I've got a 02 club cab 4x4 3.9 auto, and I don't like the way it downshifts on hills. This is the fourth Dakota c-c v6 that I've had, I still have my 96 4x4, and the 02 drives me crazy. The problem is, with the cruise set on 60mph, on a hill where the rest would unhook the t-c at the bottom of the hill (after dropping to 58mph), then come out of overdrive half-way up (at 58mph), this one waits until halfway up (after dropping below 55mph), and then drops all the way down to second gear. So instead of finishing the hill running around 2k-2.5k it is pushing 4-grand before upshifting. Does what I described make sense? I hope I'm being clear.

There is one hill I have to go up every day, it's on a old backroad, it's a railroad underpass, my 96 will wait half-way up (when it's lost about 2mph off what the cruise is on), and unhook the t-c, and top the hill about 2 grand, the 02 waits until right at the very top and about 5mph off cruise speed, and drops into second and doesn't upshift until after being back on flat ground running 4000rpm (at 60mph).

This area isn't real hilly, but where I am, most roads are built on top of ridges, and there are some decent hills for what's considered flatland. I can only imagine living where it's actually hilly.

Is there any way to change the shift points, or whatever? I mean is there anything I can do to change this behaviour? This is just very annoying to have it jerk down, and run wide open when none of the other 3 Dak's did that.

edit: Normal shifts are fine

 

Since the '02 is using one of the electronically controlled transmissions, that SHOULD be settable with a tune.

I'd check with Flyin' Ryan Performance ( his FaceBook group is closed, I can't find his web site, only an Airram order page: http://www.airram.com/product.php?ca...productid=1540 ) since he seems to be The One for Mopar tuning nowadays.

RwP

 

Thank you for the reply and the links.

 

My 03 Dakota does this same thing. While at times I think it's a cool feature, it's also very annoying when traveling on country roads. If you do find a way to "fix" this I would be very interested in how to get around it.

 

As stated. Only way is with a custom tune.

 

Well, thanks for the information. I just think something is not right, it should start downshifting earlier than it does and that would prevent a 4to2 downshift, instead it would unlock t-c, then drop to third, and then worst case to 2nd.

I'll keep looking for a problem and report back if I find anything.

 

Look at the years.

I bet that it was tuned that way for fuel economy or emissions requirements, and that retuning to fix it may make it run better for your usage.

RwP

 

That's quite possible. Thanks for the reply