what I would do first. If you have access to a DRB3 and can perform a 3rd gear clutch test, I would like to know if it passed or failed.

 

Unfortunately, I don't have access to a DRB3, but this weekend I'm going to get under the truck and start checking everything all over again. I'll drop the pan and check for damage and pull the valve body for inspection. I'll try to snap some photos and throw them up if I can't find a fix. I sure do appreciate the help and input from everyone.

 

Did you get the problem fixed??

 

Nope. Actually I finally got around to pulling the pan and getting into it again this past weekend. I pulled the valve body back out and inspected it. There were no broken bolts, no loose bolts, no damage, no debris (visible). I took some photos that I will post later tonight. After reassembling everything it still would not shift into 3rd. I just kept running the RPMs up where the shift should happen. Just to rule out the input/output sensors I went ahead and swapped them out afterward and still no luck. I'm running out of ideas here. I feel like this is going to end up being a stupid simple fix that I'm just not seeing and I'll learn it the hard way with a huge bill from a tranny shop.