Story time

I have a 99 Dakota with the 5.2 and 44re I believe. It started leaking ATF from the front trans seal at about 100k miles, so I took it to a trans place to get it looked at and possibly fixed. They wanted to swap a reman into it of course and wouldn't put just a seal in it. No big deal, they told me I could drive on it. Well on the way home it blew out and puked ATF over everything. Im still skeptical that's not a coincidence.

I took it to another trans place who said they'd rebuild it for about 1200 bucks. I was still skeptical and asked a lot of questions about what all they'd do ect. They assured me they did these all the time, they were easy, and it would be done in 3 days max. Well 3 days in and they tell me it cranks and won't start. So they pull it out again and tell me it need a crank position sensor and a flywheel/flexplate (still don't understand why it cranked fine but needed a flexplate). After all that I had to bring it back once because the Transfer case leaked, they put some rtv in there and slapped it back in.

THE PROBLEM

During the first heat cycle of the day, on my way to school/work, there is what sounds and feels like slamming/bucking/lurching coming from the drive line. Only while it's getting warm or has just warmed up. It's sounds like it's ready to grenade at 70mph. The rpms drop with it. Sometimes it's worse than other times.

It's on a decent warranty, and the trans shop that rebuilt it diagnosed it as a bad shift cable. They said it's loose and the cable is letting it slip out of drive and into 2nd gear on the manual valvebody. They'd replace it for 200, and I'd have to go get it from the stealership.

I took their word for it, because, you know, they're a trans shop. I did it myself of course, and one $100 shift cable later and it still does the same dang thing. I assume it's adjusted correctly, It's all in the Hanes manual which I followed exactly.

I don't want to keep driving on it and ruin everything I payed for by wearing out the clutches in there, or worse. It will inevitably have to go back to the shop that rebuilt it for the 3rd time.

Has anyone diagnosed this before? I used to be an auto tech but automatic transmissions are way above my pay grade. Anything I can find on the forums like this is about misfires and bucking under load, ect. I am pretty sure this is a drive line issue. Could it be as simple as adjusting the cable differently? Could it be electrical? Some issue with the cable for downshifting? (TV cable?) Or is it just assembled wrong? If anyone out there has had this problem and fixed it, and still reading this, any info would be greatly, greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

I would ask them where they got the crank sensor they replaced. I would also suggest the real possibility that THEY are the ones that crunched the sensor when they were removing/installing the trans. If you don't take it out beforehand, it is FREQUENTLY a victim of that exercise. The flexplate was likely fine. (I think the ring gear for the starter is actually on the torque converter though.)

 

The CPS is a dorman special apparently. After some investigating, there is some play between 2nd manual and drive on the lever on the trans. I adjusted the cable, and it stopped lurching for about 2 days. It has been in the 90s this week and Wisconsin, and by the time I get on the freeway during my commute the truck was fully warmed up. This week it dropped into the 60s and it started bucking and lurching again during warmup on the freeway. Could the change in pressure during warmup make it bounce into 2 by itself? Still don't trust that diagnosis.

So I monkeyed around with the cable adjustment some more, avoiding dealing with this shop at all costs. Bending the cable bracket on the trans towards the rear (park position) seemed to eliminate most of the slop in between 2nd and Drive.
I also messed with the lever on the trans. Tight spot, but I go to loosen the bolt, and can't find the nut on the other side. I loosened the bolt and it kept spinning, so I eventually realized i could just pull it out
So basically gravity was keeping it on? And whoever rebuilt it didn't bother putting a nut on there?
I'm going to tow a motorcycle trailer today, and if it still bucks and lurches I might be driving it THROUGH this shops front door.

 

Dorman? Hhhhmmmm...... I most certainly would NOT trust their electronic parts in highly critical locations. And CPS is most certainly one of them.

 

Problem solved (about 5 months ago)
​​​​​​Thought I'd come back with the idea this thread could actually help someone.

After all this monkeying with shift cables, I decided to give it one last go to stop the violent bucking/lurching.

It's too bad I didn't try these things one at a time, to see which was actually fixed the problem, but I need this thing to get to school every day...

I rerouted the plug wires, thinking mabye one was crossed or arcing out. (Probably not the fix, just a hunch)
I put new plugs in it, and inspected the old. They were fine. I was running the cheapest NGK's which I am partial to. Yes, they're Japanese, but I find they work better than other cheapies when dirty. My evidence comes from running them in my beater motorcycles and lawnmowers. So they're perfect for a big oil burning pig of a 318.
I replaced the CPS with a napa one. I even opted for the MORE EXPENSIVE ONE. Changing it required full use of my string bean arms in contorted in ways I didn't think we're possible.
Next I replaced my [upstream] O2, which was the original with 96k on it. When I cracked the old one out, I saw that one of the wires on it's harness was chafed through. I only saw it because the glint of copper caught my eye. This is inevitably the work of the trans shop; they must've pinched it or caught it at some point. I don't think this is what was causing the problem though, because it was nowhere near anything it could short out on. I used an NGK one, was about 50 bucks.

I changed the O2 because of what I heard from a reputable mechanic on youtube, who was diagnosing a similar problem on a ram van. He said any wierd missing/bucking is usually an indicator of a bad O2 on any 90s-early2000s Chrysler product. And the check engine light doesn't necessarily have to come on.

Anyway, the truck is back to normal. If anyone has this problem, I'd recommend changing the O2 first, that is my best guess as to what fixed it.
And even if it was a faulty CPS, the truck runs way better now with new plugs and the O2, completely different. So no loss.

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