"Morning All,

Had an issue coming back from the river yesterday and could use a little guidance. The vehicle is a '99 'Rango SLT 4X4, 5.9L Auto Trans (not sure which one) with 110K on the clock.

We were coming back from Parker, AZ to So Cal. Truck had run fine all weekend, was only towing our Sea Doo (about 600# total). Anyway, about 100 miles from home it dropped out of OD and into 3rd. I could not get it back into OD, tried recycling the button, shifting into neutral and back, no dice. We pushed on for home, truck seemed to run fine in 3rd, still had power to pass and climb. We get off the freeway by our house and stopped at the light. When we took off, truck took forever to wind up, like I was pulling 10K pounds. I noticed that the RPM's never changed, when we got up to speed (eventually) the RPM range matched 3rd. At the next light I tried to manually shift it starting in first. It made a slight difference but wasn't anywhere near what I would consider normal. Finally got home, reverse worked fine backing into the driveway.

All fluids were fine prior to leaving, it still has fluid but naturally I can't warm it up right now to verify level. I did plug in my code reader, no codes related to transmission, just P0443 (recurrent vacuum issue).

Any direction would be much appreciated, is this a BIG issue or something more "tolerable"?

Thanks in advance,

Jay

 

When you say dropped into 3rd did the light come O/D light come on? Also when you manually shift it does it actually go to first and second? It sounds like it is still stuck 3rd. Also have you checked it now that its cool?

 

The transmission may have a bad TPS or the governor solenoid is sticking. Found what you are writing, I would say the transmission is taking off in 3rd gear and not first. Try moving the shift lever to low and upshift to drive. Does the transmission shift? If it does, replace the governor and transducer. If it doesn't, replace the valve body and adjust the bands if needed.

 

adukart, no, i have not checked now that it's cool, had to work today. But will check it tomorrow. I did try to manually shift it, and it "sort of" changed gears, but didn't sound like a normal change.

Master tech, definitely taking off in 3rd gear, and it did seem to shift manually but the shifts seemed boggy and not crisp. Even in first it seemed to take off slow.

I'll check back in after I run it around the block tomorrow.

Thanks guys!

 

My truck did same thing but in 2nd gear from a standstill. Won't launch in 1st gear.

I had to manually shift to force the 1st gear from standstill.

Replaced the govenor solenoid/valve body and all is working fine.

 

You can do this: https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...-problems.html To see if it is hydraulic or an electrical issue.

 

UPDATE

Well, drove it this afternoon, everything worked fine. Shifted from 1st to 2nd to 3rd, then OD and back when i slowed down. Only drove it for a couple mile, but it seemed normal. Not sure what to think about that.

Does this mean it was just overheated, or a symptom of a larger problem? Should I still proceed with solenoid/body/governor replacement, or is this a simple fluid/filter change then add a trans cooler?

 

I'll give that a run Hydra, thanks.

 

UPDATE II

Well, drove it to work today (only about 10 miles), everything seemed to be fine. No issues, no missed shifts, OD worked perfect. Kinda scratching my head now......

 

Most likely something got hung up, that's all.