Hey guys, I'm a regular in the 2nd gen Ram section, but my buddy has a 97 Dakota, 318 auto 4x4. The other day his O/D OFF light came on on its own and wouldn't go out. He's been having shifting issues with it since this started. He's had it to different trans shops and they are telling him things like the cooler lines are plugged, etc. Do these trucks have the same stubborn check valve in the trans lines as the Rams? His fluid is overdue for a change too. If he does end up having to replace the trans, are they the same as the ones in the Rams? A guy down the road has one for parts...

He recently put a bunch of money into the truck, body lift, paintjob, and 33" tires and new rims. Are the 33's too big for the truck without gear changes? I'm thinkin that thats why he started having these problems

Thanks for any help guys!

here's the truck in question

 

I had a 95 Dodge ram 3500 dually that the O/D off light came on and it messed up everything. The truck would kick down a gear out of nowhere over revving the engine. (its diesel so it doesn't rev high anyway). Dealer said the same thing that it was the trans cooler. fixed that and still didn't work. They ended up replacing the trans. Overdrive was cooked on it.

I don't know if that will have help on your situation but that was my experience with the ram. So I thought maybe yours is doing the same thing.

 

The transmissions are the same between the 5.2 Dakota and 5.2 Ram. I believe the Dakotas also have that check valve issue as well.

As for the gears... if he has 3.55s stock, 33s may be a little tall, but shouldn't be tall enough to cook a transmission. If he has 3.92, he should be fine. 4:10s would be the best for 33s though.

 

well, my buddy was just here, the trans let go completely a couple weeks ago. He towed it to a trans shop, and just got the news about it. Surprise surprise, the cooler plugged up and cooked it. I told him about the check valve problem when he first started having the problem, and sure enough, it was the cause..... The shop rebuilt the trans and put on a bigger trans cooler separate from the rad. We're goin to pick it up today, we'll see how it works.

Just thought I'd mention it, in case it helps someone else out down the road...

 

When the OD off light comes on it's often the warning that the trans is severely overheating and the PCM pops it out of OD to get you to check it out.
Once this happens, it's almost always too late.
This is normally associated with plugged and/or blocked cooler, kinked hoses, and that nasty check valve.

 

He could probably get away with 3:55's (if thats what he has), but he will want atleast 3:92's and maybe 4:10's. I wish I had 3:92's and mines not even lifted..

 

if he has the 5.2 its the same as the 5.2 ram, but otherwise its different, it should say inside the glove box which one if the info is in the same places as mine, but he probably needs a new transmission, mine did the same things, and dodges are famous for HORRIBLE transmissions, mines got 250K miles and on its third transmission