I've recently acquired an '03 with the 3.9L. It has less than 6K miles on it and I'm noticing a hard 1st to 2nd gear shift with the tranny.

I'm not leaning on the gas pedal. This is from slow start 'granny-driving.'

The trans fluid level is fine.

Could there be something that the dealer might possibly be able to do, such as update the TCM?

Also, when it needs to climb very subtle grades around town, such as overpasses, it will first shift down one to get a little extra, but then it drops from 4th to 2nd.

This just doesn't seem right. I can see it maybe dropping one gear to make it up a slow gradual grade, but not two gears.

Any help or advice is appreciated.

Thanks,

Robert

 

The first place to start is your Throttle Valve (TV) cable. Follow these instructions to adjust your transmission behavior to your liking (site was written for Dodge Ram, but the Dakota is no different). One word of caution, DO NOT BREAK THE WHITE PLASTIC CLIP.

What you need is a LOWER line pressure:
http://www.jcj.net/dodgeram/trans_adjustment.htm